St. Mary Central Catholic High School announced their
Athletic and Achievement Hall of Fame Class of 2014. This year’s class will
officially be inducted at the annual banquet, scheduled for Jan. 25, 2015 at
the Sandusky Yacht Club, and will be introduced to Panther fans the previous
night at halftime of the boys’ basketball game against Mansfield St. Peter in “the
Den.”
The inductees, with year of graduation and category for
enshrinement, are: Barbara Ott, 1970 graduate, service and coach, Mary Ann
Sloan, 1954 graduate, service, Paul Friedman, 1936 graduate, athlete, Dan Hallock,
1984 graduate, athlete, Toby Hammond, 1974 Huron graduate, coach, Nathan Painter,
1996 graduate, athlete, James Westerhold.1950 graduate, professional.
Sloan and Friedman will be honored posthumously.
Barbara Ott served 14 years (1983-1997) as the SMCC girls’
basketball coach and compiled an overall record of 166-143 with seven sectional
tournament titles and one Sandusky Bay Conference co-championship (1983-84).
Ott holds the record for the most wins in the girls’ basketball program.
She also has 39 years of continuous service as an educator
in the Sandusky Catholic Schools system from 1975 until the present school
year.
Ott implemented the SMCC girls’ softball program and was the
head coach from 1988-1992. In 2009, she was the recipient of the Toledo Diocese
Golden Apple Award.
Mary Ann Sloan served as Development Director at Sandusky
Central Catholic Schools (SCCS) for 12 years and implemented “The Mary Ann
Sloan” Tuition Assistance and Student Sponsorship Endowment Program.
She was the Clerk of the Board of Erie County Commissioners
from 1973-77 and named the outstanding woman of the year by the American
Business Women’s Club in 1975, in addition to earning the SCCS Volunteer of the
Year award, and also the Providence Hospital Woman of Excellence honor in 1996.
Paul Friedman was a key member of the Class B 1936 state
championship basketball team and also played on the undefeated 1934 and 1935
football teams that compiled a 13-0-1 record. The 1934 team did not allow a
point.
In his final football game for the Panthers, he scored three
touchdowns, had four receptions for 100 yard and ran for another 101 yards. His
eight game totals for the season his were 608 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns.
Dan Hallock was a three-year letterman in football and
basketball and became the fifth SMCC player to reach the 1,000-point plateau,
finishing with 1,059 career points to rank eighth on the all-time scoring list.
He was first-team all-SBC his senior year and earned second-team district 6
Class AA honors.
In football, Hallock was a second-team SBC defensive back in
the 1983 season. On offense, at quarterback, he passed for 861 yards and ran
for another 191 yards to wind up with 1,052 total yards.
Toby Hammond was the head football coach from 1985 to 1990
and finished with a 46-22 record, second only to the legendary Lee Zierolf for
wins and winning percentage.
He guided the Panthers to back-to-back SBC championships in
1989 and 1990, while both teams won Division V regional titles. In fact, SMCC
played St. Henry in the 1990 Division V state title game and lost, 20-17, to a
powerful opponent that featured four Division I college standouts that included
Bob Hoying, who played for Ohio State.
Hammond was also named Division V United Press International
Coach of the Year in 1989 and earned the Northwest District Division V Coach of
the Year honor three years in succession (1988-1990).
Nathan Painter excelled in football, in addition to
competing in wrestling and track for the Panthers. He was named first-team Division
VI all-Ohio choice as an offensive lineman his senior year and earned
first-team Northwest District laurels on both sides of the ball the same year.
In addition, Painter was a first-team SBC offensive lineman
in 1994 and 1995 and a first-team all-conference defensive lineman in 1995, his
senior season.
James Westerhold was the starting guard on the 1949-50 St.
Mary’s basketball team that had the school’s first perfect regular season
(17-0). He was in the United States Air Force from 1951-1954 and became
part-owner of the family business — Smith Hardware — in Sandusky from 1954 to
1962.
From 1962 until 1997, Westerhold helped promote high school
sports through radio broadcasting with WLKR in Norwalk, a station he purchased
in 1979, and became President and General Manager.
Westerhold served as Huron County Commissioner from
1983-1990 and was the recipient of the PJ Garcia Award for community service.