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Koziol, Sue

Sue Koziol

Induction Year : 2004

Sport: Softball

One of the finest all-around female athletes ever to come out of Cleveland, Sue Koziol starred in basketball at Lincoln-West High and later at Cleveland State where she established a peach basket full of records and also managed to work in a school record javelin toss in track. When she elected to test the arm that enabled her at age 14 to set a Junior Olympics Softball Throw record of 232 feet in flag football, she quarterbacked her Hennie Homes team to seven national titles, winning seven Offensive MVP awards along the way. But it was as a softball shortstop that she rose to the heights of the extraordinary. Already a recognized star in the sport when she began playing for Cleveland State, she led the Vikings to the OAISW Regional Championships and a spot in the national tournament, earning first team All-American honors in 1982 while also garnering the first of her four awards as the team’s Most Outstanding Player. After her graduation in 1986 through 2001 she would win a total of 13 Women’s Class “A” All-World All-American awards while competing in the U.S. Slow Pitch Softball Association and ASA, and playing on six USSA national championship teams. She was selected the MVP of the USSA World Series in 1987, 1989 and 1992 and the MVP of the National Triple Crown Championship Tournament in 1992. Capping her career, she was chosen in 1993 for the USSSA’s All-Time All-World Team, one of just 12 players to be so honored. She is currently living in Cleveland and teaching and coaching at Lincoln West.