Tedford to speak at Hall of Fame induction

The sixth class of the Greenwave Hall of Fame, which includes the founder of the organization, will be inducted Saturday.

Mayor Ken Tedford, who played on state championship teams as a Greenwave student in the late 1960s and early 1970s and who has been an ardent supporter and cheerleader for youth sports, is this year’s speaker.

The GHOF class will meet for a mixer at the Grid Bar and Grill on Thursday for inductees to see old friends who competed for the Greenwave. They will tour the Hall of Fame displays Friday at the Elmo Dericco Gym before being introduced prior to the football game.

The dinner is Saturday at the Fallon Convention Center. Tickets are still available and may be reserved by emailing kaseycchu@gmail.com. This year’s Hall of Fame class honors contributors, athletes, teams and a coach.

Paul Orong, who founded the Hall of Fame more than six years ago, will be inducted along with four others into the Contributor category. In all, five contributors, five athletes and three teams will be honored at Saturday’s ceremony. Along with Orong, Greenwave broadcaster Larry Barker, Jim and GeorgeAnne Ritter, softball coach John Short and John Huckaby will be inducted.

The Ritters were well known in the wrestling community. Their son, Mickey, will also be inducted in the Athlete category.

Short was a top assistant coach for the Greenwave and Oasis Academy softball programs where both teams won state titles.

Huckaby contributed to both baseball and golf and established the junior golf program in 1985 and running it until 2020.

Athletes Pete Leavitt (1961) and Kelly Frost (1983), and wrestlers Mickey Ritter (1991), Dan Shaw (2000) and Glenn Shaw (2002) will be inducted.

Leavitt was quarterback of the football team, played point guard in basketball and pitched Fallon to a state title in 1958. He played for Nevada, including a performance when struck out 22 in a one-hitter, to go along with five years of playing semi-pro ball.

Frost was a three-sport athlete and excelled in softball before being named the school’s Female Co-Athlete of the Year in 1983. Frost, who also played basketball and volleyball, became a four-year letter winner when she played softball at Nevada.

Ritter, whose parents will go into the Hall of Fame as contributors, leads the trio of state championship wrestlers who will be inducted. Mickey Ritter finished 145-16 and captured two state championships before wrestling for Cal State Bakersfield in the Pacific 10 conference.

The Shaw brothers dominated the mat in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Daniel Shaw won two state titles and received All-American honors at the Tournament of Champions. Glenn Shaw won a state title in his senior year and placed second at the World of Wrestling Championships.

Three teams — the undefeated 1953 and 1954 girls basketball teams, and the 1963 state championship football team — are also being recognized.

Tedford will offer a historical view of Greenwave athletes and teams. Prior to this week’s induction ceremony and activities, the Fallon native reminisced about teams and athletes he remembers while a youngster and then student in Fallon.

“I really didn’t go to too many athletic events until my (future) brother-in-law played,” Tedford said. “Johnny Nunn, as an individual, was quite a baseball and football player. I remember watching him play.”

Nunn went on to receive major accolades in his senior year as all-state quarterback and Back of the Year. Tedford compares Nunn to another quarterback who played in the 1970s, Randy Beeghly. He said Beeghly, who was small like Nunn, led the Greenwave to state championships under Coach Tony Klenakis.

Like so many young boys before him, Tedford said he and his friends would play their brand of football on the grassy part past the goal posts at Bradley Field. On the main field, the Greenwave was locked in their Friday night under the lights competition. Tedford, though, recognized the players such as Ben Peck, who carried the football, Rod McCormick and Gary Imelli.

Tedford agrees that Val York, who graduated in 1957, may have been the greatest athlete to graduate from CCHS. York went on to compete for the University of Nevada before joining the Army and flying helicopters in Vietnam.

During his youth, Tedford and his friends grew up near the former West End School where they would play basketball on the school’s south court. Those days on the court and also on the diamond at Oats Park formed Tedford’s desire to be a Greenwave athlete. As a sophomore at Churchill County High School, he saw championship players such as Charley Hall, Mark Winans, Jack Beach, Ronnie Holmes and Rick Lewis refine their skills and become better players to lead Fallon to state titles.

“They had fabulous teams,” Tedford described. “Charley and Mark were the big guys, and Jack was in the middle. He could sniff out the passes. They pressed a lot and were good at it.”

That team was coached by the legendary Wint King, who also guided Fallon to a 1971 state AA basketball title.

“My team was big,” Tedford said. “I was a 6-foot, 2-inch point guard. “We grew up together and were part of the youth basketball program beginning in fourth grade.”

Also playing with Tedford in high school were Don Lattin, who also played for the University of Nevada, Reno, and Doug Maupin.

Tedford and the other players who played for King shared the same opinions: King was a strict disciplinarian who guided Fallon, and then Reno High School, to great success. Tedford’s 1971 team defeated Douglas 66-59 to win a state title.