The Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame will be adding six new members in May.
They will be inducted on May 15 at 1 p.m. at the Gardens of Park Hills. The six members to be inducted are Benny Deaton (South Dearborn, IN), Denny Hurley (Covington Catholic), Bob Heimbrock (St. Xavier, OH), Jim Finn (Covington Catholic), Dustin Menetry (Beechwood) and Greg Menetry (Campbell County).
Here’s a brief profile on each of the new inductees.
BENNY DEATON, South Dearborn Indiana, 1982
COACHING
Benny began coaching track in 1992 at Ryle High school. Since that first assignment Benny has coached both Track and Cross Country at Ryle, Conner, Cooper, St. Henry and Newport Central Catholic.
He is currently the jumping coach at Mt. St. Joseph College. Benny has had numerous successes as a coach, coaching 33 athletes to Regional championships, 16 to Regional runner-up and each of these 49 athletes qualified for the State Meet, where Benny had five state champions, and seven state runner-up competitors.
Coach Deaton had the honor of being part of the coaching staff of teams that that won 9 regional Championship, and one second place Regional. In addition, he was on the staff of one State Champion team, one second place finish, one third place, and two fourth place finishes.
In Cross Country he had 4 regional runner-up finishes. In college at Mount St. Joe in three years he has had a jumper who finished fourth in the nation in the triple Jump, sixth in the nation as a long jumper, and fifth in the triple jump.
DENNY HURLEY, Covington Catholic, 1970
GOLF
Denny started golfing when he was in grade school. During this time he won several junior tournaments throughout the area. He won the Cincinnati Men’s Met Tournament at the age of 15, the youngest ever, in 1968.
In high school he won the 9th Region tournament for five straight years, the only player to ever accomplish this feat. He was named All-Region several times and All-State several times.
He was the State Runner-up in 1970 and received a full ride to Louisiana State University, where he played for four years. Denny’s list of accomplishments as a golfer: National PeeWee champ ’62, Cincinnati youth champ 1961-68, Faces in the Crowd ’68, KY Jaycee Jr. Champ 1966-69, Cincinnati Jr. Met champ ’68, Carran Memorial Champ ’68, Ft. Mitchell CC ’68, State Jr. Champ ’69, NKY Amateur Champ ’71. He was inducted into the CovCath HOF in 1980, NKY Golf HOF 2004 and Cincinnati legends of Golf 2005.
BOB HEIMBROCK, St. Xavier, Ohio
SWIMMING
Bob stared his swimming career at Brookwood Swim Club as an 8-year-old. He won the 25-meter breaststroke that year. He later rejoined the team as a 17-year-old and won the 100-meter breaststroke in league record time.
He then attended University of Kentucky and was the top breaststroker all four years. There was a league of Kentucky Colleges that held a meet at the end of the year. He won both the 100 and 200 breaststroke the two years the meet took place.
The UK Alumni Club of NKY awarded him Athlete of the Year. His junior year at UK he broke the school record in the 100 and 200. During his senior year he lowered both of those records which stood for eight years.
He recently started Masters Swimming. He owns the record in the 60-64 age group in Kentucky for the 50-yard and the record for the 65-69 age group in the 50-yard and 100 yards. He entered the National Senior Games in Pittsburgh and won the gold medal in the 50 and the silver medal in 100.
JIM FINN, Covington Catholic, 1970
SWIMMING-DIVING
Jim started diving at the Beechwood Swim Club from 1963-69. He was the Northern Kentucky league diving champion in both ’68 and ’69.
Jim was also the 3-meter Cincinnati Jr. Olympic champion in ’68. He also was a member of the AAU Cincinnati Coke Diving team from 1965-70, winning several meets along the way.
He then attended Covington Catholic where he won several meets including the Regionals and qualifying for state. He was the State Runner-up four years in row from 1967-70.
His accomplishments earned him a full ride to Western Kentucky University where he was the Kentucky Intercollegiate Champion in 1973, a meet that included nine different colleges from Kentucky. While at WKU he won several meets and set the school record in the 3-meter diving. He held these records from 1971-81.
DUSTIN MENETRY, Beechwood, 2005
FOOTBALL-BASEBALL-GOLF
Dustin got started early making the high school golf team as an eighth grader. During his freshman year he started on the varsity team in baseball and hit over .300. He lettered in varsity basketball and also made the All-Freshman Regional team. He started varsity football at cornerback and had four interceptions his sophomore year.
His junior year he was a two way starter at running back and cornerback. He was 1st team All-NKY in football, averaging 11.6 yards per carry rushing and 24.5 yards on punt returns.
His senior year he earned the MVP award in the KHSAA Class A state championship game, he made Sports Illustrated “Faces in the Crowd”, LaRosas POY, NKY 1st team offense and defense, Enquirer POY, KY Post POY, ICN6 POY, NKAC Division III POY, and the All-Bluegrass prep team.
Dustin then went on to Georgetown College, where he was a three-year starter and the second leading tackler his sophomore and junior seasons, and 1st team All-Conference during his senior year as a running back after switching to offense.
GREG MENETRY JR. Campbell County, 1995
FOOTBALL-BASEBALL-WRESTLING
Greg racked up 4,700 total yards on the football field in his Camels career. His senior year, he led the Camels to one of their best seasons ever, losing only to Boone County. Greg earned many accolades during his career, including team captain, NKY Top 24, “That’s My Boy” finalist, First Team All-State, and KY/TN All-Star Game MVP.
He earned a scholarship to Georgetown College, where he graduated with a Business Marketing degree. He was a running back and four-year starter from 1995-98. Greg and his teammates help launch a new winning tradition at Georgetown, winning the Mid-South Conference in 1998.
Greg was team captain his senior year and still remains in the top 10 in rushing attempts, rushing yards, and all-purpose yards. He has been elected to the Campbell County High School Athletics HOF and the Georgetown College HOF.