Bulldog Hall of Fame inducts 18 new members

SANDPOINT — The Sandpoint Bulldog Athletic Hall of Fame will induct eighteen new members on Friday night after the Sandpoint-Bonners Ferry football game.

The inductees will be introduced at halftime of the game and a no host reception will be held at the Elks Golf Course at approximately 9:30 p.m. The ceremony will consist of awarding Hall of Famers with a plaque and a toasting of their accomplishments while they were involved in athletics at Sandpoint High School.

The reception is open to the public and will give everyone a chance to meet the former Bulldog greats. The reason for so many new inductees according to the Hall of Fame president David DeMers is that this is a catch-up year.

"We have not done this for some time and we thought that we needed to bring all of these inductees into the hall," he added.

The Hall of Fame inductions will be a yearly process in the fall for many years to come, and according to DeMers the committee has been working feverishly all summer to compile names, honors and records of former Bulldog athletes, coaches and boosters.

"We realize that there are many people who deserve to be honored in the Hall of Fame and hopefully in the future everyone who is deserving will eventually be inducted," said DeMers. "Some ddi not make the cut this time, but we will continue to work hard to research all nominees to ensure the success of the Hall.

The following inductees will be honored:

Sandpoint High School Athletes

Rich Whitehead — class of 1956, football, basketball and track.

Paul Kelly — class of 1955, football, basketball and baseball.

Allen Martin — class of 1981, football and basketball.

Norm Gissel — class of 1958, football, basketball and track (state record in shot put)

George Eidam — class of 1951, football, basketball and baseball.

Chuck Heath — class of 1956, football, basketball and track (held long jump record for 20 years).

Alli Nieman — class of 1996, volleyball and basketball (Three time high school basketball All American).

Laura Walker — class of 1994, volleyball, basketball and track (Three time state shot put champion).

Angie Ross — class of 1994, Cross Country, basketball and track.

George Kom — class of 1954, football, basketball and track.

Jack Bloxom — class of 1956, football, basketball and baseball.

Brett Lawrence — class of 1996, wrestling, soccer (four time state wrestling champion)

Jarred Lawrence — class of 1998, wrestling, (four time state wrestling champion, undefeated high school career 133-0 record, NCAA champion).

Chris Clark — class of 1969, basketball, track and baseball.

Sandpoint High School coaches

Al Alt — football, wrestling and track.

Irene Matlock — 1982-84 state volleyball championships.

Sandpoint High School boosters

Jack Bopp — class of 1935 (Longtime Sandpoint businessman and supporter of athletics at SHS).

Gene Littlefield — graduated from Bonners Ferry H.S. (Sandpoint businessman and supporter of athletics since the 1940's).

The Sandpoint Bulldog Athletic Hall of Fame committee members are: President David DeMers, secretary Wendy Nieman, treasurer Nancy Miller, Tom Albertson, Duane Ward and Mayor Ray Miller.