Corsoe, Chudzinski, Dempsey among upcoming City League hall of fame inductees

Seven athletes, two coaches, a team, and a distinguished citizen will be inducted into the hall of fame for the Toledo City League Athletic League at the Nov. 4 banquet at The Premier in Toledo.

The award for a distinguished citizen will be presented to Frank Corsoe, the former Blade executive sports editor who has forty two years in journalism including at three newspapers in Ohio Toledo, Akron Blade, Dayton Blade, Kansas, New Jersey, Connecticut and Virginia.

The honored team will be the 1973-74 Scott boys basketball team coached by Bunk Adams, the 22-3 team that advanced to the 1974 Ohio Class AAA state semifinals and started the Bulldogs City League championship five-year string.

The starting line-up of that team included Frank Steele, a second team All-Ohio in his senior season, and Truman Claytor who was selected as a first team All-Ohio before his junior year at UK when he was the team’s starting center on the 1978 NCAA champions.

Participating for their own athletic years will be Damian Byron Wilkerson of St. Francis de Sales (Class for 1969-football and baseball), Charles Haley Houston of the former Libbey High School (1970-basketball), Sean Patterson of Bowsher (1982-basked ball and baseball), Rob Chudzinski of St. John’s Jesuit (1986-American football, basketball and track), Theresa Early Scott(198

Following high school, Chudzinski began at the University of Miami (Fla.) for three years as a tight-end on the national championship rushing squads of 1987 and 1989. He advanced his career to be an NFL assistant coach, and took over as the head coach of Cleveland Browns in 2013.

They will be inducted for their coaching accomplishments: Doug Pearson, St. John’s (1982, football, track) and Greg Dempsey, Central Catholic (1990, football).

Pearson next coached head football at Start from 1995 to 2001 with 42 and 28 record then at St.Johns from 2002 to 2017 113 and 55. Pearson’s 2003 Titans got to Division I state semifinals, one of eight postseasons run during Pearson’s stay.

He came back to his college as assistant football coach, and participated in Third Division (1990-92), then joined the Start team as an assistant (1993-99) and became head coach in Central in year 2000 and becomes the most success football coach in Toledo’s senior team.

The fighting Irish in their 25th year under the stewardship of Dempsey have made it to the playoffs 23 time with a career record of 260-54, having won five state championships, finished second once and made it to the state semis thrice.

The Nov. 4 hall of fame banquet at the Premier (4480 Heatherdowns Blvd.) includes a social hour starting at 5:Vesper: at 6:30 p.m., supper at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets may be bought online at www.tps.org After reaching the home page, one can move to the Tickets and afterwards the “Toledo City Athletic Hall of Fame.” The deadline is Oct. 21. Admission to the banquet will not require ticket purchases.

For further information, please e-mail D.J. Eckhart, deckhart@tps.org.

First Published October 20, 2024, 4:11 a.m.