Fairborn Athletic Hall of Fame Press
Release
Fairborn High School and the
Fairborn Athletic Department are proud to announce the formation of the
Fairborn High School Hall of Fame. The
purpose of the Hall of Fame is to recognize and honor individuals who have made
significant athletic contributions to Fairborn City Schools. The Fairborn Athletic Hall of Fame will also
serve to heighten school pride and reinforce what it means to be a Fairborn
Skyhawk. The members of the 5th
Inaugural class are:
THOMAS CONNER – Class of 1957- Varsity Track - Varsity
Basketball
Tom played center on the varsity basketball team and ran the
mile run and 880 yard run on the track team. During his Senior track season he was the 1957 State Champion in the
mile and also competed in the state meet 880 yard run. He also won the mile at the Troy Relays. He set a school record time of 4:31.5 in his
state mile performance. He along with
fellow teammate, 1957 State Champion Pole Vaulter Ray Hansford, allowed Fairborn
to place 5th in the state meet. The tow also helped FHS win the 1957
Miami Valley League Track Championship. Mr. Conner is deceased.
RAY HANSFORD –Class of 1957- Varsity Track
Ray was the 1957 State Champion in the Pole Vault and Miami Valley League Pole Vault Champion. He set a new school pole vault record of 12 feet, 9 ¼ inches to help FHS win the 1957 Miami Valley Track Championship. The vault also broke a 22 year old MVL record. He along with Thomas Connor were Fairborn’s first tow state champions on the Class AA level. Mr. Hansford resides in Tucson, AZ.
MIKE YEARY– Class of 1969 - Varsity basketball - 2 years,
Varsity track – 1 year.
Mike was one of the outstanding basketball players in the
FHS history. He was All-Western Ohio League first team and All-Greater Dayton
area second team. Coach and Scholastic
Magazine included him as an All-American Honorable Mention. Mike was team MVP and won the Offensive Award
for shooting percentage. He also set 4
basketball records and helped lead the team to 14 victories his senior
year. Mike went on to play 2 years of
Division 1 basketball of Austin Pear University. In HS track, the two mile
relay team of which he was a member had the best time in the state that
year. Mike has been one of the biggest
supporters of FHS basketball by giving financial contributions to help the
program, starting and coaching a youth basketball program for 4th –
6th graders to help develop future HS players, and volunteering time
to teach skills to junior high teams. Mike can still be found most Friday nights supporting the FHS football
and basketball teams. Mike is retired
from a successful business career and still resides in Fairborn.
JACK GREGORY– Bowling Coach – Boys’ and Girls’ Teams 2002-2016
Jack was an accomplished and dedicated coach that always
worked to help his players improve their games. Jack was voted 6 times one of the top 100 coaches in America by Bowlers
Journal. He started the FHS bowling
teams for both boys and girls and coached them for 15 years. His boys’ teams won 7 GWOC South titles and
girls’ teams won 8 GWOC South titles. He
also won 4 MML titles when Fairborn was in that league. Jack was named GWOC
South Coach of the Year 4 times. The
highlight of his coaching career was when his girls’ team was state Runner-up
and then in 2006 his girls won the State Championship. Jack passed away in 2016.
Fairborn High School 1988 Boys’ Golf
team – State Champions
This celebrates the 30th anniversary of the 1988
boys’ golf team winning the State Championship in the fall season. The golf team went 19-2 in dual meets that
season and 2nd place in the Western Ohio League. They finished as District Champions, Regional
Champions, and beat the state runner-up Upper Arlington, by 10 strokes. Two members made 1st team All-State,
Andy Shade and Ryan Reichley and Steve Fulton made 2nd team All- State. The team was coached by Ed Swope who still resides in Fairborn. Team members included: Brad Dunaway, Steve Fulton, matt Krause, Ryan Reichley, Andy Shade and Zach Slayton, Rod Dunaway.
Fairborn High School is proud
to recognize the achievements of these great individuals. Celebration
will be on September 7, 2018. There will
be a reception in the Baker Fieldhouse gym at 5:30 pm. The HOF 2018-19
inductees will be recognized during half-time of the varsity football game vs.
Beavercreek on Friday, September 7th at Fairborn Memorial Stadium
Bushemeyer Field . Game time is 7:00pm. Nomination forms can be found at
wwwfairbornskyhawks.com