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Five individuals, one team set for induction

SALEM — Five individual athletes, along with the entire 1984-85 boys basketball team, comprise the Salem High School Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2018.

The individuals are Martha Willaman (Class of 1925), basketball; Tom Fisher (Class of 1970), football and basketball; Tim Cope (Class of 1976), basketball and track; Marty Hergenrother (Class of 1982), basketball; and Abigail Hill Berkman (Class of 1997), soccer. In addition, the late Terry Metts, a longtime Salem Junior Baseball Association coach, has been selected to be honored with the Joe Kelley Spirit of Salem Award.

The induction dinner and ceremony will take place Sept. 6 at the Salem Community Center, along with a special recognition at the home football game on Sept. 7. The event will mark the 14th anniversary of the Hall of Fame, an independent, nonprofit entity guided by a committee of local citizens.

Reservations to the dinner are available in person at the Salem Community Center, 1098 N. Ellsworth Ave., or by phone with a major credit card at (330) 332-5885. Reservations will be accepted through Aug. 27 or until the event is sold out.

Nominations for the Hall of Fame are accepted from the public each year. A permanent display inside the main entrance of the Salem gymnasium honors all inductees.

Following are career highlights of the 2018 selections:

Martha Willaman

Class of 1925

Basketball

Martha Willaman, who was affectionately nicknamed “Danny,” was an all-state forward and one of Salem High School’s earliest stars in girls basketball, the only interscholastic sport then available to girls at Salem High School.

Willaman was the younger sister in a family of notable Salem male athletes. Sam Willaman (1909) played pro football alongside Jim Thorpe for the Canton Bulldogs and was a successful head coach at Iowa State and Ohio State. Sam was inducted into the Salem Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015. Brother Frank (1916) was a starter for an Ohio State team that went to the Rose Bowl. He was named Big Ten All-Conference. Brother Dan also played for Ohio State. However, as one knowledgeable source claims, “Martha may have been the best pure athlete of all of them.”

At one point in her sophomore season over a five-game span, Willaman had scored 83 of her team’s cumulative 89 points. Overall, she scored 270 out of the team’s 335 points for the season.

Despite missing three games in her junior year (1923-24), Willaman was the leading scorer for a team that went 9-4. Her 150 points bettered the next highest scorer on the team by 57 points.

In her senior year Willaman led the team to a sensational season and a 13-2 record under new head coach Loretha Potter, Salem High’s first female coach. Both losses came at the hands of Struthers.

The season culminated with the girls’ third consecutive county championship.

Despite often being aggressively guarded and double-teamed, Willaman, as a senior, averaged 23 points a game on a team that collectively averaged 35 points a game for the season.

Some of her high games included 38 points against Wellsville, 29 against Ravenna and 27 against Boardman. That was a lot of scoring in an era when teams rarely scored more than 50 points and typically averaged much less a game.

In 1925 Willaman led the state of Ohio in scoring with 346 points. Amazingly, that total was more than the combined total of 328 points scored by Salem’s opponents.

At season’s end, one Salem News sportswriter lamented the team’s loss of Willaman to graduation by describing her as “a player without peer in the county for four years.”

Willaman chose to attend Iowa State, where two of her brothers, Sam and Frank, were coaching football.  After Frank’s untimely death in 1926, Martha decided to continue her studies at Ohio State, where Sam had just been hired and where her other brother, Dan, was a student.

In 1930 Martha married John Siskowic (1922). Siskowic captained the Salem football and basketball teams, quarterbacked the College of Wooster football team, and later became a longtime teacher, football coach and athletic director at Struthers High School. Together they had four sons, John, Sam, David and Paul, all of whom were outstanding football players for Struthers.

Tom Fisher

Class of 1970

Football/Basketball

The May 1970 Quaker newspaper pronounced Tom Fisher its “Athlete of the Year.”

Fisher, a three-year starter on the Salem varsity football team, starred at both offensive and defensive end. The 6-1, 195-pound Fisher was named first team all-county on defense his junior year. A two-way starter his senior year, he led the defense in almost all statistical categories (tackles, tackles for loss, sacks, and fumbles caused and recovered).

Fisher’s outstanding play earned him first-team all-county recognition for a second year. He was named Salem’s MVP and Defensive Player of the Year. In addition to the local honors, Fisher was named all-Ohio and was chosen to play for the North in the state’s prestigious North-South All-Star Game.

Primarily known for his football abilities, Fisher also excelled at basketball. In 1969-1970, SHS played one of the toughest basketball schedules in the state and went 15-6. Coached by John Cabas, the team won five of its first six games and defeated powerhouses such as Toledo Libbey and Columbus Walnut Ridge. A three-year varsity player and starter, Fisher averaged 10 points a game his senior year, and was named honorable mention All-Ohio Big 8 Conference.

During his senior year, Fisher was courted by several college football programs and ended up signing a commitment for a four-year scholarship with Bowling Green State University.

At BGSU, Fisher was a three-year starter at defensive end and was named as the Mid-American Conference player of the week many times. He was also named Sports Illustrated’s player of the week for his performance against Purdue. Fisher was garnering interest from NFL teams but suffered a shoulder and nerve injury that prevented him from pursuing a pro career.

After BGSU, Fisher came back to Salem to teach physical education and to coach. One of the young men Fisher coached in football and track while at Salem was Rich Karlis (’77), who walked on as a football player at the University of Cincinnati and later kicked in the NFL from 1982 to 1990.

Fisher remained at Salem for a few years until an opportunity came for him to coach in Bradenton, Fla. He was eventually offered the head coaching job at Zephyrhills High School just north of Tampa.

Over the next 20 seasons, he became Zephyrhills’ most successful football coach of all time. His teams made eight playoff appearances and won four conference championships and four district titles. Fisher received Coach of the Year awards in 1989, 1994, 1995 and 1997.

In 2017 Fisher was honored when the Zephyrhills school system named its field at Bullog Stadium “Tom Fisher Field.”  

Fisher still resides in Zephyrhills with his wife, Gail. They have three daughters, Amanda, Kelsey and Hali, and two grandchildren.

Tim Cope

Class of 1976

Basketball/Track 

Tim Cope was a standout in both basketball and track for the Quakers in the mid-1970s. As a basketball player, he was a part of a three-year run that saw the Quakers build an impressive 49-18 overall record. During that time the team earned three sectional championships, finished as the district runner up, and won a district championship. At one point, Salem had a 17-game home winning streak.

One of the senior basketball captains for coach Len Hardman’s team, the 6-2 1/2 Cope had many stand-out games. On Homecoming Night, he led the scoring with 22 points and added 15 rebounds to help the Quakers defeat a previously unbeaten Youngstown South team. In a one-point loss to a strong Canton Timken team, Cope had 24 points and 17 rebounds. Cope, with his natural jumping ability, was also known for his shot blocking.

In track, over the same three-year span, the Quakers were 20-1 in dual meets and won the Columbiana County title every year.

On March 30, 1976, not long after his basketball season ended, Cope participated in the first track meet of his senior season. With a mark of 6-feet-6 he won the high jump and broke the school’s 20-year-old high jump record held by Jack Alexander.

In the next several meets, he either broke his own record or the meet record. For example, on April 3 he set a new meet record at the Tri-State Track Meet. On April 5 he jumped 6-7 to break his own school record.

On April 10 at the Ward Invitational Track Meet, Cope set another school record by going 6-9. This height also bettered the old meet record by five inches. Less than a week later at the Spartan Relays, Cope went 6-9 1/4.

Cope placed third in the high jump in Ohio’s state track meet his senior year with a jump of 6-9 1/2.

After high school Cope attended Mount Union College, where he was a valuable member of the basketball team for four years. While there, he scored 1,236 career points, 16th on the list of Mount Union’s all-time scorers.

Cope also participated in track at Mount Union. In 1977 he attained All-America status by finishing fourth in the high jump with a mark of 6-9 at the Division III national meet.

Cope currently resides in Virginia with his wife, the former Mary Ospeck, (Salem ’75). They have two adult children — Jason and Jessica.

Marty Hergenrother

Class of 1982

Basketball

Marty Hergenrother could do it all on the hardwood. A three-year letter-winner, Hergenrother’s outstanding abilities during his sophomore season were recognized when he was named to the All-Big Eight Conference team, a team that included Barberton’s Alvin Robertson, a future all-star NBA player.

As a junior, Hergenrother was known as the area’s best ball handler. He averaged 11 points per game, with an impressive 20 points per game average in his final three games.

The 10-10 Quakers entered tournament play with high hopes. However, Hergenrother was forced to miss the sectional opener against Howland due to mononucleosis. The “Red and Black” ended up losing the game by one in double overtime. That year Hergenrother garnered AAA/AA All-Area Salem News first-team and All-Columbiana County second-team honors.

The 6-0 guard was eager to start his senior campaign. And what a campaign it was. Hergenrother paced the Quakers with 23 points, nine assists and nine rebounds in an early season 66-61 win over Ravenna.

In perhaps the biggest win of the season, Hergenrother scored 25 points, dished out nine assists, and pulled down seven rebounds in a 64-63 win against the 15-2 and eventual MVC co-champion Campbell Memorial Red Devils.

In his very next game, he scored 28 points to help the Quakers defeat Warren JFK 74-73. The win moved the 10-6 (7-2) Quakers into a first-place tie in the MVC late in the season.

Despite a 20-point, 10-assist, seven-rebound effort from Hergenrother, the Quakers dropped the next contest to rival Canfield 57-55.

On Senior Night to close out the regular season, the savvy guard scored 25 points against Struthers, with 11 coming in the first quarter.

Hergenrother opened tournament play with a 14-point, 13-assist and five-steal performance in a lopsided Quaker victory over Woodrow Wilson.

The stellar guard scored 15 points in his final game as the Quakers came up short in a sectional title loss to the Niles Red Dragons, 64-56. The Quakers finished the 1981-82 season with an overall record of 13-8 (8-4 and second place in the MVC).

Hergenrother’s final season statistics were eye-popping. He averaged 17.2 points a game while shooting over 50 percent from the field. He also averaged 10 assists, eight reboundsand six steals per game. His achievements helped him earn Columbiana County AA/AAA and Salem News Co-Player of the Year honors to go along with being first team All-MVC.

Hergenrother earned widespread praise from both coaches and media alike. A high school basketball beat writer from the Cleveland Plain Dealer referred to Hergenrother as “one of the finest, if not the best all-around guards I’ve seen all year.” And not to go unnoticed was his defensive ability, praised by head coach Rick Hackett at season’s end.

Hergenrother resides in Salem with his wife, the former Cathy Clark (Salem ’82), and their children, Marta, Clark, Camden and Mick.

Abigail Hill Berkman Class of 1997

Soccer

Abigail “Abby” Hill is considered one of the best female soccer players in school history. Instrumental in the efforts to establish the first girls soccer program at Salem, Hill was a three-year captain and helped lead the team, coached by Harry Mays, to immediate respectability.

In 1994, the team’s first season in existence, Hill, only a sophomore, guided the Quakers to a fantastic start. The girls won their first six games, tied their seventh game, and won two more before suffering their first loss to Lakeview.

The final record for that first year was 13-5-1 with a sectional championship. In those 19 games Salem outscored its opponents 70 goals to 22 goals.

Hill led the team with 30 goals. One of those goals was a game-tying goal with only nine seconds left in the second overtime that sent the Quakers into a shoot-out and led to their sectional title victory over rival Lakeview.

Hill also had four assists, 46 steals and five game-winning goals.

The leading scorer in the conference and in the district, Hill earned All-MAC and All-YDSSCA first team honors. She was named Salem’s MVP.

As a junior, Hill scored three goals in her first two games. However, she faced a setback and missed the remainder of the season with a knee injury.

In her final season as a Quaker, Hill came back strong from injury and scored 17 goals. She earned All-Ohio second team and All-District first team honors, along with being named to All-MAC and All-YDSSCA first teams. She also helped lead SHS to another winning record of 7-6-4. For her career, Hill amassed 50 career goals (including nine game-winners) and 85 steals.

She concluded her career at Salem holding two records–most goals in a game (eight) and most goals in a season (30).

Upon graduation, Hill continued her academic and athletic career at the University of Findlay, where she was an All-American Scholar Athlete.

Hill resides in Houston, Texas, with her husband, Dr. Eric Berkman, and children, Aidan, 17, and Avery, 4. She currently serves as the chief development officer at Elite Surgical Affiliates.

Hill joins fellow classmate Sarah Fennema (2015 inductee) as the only two female soccer players in the Salem High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

1984-85 Boys

Basketball Team

After a rough football season in 1984, many people were looking forward to the basketball season to start as Salem had several returning starters and some impressive underclassmen who were ready to make their mark on the basketball program.

The team, led by head coach George Spack and his assistant, Jerry Allen, featured seniors Brad Jones, Joe Noll, Dave Edling, Jon McCracken and Dave Milheim, and juniors Brad Capel, Rich Huffman and Rich Elias.

The Quakers had one of the best starts to the season for any Salem team, going 14-2, and losing those two games by a total of eight points. Those two losses were to Ursuline High School, which was led by All-Ohioan and D1 recruit Shane Johnson, and Girard High School, which had All-Ohioan and D1 recruit Nick Cochran. The team finished the year 18-2 during the regular season and was crowned Mahoning Valley Conference champ.

Night in and night out, this team, led by co-captains Jones and Noll, worked incredibly well together and had the balance that is needed for team success. There was a perfect blend of height with Jones and McCracken, both 6-6, speed with Edling and Milheim, and outstanding ball handling and passing by Noll. Capel was an outstanding shooter, and Huffman and Elias brought athleticism and brawn underneath. Other members of the team were Dale Jenkins, Joe Marks, Chip Null, Damian Roelen, Paul Schlueter, Mike Slanker and Rich Wrask.

This group of people had one main goal at the beginning of the season — to win the MVC championship. The basketball program had previously tied for two league championships, but never had won a title outright.

One of the many highlights for the season was when Girard came to town after having upset the Quakers earlier in the season. Over 3,000 fans pushed their way into the Quaker gym for what was supposed to be the classic matchup of the year. Instead, it turned out to bethe classic blowout of the year as the fans helped encourage the Quakers to an 83-50 win.

Offensively, Joe Noll led the way with 19 points and 12 assists. Jon McCracken, after sitting out most of the first meeting between the schools with foul problems, came back and completely shut down Girard’s inside game. Brad Jones had 18 points and 12 rebounds. Dave Edling was next in scoring with 14 points, and Dave Milheim came off the bench to score eight big points.

After the regular season the Quakers headed into the tournaments and won their first game against Youngstown South before losing their second game to Warren Harding. Nonetheless, it was a magical season and many great memories were made.

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