The Knox County Historical Society will host the second induction class for the Knox County Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday, June 24. Attendance at this event is limited to family and friends of the inductees; however, a program honoring all past and present inductees will be scheduled for the general public later this year.
The eight inductees
Howard “Red” Blair, a 1918 Mount Vernon graduate, was a two-time First team All-Ohioan in basketball and he went on to attain All-Big 10 honors in both football and basketball at Ohio State. He spent the next 25 years coaching championship teams in both basketball and football at Akron, and football at Missouri State. He has been inducted into both schools’ Hall of Fame.
Dr. Larry Cline, D.D.S., is a 1957 Danville three-sport standout. He led Knox County in scoring his senior year, scoring 540 points while leading the Blue Devils to an undefeated season in football. He was a record-setting quarterback at Otterbein University before signing with the Boston Patriots first, and then the Saskatchewan Roughriders, where he was their starting QB for four games before a career-ending injury.
Coach J. D. Graham, a 1965 St. Vincent graduate, took the reins of the Newark Catholic Green Wave football team at age 24, and over the next 21 years won seven OHSAA championships, including four in a row from 1984-1987, going 63-1. During his tenure as athletic director, the school won 18 team state championships. His winning percentage of 87.6% is the highest in Ohio high school history for coaches with more than 200 wins.
Cliff Carpenter is a 1974 Mount Vernon High School (MVHS) graduate who was a First team All-Ohio linebacker and who was also a three-year starter for Bowling Green. His baseball skills eventually evolved into his being voted one of the top slo-pitch players in the nation, as he has hit more than 5,000 home runs, including one game in which he hit six. He is still a premier player in the over-65 division.
Don Smith, a 1982 Fredericktown graduate, passed up National Signing Day his senior year to wait on an appointment to West Point. Once there, he helped revitalize an Army team that had gone 12-28-4 in the preceding four years. In his last two years, he helped the Black Knights compile a 17-6-1 record and beat Michigan State and Illinois in bowl games. Smith became Army’s first First team All-American since 1968, and in November 2022, he was given the institution's ultimate athletic recognition, induction into the West Point Athletic Hall of Fame in which post-playing accomplishments are as important as on-field ones.
Tonya Booker, a 1991 MVHS graduate, was First team All-Ohio in basketball as well as Ohio’s Gatorade Player of the Year. She was the starting point guard for Illinois her senior year and received the school’s single Medal of Honor awarded to the female athlete with the highest GPA for all sports.
Matt Buirley, a 1994 Mount Vernon graduate, was a First team All-Ohio running back after his 2,221 yards propelled the Jackets to a Regional Final in which he gained 260 yards in his final game. He was a finalist for “Mr. Football” in Ohio and was Ohio’s Gatorade Player of the Year in baseball. He chose to play baseball at Ohio State before playing six years in the minor leagues for the Expos, Pirates and Reds.
Ami Stevens Crawford, a Centerburg grad, played on arguably the most dominant volleyball team in Knox County history. Between 2000 and 2003, the Trojans went 114-5 with four Final Four appearances, two of which were losses in the final, before they won it all her senior year when she had 22 kills in the semis and 24 in the final. She was then a four-year starter for Ohio State and played on the U.S. Junior National team, which is the pipeline for the U.S. Olympic team.
The Knox County Sports Hall of Fame is located within the Knox County Museum, 875 Harcourt Rd. in Mount Vernon. The event will take place June 24 from 2 to 4 p.m.
