The Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame will present five awards at hits 40th summer reunion later this month.
The event, scheduled for Wednesday, August 17 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Gardens of Park Hills (1622 Dixie Highway, Park Hills), will feature former Northern Kentucky Norse and Cincinnati Bearcats men’s head basketball coach John Brannen as guest speaker.
The recipients
Mel Webster will receive the Bill Cappel Volunteerism Award. Webster, who died in March at the age of 69, was head softball coach at Bishop Brossart High School from 1992 to 2022 and a member of the Northern Kentucky Athletic Directors Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame in September, 2016.
Webster was a softball umpire for 22 years and was considered to be a local authority on Title IX, the federal law that expanded access to athletics for women and girls. He was a member of the coaches corner exhibit at the Behringer-Crawford Museum in Covington, which honored the top 69 coaches in Northern Kentucky.
The award is named for Bill Cappel, a founding member of the sports hall of fame, and co-founder of the Northern Kentucky Umpires Association as well as the sports complex in Covington that bears his name.
Former Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball head coach Nancy Winstel will receive the Pat Scott Lifetime Achievement Award. Winstel played at NKU from 1974 to 1977 and then served in a variety of coaching roles before leading the basketball program for 28 seasons, compiling a record of 615 wins and 207 losses and two national titles from twenty NCAA Division II tournament appearances.
The award is named for Pat Scott, a Walton native and graduate of St. Henry High School who pitched for the Fort Wayne Daisies in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She died in 2016.
Judi Gerding is set to receive the James “Tiny” Steffen Humanitarian Award. Gerding is the founder of the Point/Arc in Covington, which serves individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The award is named for James “Tiny” Steffen, a member of the Northern Kentucky and Covington Catholic sports halls of fame. He died in 2020.
Robert Griffin will be presented the Dr. James Claypool Pioneer Award. Griffin is a Pendelton High School graduate and a member of the first basketball team at what was then called Northern Kentucky State College, now NKU.
The Griffin family supports NKU Athletics Boosters programs as well as Covington Catholic and St. Henry high schools. He is the co-owner of Griffin Elite Sports and Wellness and is a member of the 10th Region and Northern Kentucky Sports halls of fame.
The award is named for Dr. James Claypool who founded the NKU athletics program in 1970.
The Tom Fricke Service Award will be presented to Teddy Kremer, best known as the bat boy for the Cincinnati Reds in 2012 and as author of the book, Stealing First: The Teddy Kremer Story. The 39-year old Down syndrome patient was prom king at Colerain High School in Ohio.
The award is named for Tom Fricke who created the effort to display sports history items at the Behringer-Crawford Museum. He died in 2015.
The Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame 40th Year Summer Reunion is open to the public. The ten dollar admission includes food, cash bar, split-the-pot and door prizes.
Profits go to the scholarship fund. In 2022 the Hall of Fame awarded seven $1,000 Jack Aynes Scholarships from this fund.