Reservations for the 53rd Annual Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame Induction Banquet are now being taken. The induction ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 10th at the Island Resort and Casino in Harris, located 15 miles west of Escanaba. Banquet reservations are $40 per person. The evening begins with a social hour at 5:00 (all times Eastern) followed by a brief introduction and meal at 6:00 p.m. The induction ceremony follows dinner.

For more information or to reserve a seat, please call one of the following Council members: DeeJay Paquette at 906-387-4673, Dan Hinch at 906-458-8536, Don Gustafson at 906-298-0174, Cathy Shamion at 906-364-0961 or Anne Okonek at 906-280-2587. The deadline for making reservations for seats is April 23rd. Council members encourage UPSHF inductees from previous years to join the celebration!

There are four inductees in the UPSHF Class of 2025 that hail from the south central Upper Peninsula:

Lesley (Noel) Delvaux was a dominating pitcher at the Little League, high school, and college softball levels. She helped Gladstone Little League to back-to-back runner up finishes at the World Series at the age of 15-16 in 2001 and 2002, and was all-region and all-state at Escanaba High School. She was one of the first U.P. players to earn a Big 10 scholarship (Michigan State) and is still in the top ten all-time at MSU for numerous records.

Rachel (Folcik) McClure helped tiny Carney-Nadeau High School win a Class D state basketball title as a sophomore. She scored 1,749 points for the Wolves, was an all-state selection and Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan (BCAM) Player of the Year as a senior. McClure went on to Ferris State University where she scored 1,705 points and was a two-time All American. After her collegiate career, she secured a contract to play professionally in Portugal with Clube Desportivo da Povoa. Following her playing days, McClure coached at D2 and D1 colleges as well as at the high school level.

Denise Porath played fastpitch softball for 35 years and played on two state championship teams. She also played on Escanaba’s first girls’ basketball team and was a vaunted sprinter on the school’s first girls track team in 1974. She played field hockey at Northern Michigan University and had a single-season record of 31 goals. She tried out for the Olympic Team in 1979 but the U.S. boycotted the Olympics in 1980. She was inducted into the NMU Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. She also coached basketball and golf at Powers North Central and has won five Highland Golf Club women’s titles along with seven runner-up titles. John Prokos was an outstanding pole vaulter for nearly 40 years, a career that included a third place in the Master’s Division of the national track championships in 1977. His love of the sport led him to become a coach and he used his talents to inspire vaulters at North Central High School in Powers. He also coached cross country and his sixty-year career led the Escanaba harriers to their first class A-B championship in 1991.

The remaining six UPSHF Class of 2025 inductees are James “Jamie” Angeli (Iron River), Nick Baumgartner (Iron River), Jeff Olson (Ishpeming), Barb Sickler (Lake Linden-Hubbell), Jeannie Thoren (Marquette) and Dave St. Onge (Ishpeming).

A block of rooms has been reserved for both Friday and Saturday nights for those interested in staying overnight. To book your room, call the Island at 1-800-682-6040 and tell them that you’re attending the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame banquet to obtain the special rate. Reservations for rooms must be made no later than March 29th.

Do you know someone that should be considered for induction into the UP Sports Hall of Fame? Anyone can nominate a candidate for membership in the UPSHF by completing the nomination form that can be found on the UP Sports Hall of Fame website. Nominations are due by June 1st annually.