Thursday, July 19th, 2012
Guilbault, Niekamp among inductees
Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame
By Ryan Hines
Compiled by Ryan Hines
When the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame inducts its 2013 class in May, three members of the 12-person class have strong ties to the Grand Lake area.
Former St. Henry boy's basketball coach Fran Guilbault, retired University of Findlay men's basketball coach Ron Niekamp and official Steve Trout will be part of a distinguished group that also includes Randy Ayers, Brad Daugherty, Howard Joliff, Kenyon Martin, Jim Morgan, Wally Szczerbiak, Barbara Turner, Bill Uhl and Tamika Williams Raymond.
The selections were made by a panel of Ohio college All-Americans, NBA Hall of Fame players, Ohio high school and college coaches and the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame Board of Directors.
Also joining the group of individual inductees into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame will be Belmont High School's 1964 Class A state championship boy's team and the University of Findlay's 2009 undefeated NCAA Division II national championship team.
The eighth annual induction ceremony will be held on May 18, 2013 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
Guilbault coached St. Henry's boy's basketball program for 38 years and compiled an overall record of 624-218 (.741 winning percentage) with three state championships (1979, 1990 and 1991). Guilbault had winning records in his final 35 years at St. Henry.
Niekamp, also a standout player at Miami University, was head coach at the University of Findlay for 26 years and guided the Oilers to winning records in each season, including the 2009 D-II national championship.
Trout, a former athletic director at New Knoxville, was selected by his peers after several decades of basketball officiating.
Ayers was head coach for the OSU men's basketball program for eight years and was Big Ten Coach of the Year in 1991 and 1992.
Daugherty was the #1 overall pick in 1986 for the Cleveland Cavaliers and played eight seasons in the NBA. Daugherty is the Cavaliers' all-time leading scorer and rebounder.
Szczerbiak scored 1,847 points in his career at Miami University before playing 10 years in the NBA with Minnesota, Boston, Seattle and Cleveland.
Morgan, a 1953 graduate of Dayton Stivers High School, scored 1,105 points for the University of Louisville from 1954-57.
Uhl played at the University of Dayton and led the Flyers in scoring and rebounding for three season (1954-56) and was a consensus All-American pick in 1956.
Joliff is a graduate of Canton McKinley High School and played two seasons at Ohio University before being drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers.
Martin has played 12 seasons in the NBA after being named the national player of the year while suiting up for the Cincinnati Bearcats. Martin was the top overall pick in the 2000 NBA draft.
Williams was named the national prep player of the Year at Chaminade-Julienne High School before playing on national championship teams at the University of Connecticut in 2000 and 2002.
Turner was a high school All-American at Cleveland East Tech High School before playing at UConn and then three years in the WNBA.
Correction:
The original story named Joe Niekamp and was corrected to Ron Niekamp.
