Four To Become Newest Triton Hall Of Famers
BOURBON – The Triton High School athletic department is proud to announce the next class to be inducted into the Triton Athletic Hall of Fame. The class of 2018 will be the eighth class inducted.
Todd Blackford, Matt Anders, Frank Kovaleski and Orion Lemler are the latest to join the class, which will be held in a ceremony in late February.
The first athlete to be inducted is 2004 graduate Todd Blackford, who was a ten-time varsity letter winner earning three letters in football, three letters in basketball and four letters in baseball. He was named the football and basketball MVP in 2003, and baseball MVP in 2002 and 2004. Blackford was also a member of the 2001 baseball state championship team and named to the 2004 All-State Baseball team. He was drafted as a pitcher in the 13th round of the 2004 Major League Baseball draft by the Atlanta Braves and was traded to the Chicago Cubs in 2005. Blackford played six seasons of minor league baseball, compiling a 29-19 record, with a 4.66 ERA.
The second athlete to be inducted is 2003 graduate Matt Anders, who was a four-time letter winner in track and field. He earned 15 individual conference championships in track and was named the track and field MVP three times (2000, 2001, 2003). He qualified for the IHSAA State Finals all four years, advancing four times in the 400-meter dash, finishing 17th place in 2000, 5th place in 2001 and 2002, and 12th place in 2003. Anders also qualified for State twice in the 200-meter dash, finishing 11th place in 2002 and 19th place in 2003. He is the current school record holder in the 100, 200 and 400-meter dashes.
Former football coach Frank Kovaleski will be the eighth coach inducted into the Hall. Coach Kovaleski was instrumental in getting the Triton football program off the ground. Just the second football coach in Triton’s history, he began teaching and coaching during the 1965-66 school year and coached and taught until 1970. Coach Kovaleski planned and helped build the current Triton High School football field. Mr. Kovaleski had a distinguished career in high school athletics, serving as Triton’s first athletic director, as the athletic director at New Castle High School for 15 years, Richmond High School for four years, and serving for the National Federation of High School Sports for 16 years.
Orion Lemler, a 2006 graduate, will be inducted as the 2018 Hall of Fame Contributor. Lemler has been a volunteer for the Triton athletic department for the past 10 years, creating the Triton Trojans Facebook page to document the boys basketball run to the 2008 State Championship. The following summer, the Triton Trojans Facebook page consolidated with the Triton Athletic Facebook page and the rest is history. Along with the Facebook page came the birth of the Triton Trojans Sports Network, an
online channel for broadcasting Triton Athletic events. Lemler is the lead engineer for all Triton broadcasts chronicling more than 500 varsity basketball games, and many baseball, cross country, golf, football, softball, tennis, track, volleyball and wrestling events.
The hall of fame will induct candidates in the following categories: athlete, coach, alumni and contributor. To be eligible to be inducted as an athlete, the candidate must be a graduate of Triton High School and must have participated in interscholastic athletics while at Triton. The selection committee will be looking for those athletes who set themselves apart by receiving, among other things, conference and state-wide recognition. In order to be eligible to be inducted as a coach, one must have coached at Triton High School for at least five years and must be inactive at the time of the induction. An alum is a Triton graduate who has made it a purpose to be involved with athletics beyond high school (ex. Officiating, broadcasting, college coach, etc). A contributor is someone who has given of themselves for the betterment of the Triton athletic department.
The class of 2018 will include two athletes, one coach, and one contributor. Triton athletic director Mason McIntyre said, “The selection committee did an outstanding job selecting the Class of 2018. The selection process is always difficult, but the committee was able to narrow it down to the group that they felt most deserved to be inducted into the Class of 2018.”
The Hall of Fame weekend will kick off with recognition of these inductees at halftime of the Triton against Knox boys basketball game on Feb. 23 at Plymouth High School.
The festivities will be continued during the induction banquet at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24 at the Back Forty Banquet Center in Bourbon. McIntyre will serve as the banquet’s emcee for the evening. Tickets for the banquet can be purchased in the Triton High School athletic office beginning Monday, Jan 29 for $25 per person and will include a meal. The last day for ticket sales will be Feb. 16.