They played football, basketball, baseball and softball in high school and college, and they ran track, cross country and swam.
They coached teams to state titles and won tournaments and served as teachers and athletic directors, and one became a professional musician.
Yes, the seven newest members of the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame – Bryan Clemons, Dan Molique, Kim Gunning, Laura Schild, Margaret Wilkerson, Ryan McKenzie and Tom Leonard – inducted Wednesday at the Gardens of Park Hills – bring impressive resumes.
Bryan Clemons, Covington Catholic Class of 1983
Clemons ran track and cross country for the Colonels, and he averaged 12.7 points a game on the basketball team. He’s a member of the Colonels’ 1,000 Point Club for basketball (The Louisville Courier-Journal named him All-State Honorable Mention his junior and senior seasons) and was part of the Colonels 1982 state champion cross country team.
Clemons played basketball at Bellarmine University in Louisville, where he was named top defensive player his senior season. CovCath’s track and cross-country coach at the time, the late Jack Kaelin, recruited him.
“I fell in love with everything (Kaelin) had to offer, all the respect I had for him, the life lessons he taught me,” Clemons said.
Dan Molique (Ludlow 1984)
Molique was an All-State Honorable Mention selection in baseball his senior season.
Baseball was Molique’s favorite sport. After high school, he walked on at the University of Tennessee, but after a knee injury he transferred to Wilmington College, where he was named Co-Pitcher of the Year in 1986.
Molique has been involved in coaching in the Boone County Knothole, the NKSA Soccer Select Team, and the NKY Youth basketball programs for over 12 years.
When Tennessee beat Texas A&M for the Division I Men’s College World Series title in June, Molique texted former teammates. He also teases Kentucky fans about what the Volunteers did to the Wildcats.
“I’m still a Kentucky basketball fan,” Molique said. “But for football and baseball, it’s Go Vols.”
Kim Gunning (Villa Madonna 1978)
Gunning is the assistant athletic director at St. Ursula Academy in Cincinnati. Wednesday’s honor was the newest in a lengthy list – she’s also in the Northern Kentucky Athletic Directors Association, Villa Madonna and Notre Dame and Buddy LaRosa halls of fame.
She also received the KHSAA Outstanding Leadership Award as the top administrator and the
Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky Women’s Sports Association’s Lifetime Service Award.
Gunning was a five-sport athlete at Villa Madonna – volleyball (she was an all-state selection), softball, basketball, track and swimming. She played volleyball and softball at Northern Kentucky University.
After college, Gunning coached volleyball, basketball, swimming and softball at Villa and was athletic director from 1983-88.
Becoming Notre Dame’s volleyball coach and athletic director is maybe where you know Gunning best – she led the Pandas to three state titles and seven second-place finishes between 1989 and 2014.
“For me, it’s been the ability to make a difference in the lives of my students and my players,” Gunning said.
Laura Schild (Notre Dame 1978)
Schild led the Pandas to the 1987 Ninth Region basketball title.
But she made a name for herself in golf. Among her tournament titles: three in the Northern Kentucky Women’s Amateur, three Senior events, six in the Greater Cincinnati Public Links and three in the Met Amateur.
She also qualified for the Oldsmobile Championship and the U.S. Golf Association Public Links Championship.
Which is pretty good for someone who didn’t pick up a driver until her mid-20s. Schild took up golf because she tired of sitting around – she started at Twin Oaks Golf Course in Covington.
Schild especially enjoyed winning Cincinnati tournaments.
“We had a very difficult time being accepted into going to play women’s tournaments in Cincinnati,” Schild said. “… A lot of us weren’t members at private country clubs – that’s the god’s-honest truth – and they didn’t like us going over there and beating their girls.”
Ryan McKenzie (Ludlow 2000)
At Ludlow, McKenzie was a four-year letterman in football plus three years in basketball. At Morehead State, he was a four-year starter as a defensive lineman.
McKenzie works in sales but is also a self-taught guitarist/singer/songwriter, a passion he picked up in his 20s.
“It kind of replaced football for me,” he said. “I play around a lot locally; I’ve been in Nashville the last 5 and a half years. I feel music right now is going to rock, a little more rock side right now.”
Tom Leonard (CovCath 1972)
Leonard was a member of the Colonels’ 1969 state championship team, and he finished second in the regional tournament.
“We were the first team to win a state championship,” Leonard said. “I think it was any sport.”
For a moment, CovCath’s title was in jeopardy – Leonard said there was a scorecard discrepancy after the opening round.
“One of my buddies signed a scorecard that was wrong,” Leonard said. “But (officials) said it was an error that wasn’t enough to disqualify them. They came back and won on the second day.”
Leonard later won five Summit Hills Country Club championships and was medalist five times, and he’s been medalist and two-time runner-up in the Northern Kentucky Amateur and medalist in the Cincinnati Met amateur\.
“I think the club championship was better because I played against some really, really good players – Jimmy Volpenhein, (former PGA pro) Steve Flesch, (former PGA player) Ralph Landrum, Don Niehaus,” Leonard said.
Margaret Wilkerson (Beechwood 1974)
Wilkerson’s been a fixture on local golf courses since the ‘70s. She’s won eight Fort Mitchell Country Club women’s championships and two Northern Kentucky Women’s Amateur trophies and been the runner-up 17 times.
Wilkerson’s father, Bill Wilkerson, played golf, and she wanted to come along.
“I just nagged him,” Wilkerson said.
What you notice – and perhaps appreciate – about Wilkerson is her self-deprecating sense of humor. She said she’s probably been beaten by most of Northern Kentucky’s best golfers.
Wilkerson said being an NKSHOF member was an unexpected pleasure.
“It’s one of those things words can’t describe,” she said.