Class of 2021 officially inducted into Dover High School Athletic Hall of Fame
DOVER — For the Class of 2021, its a case of better late than never.
The Dover High School Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2021 was officially inducted Friday night during ceremonies at the Tuscarawas County Senior Center on behalf of the Dover Tornado Club and the Dover High School Athletic Department.
After foregoing the 2020 induction due to COVID restrictions, the Class of 2021 got their due Friday night after their normal fall 2021 induction date was postponed due to the continuing pandemic.
Like the previous induction classes, the inductees included a cross section of different sports and decades from Dover’s rich athletic history.
The Class of 2021 included: “Legend” Bill Beitner (Class of 1929), Jacob Lengler (Class of 1952), Jon Ebert (Class of 1969), James Black (Class of 1980), Adam Donehue (Class of 1997) and Kate Fishley (Class of 1998) as well as the 2014 Girls Division II State Championship golf team consisting of Katlyn Shutt, Allison Mills, Alexis Wilkinson, Mackenzie Dale and Tatum Symons along with head coach, Eric Adams.
In addition, the Athletic Hall of Fame inducted the late Ron Whetstone and Douglas “Ray” Meldrum for their Distinguished Volunteer Service to Dover High School Athletics.
Michael Gunther served as Master of Ceremonies for the induction program.
Here’s a look at the inductees from bios listed in Friday night’s program:
BLACK A multi-sport athlete excelling in football, wrestling, and track, James had his most individual success in wrestling, but he eventually earned All-American honors in football at the University of Akron that ultimately led him to the National Football League.
His wrestling career was stellar with a career dual meet record of 33-0-1, and he was the first wrestler in school history to twice place at the state tournament, finishing 8th as a junior and 4th as a senior, both leading to his earning All-Ohio honors as a junior and senior.
Even more impressive was that in his three-year wrestling career, his teams posted a remarkable dual record of 42-0 under the direction of Hall of Famer Paul Mowrey.
On the football field, playing for coach Tom Redman for two years and then coach Joel Cockley as a senior, he emerged as a major threat during his senior year as the starting tailback, rushing for 1,019 yards and scoring 16 touchdowns en route to his team’s undefeated season.
His finest hour came at Crater Stadium versus North Canton Hoover when he rushed for 200 yards and scored twice to lead Dover to a 36-27 victory.
Two weeks later, he rushed for 124 yards as the Tornadoes defeated New Philadelphia 28-7. His accomplishments resulted in his being a first team selection on both the Cardinal Conference and Eastern District All-Star teams and third team All-Ohioan.
On the track, he was a sprinter and long jumper who still holds the school record in the long jump with a leap of 22 feet, 4 inches, still the longest standing track record in school history.
Following graduation, James had an extraordinary football career at the University of Akron. From 1980-83, he rewrote the record book by establishing game (295), season (1,568), and career (3,054) rushing marks.
Today, he still has more than a dozen school records including once setting an NCAA standard with 52 carries in one game.
His accomplishments led to his being named honorable mention All-American in both 1982 and 1983, and in 1992, he was elected into the University of Akron Sports Hall of Fame. Following his Akron career, he started his career path in the NFL where he was a Cleveland Browns running back but gave up that dream to pursue acting — fewer broken bones in that profession!
James was a series regular on the drama The Burning Zone and showed his comic chops as a regular on Eddie Murphy’s animated series The PJs. On the big screen, he has starred with George Clooney, Kurt Russell, and Jennifer Lopez, among others.
Overall, he has credits in over 140 films and TV shows as well as over 100 commercials. Recently, he co-starred as a recurring character Reggie Cooper on the TV show All American, which can be seen on the CW Network and Netflix, and just last week he finished filming yet another production in Oklahoma.
DONEHUE When considering our next inductee Adam Donehue’s long list of accomplishments as qualifiers for induction into the Dover High School Athletic Hall of Fame, it must be noted these individual awards contributed to the success of every team he played on throughout his high school career.
A poster hanging in Adam’s bedroom stated, “I want to be the player that makes others wish they were on my team,” accurately depicting the intensity of his play.
When Adam transferred to Dover from Newcomerstown as a sophomore, he brought with him three varsity letters and the determination to prove he could play with the best . . . and he did exactly that — starting in 30 varsity football games, earning 11 more varsity letters in three sports, and becoming the top overall repeat state placer in the history of Dover wrestling.
At the end of his senior year, after earning state recognition as a 1st Team All-Ohio football player, he was selected to play in Ohio’s prestigious North-South All Star Game, and from a team perspective, he was an integral part of Coach Ifft’s first ECOL title.
His list of football accomplishments parallels his even longer list of wrestling accomplishments.
As a 4-time State qualifier and 2-time State placer, Adam is the highest State placer and one of the few 2-time placers in the history of Dover Wrestling and the only 4-time qualifier.
After winning over 100 high school wrestling matches, he went on to wrestle at Ohio State University.
Adam never experienced an “offseason” in high school. His dedication to Dover athletics continued throughout baseball season, serving as team captain during his senior year when the Tornadoes won the ECOL championship.
His impact on his peers and his coaches could also be seen as he was chosen as a team captain in every sport he participated. However, perhaps the driving force behind Adam’s qualifications for tonight’s induction is his private “claim to fame” that, as a Dover Tornado, his personal record against the New Philadelphia Quakers in all sports he participated, is a remarkable 17-1.
Today, he serves as an assistant wrestling coach at Olentangy Liberty High School while also working full time at Key Bank as a Regional Sales Leader.
Other notable accomplishments in his life include the running of several marathons and half-marathons as well as two Ironman competitions. He and his wife Jessica — the former Jessica Rippel, a 1997 DHS graduate — currently reside in Powell, Ohio, where they are raising their three children: Charlie, Piper, and Blaise.
FISHLEY Considered to be one of the most natural athletes ever to come through the Dover Girls’ athletic programs, Kate Fishley excelled in basketball and volleyball and participated in track as well for the Lady Crimson Tornadoes during the era of great girls’ athletic teams of the 1990s and was instrumental in leading the Tornadoes to not one, not two, but three state tournament appearances: two in volleyball and one in basketball.
A four-year starter in basketball, she played on a regional semi-finalist as a freshman and junior, a district finalist as a sophomore and a state runners-up as a senior.
While her basketball accomplishments were many, her senior year is when her excellence shined the most.
Averaging nearly 17 points per game, she was asked to play every position on the court, even point guard during crunch time. In the regional semifinal, she scored 26 points, but her best performance came in the regional championship game where she hit 9 of 13 shots from the field and also made 14 of 17 free throws for a total of 32 points for the evening, one of the best individual performances by a Dover athlete in school history.
In the state tournament semifinal the following week, Kate made two free throws with 0.3 seconds left to end Wauseon’s 52-game win streak, following that with 19 points in the State Championship game.
Primarily because of her outstanding leadership and skill, the Lady Tornadoes ended her senior year as the 1998 Division II State-Runners-up and Kate was named the State Tournament MVP.
Perhaps as equally impressive s her 1,072 career points is that during her four years on the court, her teams were 82-16.
As a volleyball player, she also was a four-year letter winner, contributing to a record of 50-6 during her junior and senior years, when she led her teams to the State Final Four in 1996 and 1997.
Along with the Lady Tornadoes basketball team, these are the only State appearances ever for these two programs. Kate’s volleyball awards are many including District 5 Player of the Year as a junior, first team District 5 in both her junior and senior years as well as Second Team All-Ohio her senior year, resulting in her playing in the Division II Ohio All-Star…
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