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News
By Patrick Browne
The West Iron County School District will honor its past with the recent establishment of a ‘Wall of Fame’. The wall will be a permanent display just inside the entrance to the Charles Greenlund Gymnasium and will recognize outstanding graduates who have differentiated themselves not only in athletics, but the arts and business.
The first set of inductees selected by the Wall of Fame committee are: Willard Anderson, Toby Brzoznowski, L. Brandon Giovanelli, Charles Greenlund, Lee LeBlanc, Harry Monson and Lewis Reimann.
The inaugural class will be inducted on Saturday, Oct. 7 at Young’s Recreational Complex.
Although the idea for the Wall of Fame surfaced many years ago, it did not pick up traction until last winter when a committee took shape under the leadership of Mike Berutti, who serves as both the school’s principal and athletic director. Berutti recruited community members to help bring the idea forward.
Longtime community member Dan Hinch was selected to be the president of the committee. He is also a member of the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame Council and serves on the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame Task Force. He is a volunteer for the school, serving as the treasurer of the school’s Athletic Booster Club.
In addition to Hinch and Berutti, additional committee members include: Jim Kralovec, long-time WIC coach and teacher; Bernadette Coates, former WIC athlete; Gary Scalcucci, long time voice of The Wykons on WiKB radio and former Wykon athlete; Jay Barry, another former radio announcer and former sports editor of the Reporter; Glen Treado, former WIC athlete and NMU football player and Superintendent Kevin Schmutzler.
In order to formalize the selection process, the committee spent its initial meetings writing bylaws, establishing the selection criteria and ultimately selecting the first inductees.
“The committee brainstormed names from the past and initially over 100 individuals were considered, but ultimately we had to narrow the list to 20,” Hinch said.“The committee then selected the initial inductees based on if they had a minimum of five committee votes.”
Moving forward, the committee will seek community input for nominees as established in its bylaws.
“We now are welcoming nominations for our 2024 class as we can then get public input in the selection process,” Hinch said.
Look for biographies of the inductees in next week’s Reporter.