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Moss, Rob

Rob Moss

Induction Year : 2019

Sport: Golf

When it came to the leaderboard at high-profile amateur and professional golf tournaments in Northeast Ohio, you could count on seeing the name Rob Moss at the top.

In record-setting fashion, the left-handed Moss became the first player to win the Professional Golf Association’s Northern Ohio Section Championship for five straight years from 2010 to 2014, winning at different area courses along the way. The Kent State University product matched those victories to be named the Northern Ohio PGA Player of the Year five times (2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2013).

He was the organization’s Professional of Year in 2010 and was a two-time recipient of the Bill Strausbaugh Award. He won the Ohio Open in 1999 and 2001 to further solidify his status as an elite player. He won the Ohio Open three times (1999, 2001 and 2005).

With his section championships, he participated at national PGA Championships in 2005 (Baltrusol), 2010 (Whistling Straits) and 2011 (Atlanta).

His professional career began with seasons on the Asian Tour (1994-98), South American Tour (1998) and the former Nike Tour (1996, 2000). As a senior player, he qualified for the 2019 Senior PGA Championship at Ohio Hill C.C. in Rochester, N.Y.

While at Kent State, he won the Ohio Amateur title at Moraine C.C. in 1989. With the Golden Flashes, he was an Academic All-American in 1989 and 1990. He graduated with a degree in Business Administration.

He began his club professional career as an assistant at Lakewood C.C. (2001-2004) and head professional at Elyria C.C. (2005-2008). He then moved to The Pepper Pike Club (2009-present).

His accomplishments earned him induction into halls of fame at Kent State (1999), Parma Athletic (2000), Padua Franciscan High School (2004) and the Northern Ohio Golf Association (2015).

He lives in Broadview Heights with his wife, Darci, and three sons.

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Lucci, Tom

Tom Lucci

Induction Year : 2019

Sport: Tennis

A straight set humbling in a junior tournament and the subsequent lonely walk back home played major roles in shaping the tennis career of Tom Lucci.

Lucci was only 14 and the tournament was his first. He lost all 12 games he played. The zeroes on the scoreboard motivated him to much bigger and better results, so much so that Lucci’s commitment has led to a trove of championships and honors.

He is the 18th inductee into the tennis wing of the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame.

Lucci was prominent while competing in high school, college, on the Association of Tennis Professional Tour, and in United States Tennis Association play.

His championship run began at the scholastic level when Lucci led Youngstown Chaney High School to three City Series titles (‘74 thru ‘76) as the team’s captain and co-MVP.

At the University of Central Florida, Lucci was part of a nationally ranked team that won a trio of Sunshine State Conference championships. Again, he was a team captain and MVP.

Like a fine wine, Lucci has gotten better with age. He has won nine USTA national championships, three as a single player and six in doubles, stretching from the 40 age group to the 60s.

Lucci continues to captain the USA’s Gordon Trophy team for a competition that originated in 1949 and pits the United States against Canada for players 45 and older. Established after World War II, the Gordon Trophy has been played annually. It is a team competition between Canada and the United States and features the highest caliber of tennis for players 45 and older. The Gordon Trophy’s long history has been held at some of the finest Clubs as the competition has alternated between Canada and the United States.

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Meyer, Urban

Urban Meyer

Induction Year : 2019

Sport: Football

One of the most successful coaches in college football history, Urban Meyer won three national championships and compiled a career record of 187 victories and only 32 losses in 17 seasons, averaging exactly 11 wins per year. His teams were ranked in the top 25 at the conclusion of all but two seasons and won 12 of 15 bowl games.

His national championships came in 2006 and 2008 at the University of Florida, but he celebrated the apex of his career at Ohio State, where he won the inaugural college football playoff national championship in 2014 and won Big Ten titles in 2014, 2017 and 2018. Meyer’s Buckeyes dominated the Big Ten with a 54-4 record, including a 7-0 record versus Michigan. His teams enjoyed winning streaks of 24 and 23 games, longest in Ohio State history.

Meyer, 55, is a native Buckeye. He was born in Toledo on July 10, 1955. His family moved to Ashtabula where he launched his football career at Ashtabula St. John, one of the smallest high schools in the state. From there he went to the University of Cincinnati where he played defensive back. He graduated in 1986 and set out to become a coach. His first job was at Illinois State as an assistant. From there he moved on to the University of Toledo as an assistant under Nick Saban.

His first head coaching job was down the road at Bowling Green in 2001 where he stayed two years and compiled a 17-6 record, which propelled him to the University of Utah where he continued to attract attention with a two-year mark of 22-2. Florida was next from 2005-2010 and Urban became a national coaching star with two national championships and a 65-15 record. Both Sports Illustrated Magazine and The Sporting News named him Coach of the Decade for the years 2000 to 2009.

Meyer took a one-year sabbatical from coaching in 2011 before returning to Ohio where he became the first college coach to win national championships in two different conferences. His teams won every division championship since the Big Ten adopted the division format. He produced 31 first-team All-Americans and 12 Academic All-Americans over his 17-year career.

Meyer stepped away from coaching after the 2018 season and moved into athletic administration as assistant athletics director in charge of fund-raising and community relations.

He and his wife Shelley have three grown children and continue to reside in Columbus.

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Miller, Tony

Tony Miller

Induction Year : 2019

Sport: Basketball Football

Tony Miller remains to this day one of the best all-around athletes produced by Cleveland’s athletic-rich Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School.

Born in Cleveland on April 16, 1973, Tony first made his mark in football, becoming the starting quarterback in his sophomore season, succeeding the heralded Elvis Grbac. As a junior, Tony led the VASJ Vikings to the 1989 Ohio state football championship in Division II, a time when the state football tournament was sub-divided into only three divisions. Today, the state football tournament consists of seven divisions. That remains VASJ’s only football title.

Tony excelled equally in basketball. He was a four-year starting point guard and led the Vikings to the Division I state championship in 1992. He was the captain of both football and basketball teams.

He was not heavily recruited for basketball because it was believed he intended to play football in college, which was not the case. Marquette basketball coach Kevin O’Neil, however, was persistent and landed Tony as his star recruit. Tony actually exceeded expectations. He was the starting point guard for all four years from the beginning of the season in 1991 to the end of the season in 1995. He was the catalyst for Marquette’s back-to-back NCAA tournament teams. In 1994, Tony was the primary reason Marquette could break Kentucky’s full-court press and advance to the sweet sixteen. The next year, with Tony again in the starring role, Marquette reached the championship game of the NIT tournament.

For his college career, Tony averaged 8.3 points and 7.8 assists. His total of 956 assists ranks eighth all-time in Division I college history.

Tony continued to play professionally for 13 years, mostly overseas in Belgium, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and England. He was an all-star in the Dutch League.

After returning to the United States, Tony coached at Southern Cal, St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, Cal., and Cal State Los Angeles. He is now retired.

He was inducted into the Marquette Hall of Fame in 2011.

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Malloy, John

John Malloy

Induction Year : 2019

Sport: Hockey

Hockey in Northeast Ohio had a good friend in John Malloy. Make that a great friend.

The veteran high school and prep team coach was also instrumental as an administrator and coordinator at numerous levels of the game. Whether it was winning a record number of games from the bench, establishing competitive balance for levels of play, or helping to increase skating programs, Malloy maintained a principled focus of respect.

A native of Cincinnati and graduate of Miami University, Malloy’s high school coaching career began in 1981 at Cleveland Heights High, where he went 292-88-5. The Tigers were state champions in 1987 and runner-up the previous season. During two seasons at Rocky River High, his teams went 36-24-2 and won a pair of Baron Cup II titles.

He joined Gilmour Academy as the school’s first prep team coach in 1998 and became the school’s high school coach in 2004, going 278-225-33 through the 2018-19 season. The Lancers were state runner-up in 2008 and a final four club in 2011. His winning totals place him near the top of the Ohio High School Athletic Association coaching ranks.

Malloy was instrumental in establishing parity for the growing Greater Cleveland High School League with the formation of divisions for competitive play. To that end, the Great Lakes Hockey League was formed in recent years for the top-tier area teams.

Just as important during his Gilmour Academy tenure, the school’s arena was expanded and opened to the community with skating classes and youth hockey. Malloy’s duties expanded beyond coaching as an administrator.

As a player at Miami University, Malloy still held the records for most assists in a season (52), assists in a game (6), assists in a period (5) and points in a period (5). In foretelling his future behind the bench, he coached the school’s club team in 1980-81 to a 30-0-1 mark.

Malloy is married to wife Erin, with children J.T. and Jayne.

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Chapman, Otis

Otis Chapman

Induction Year : 2019

Sport: Racquetball

Otis Chapman is one of the most decorated players in the history of racquetball. From 1987 through 2010, he collected 32 national and international championships in either singles or doubles play.

For his extraordinary accomplishments, he becomes the first-ever inductee into the racquetball wing of the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame.

Remarkably, the induction is Chapman’s fifth in a sports Hall of Fame.

His first, for softball in 1970, was into the Jewish Recreation Council/Jewish Community Center. Next came entrance into the Ohio Racquetball Association in 1989. Induction into the Greater Cleveland Softball Hall of Fame came in 1991, followed by inclusion into the International Masters Racquetball Hall of Fame in 1996.  

Chapman turned to racquetball after a torn Achilles tendon ended a very productive slow-pitch softball that saw him win seven national and city championships.

He didn’t start competing on the courts of the Cleveland YMCA until he was 45 and won his first racquetball title at the age of 53 in 1985 in the national doubles tournament. 

Before he put down his racquet, Chapman had won 15 international championships in just 13 years (from 1998 through 2010). All but one of the titles came in doubles, including the 2010 Men’s 75+ division when Chapman was 77 years old.

He also won eight national singles championships (from 1987 through 2000), five national doubles crowns (from 1985 through 1998) and four consecutive national masters doubles titles from 2007 through 2010.    

Chapman, at age 87, remains in top physical shape and while he has dozens of trophies, plaques, and medals, he says he is most proud of an award that cites him for good sportsmanship and fair play.

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