ROGER MONROE
Close to 300 of our sports heroes, honored with induction into the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame since 1981, are gone from the walls of the Peoria Civic Center.
Civic Center officials removed — rather unceremoniously — the historic and treasured plaques because, well, they need the space for advertising, though they said the 240,000-plus-square-foot facility was running out of space. That’s what former Civic Center General Manager Debbie Ritschel years earlier told the Hall of Fame board during the first attempt to eliminate the distinguished plaques.
As a member of the Hall of Fame board, I recall quite vividly when president “Doc” Higgins read the evacuation notice at our noon meeting at the Lariat Club. I suggested we seek a better solution rather than just accept the demand. With a phone call to Mayor Jim Ardis, a meeting was arranged with Ritschel and her public relations executive.
Attending with me were Mayor Ardis, Dr. Peter Couri of the Civic Center Authority board, councilman Bill Spears and Hall of Fame members Ed Murphy, and Phil Salzer. Ritschel said the plaques on the inner concourse were occupying space that could be better used for advertising. Instead, they would produce a kiosk with a video featuring the names and pictures of the Hall of Famers.
No one liked the proposal.
My recommendation was to take a tour of the Civic Center to find, perhaps, an alternative location. Dr. Couri and I, along with Salzer, found space on the outer concourse. And that’s where the plaques have been installed each year following the annual banquet.
The Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame started in 1979. It began as a way to recognize and honor individuals and teams for achieving significant leadership in their respective sports from baseball to billiards to broadcasting. That first induction class in 1981 included former Peorian Jack Brickhouse, who was a popular Chicago Cubs announcer for WGN, and Major League player Lee Handley, who also starred at Bradley University, which also saw its “Famous Five” honored with induction. The Famous Five were really six players: Ted Panish,Carl Schunk, Chuck Orsborn, Dar Hutchins, Les Getz, and Kenny Olson.
Each year men, women, players, coaches, officials, writers, broadcasters, and organizations have been inducted for their accomplishments. The Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame is a museum of the rich sports history of Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford counties. Gone are the fantastic stories of stardom about Joe Girardi, Chet Walker, Ben Zobrist, Zack Monroe, Marcus Pollard, Jim Thome, Ed Sutter, Gene Petty, Shaun Livingston, Brian Shouse, Lorene Ramsey, Jonelle Polk, Hersey Hawkins, Howard Nathan, the basketball teams of Manual High School, and more. Much more. To see that heritage torn from the walls of the Civic Center for profit is shameful.
Surely, the great minds in our communities can do better. Once celebrated with pomp and circumstance at yearly banquets, the cherished plaques of greatness are now offered for sale for $20. It’s like Springdale Cemetery being bulldozed with tombstones offered for sale.
Understandably, the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame will hold future banquets at the Embassy Suites in East Peoria. Maybe East Peoria Mayor John Kahl and East Peoria Chamber of Commerce director, Rick Swan, can find a location for Hall of Fame plaques, especially for East Peorian inductees Roger Phegley, Tim Broe, Tim Simpson, “Cornie” Clatt, and Ed McGraw.
In the meantime, I suggest Peoria Mayor Rita Ali and the City Council, appoint additional members to the Civic Center Authority board, especially stakeholders like representatives from Bradley, the Rivermen, Peoria Symphony, Broadway Theater League, and Peoria County Board. With additional voices and talents, maybe then they could sell naming rights to the arena and the Civic Center while supporting our sports heroes.
MEDIA NOTES: As mentioned in previous columns, I miss the old days of broadcasting when we had just AM stations like WIRL, WEEK (1350), WMBD, WPEO, and WSIV in Pekin. All the stations had “live”announcers from Robyn Weaver to Bob Carlton and Milton Budd to Harry Harrison and Rollie Strubhar, who became Rollie Keith on television.
Now WIRL is gone forever and I don’t think there’s a single station, AM or FM, that features “live” local announcers throughout the broadcast day. They all fill the day with network programs and personalities, especially on weekends.
I drove by a local FM station on a Saturday and there wasn’t a single vehicle in the station parking lot. They all seem to be on automation. Like AI, automation is not perfect. On more than one occasion, I’ve heard a station airing two different programs at the same time. Apparently, staff members don’t listen to their own station because the double formats ran for more than five minutes before the engineering problem was corrected.
It was refreshing to hear the return to the Peoria radio market of veteran broadcaster John Malone, who was program director at WMBD years ago. He left to become a faculty member at Lincoln College and when it closed, transferred to Eureka College. Malone filled the afternoon block on 1470 while Mike Wild searched for a more permanent host. Too bad Wild didn’t offer more money for Malone, a broadcast professional and a perfect fit for WMBD.
WE WILL NEVER FORGET: We’ve been remembering 9/11 since 2003 with a full three hours of programming on “Breakfast with Royce and Roger” and “Breakfast with Roger and Friends.” Our programs have featured veterans, elected officials and the words and thoughts of Gary Grigg, who graphically told how he survived the destruction of New York’s World Trade Towers. Grigg was on the 61st floor of one of the towers when it was hit by a hijacked airliner. His description of that day will be forever etched in my mind. We’ll continue to remember and honor those who lost their lives on that day for simply being Americans.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH: “The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
— Albert Einstein