The Pima County Sports Hall of Fame elected 10 members last week and their numbers tell an impressive story:
Class of 2018 Hall of Famers Mark Carreon from Salpointe Catholic, J.J. Hardy of Sabino High and Ian Kinsler of Canyon del Oro High have combined to hit 504 home runs in major-league baseball.
State championship basketball player Julie Brase Hairgrove of Catalina Foothills, who piloted the Falcons’ 1997 state championship season, remains the all-time leading scorer in Arizona girls high school basketball, with 2,913 points.
Football coach Rich Ellerson of Salpointe, architect of Arizona’s Desert Swarm football defenses, won 80 games in a head coaching career at Army and Cal Poly, among other places.
Santa Rita grad Dave Feitl, who led the Eagles to the 1979 state championship game, played in 275 NBA games and scored 1,442 points as an All-WAC center at UTEP.
Salpointe grad Jerry Carrillo has coached Cochise College to 511 basketball victories, and has more than 700 in his career.
Sahuaro 2001 state championship pitcher Courtnay Foster won 80 games at Northwestern, leading the Wildcats to the 2006 Women’s College World Series.
Palo Verde grad Nanci Reid lettered in four varsity sports at Arizona, and spent 25 years as the interscholastics director at TUSD.
Tucson tennis pro/instructor Mark Hardy, the 1969 state champion at Catalina and an All-WAC player at Arizona, won more than 25 singles and doubles championships in various Tucson events before joining the ATP tour.
Additionally, Mark Hardy, the father, and J.J. Hardy, the son, will become the first father-son combination inducted simultaneously into the PCSHF, which began in 1990.
Chairman Pat Darcy, a former Cincinnati Reds World Series pitcher, announced that for the first time, two high school teams from Tucson will be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The 1972 Tucson High baseball team, 25-0 state champions, led by long-time big-league catcher Ron Hassey, will be the inaugural boys high school team inducted.
The 1972 Catalina High girls volleyball team, 18-0 state champions, coached by 1985 national coach of the year Mary Hines, will be the first girls team inducted by the PCSHF.
“We will induct two high school teams every year, one girls and one boys,” said Darcy. “As you can imagine, there is quite a list of deserving state champions to honor as we move forward.”
The annual Hall of Fame banquet will be held Oct. 28 at the DoubleTree Hotel.