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Borchert, Bill

Bill Borchert

Induction Year : 2009

Sport: Football

Bill Borchert saved his best for last. After a standout career at Holy Name High, the prolific playmaker took his talents to Mount Union College in Alliance. The Division III powerhouse was still in its infancy when it came to national championships; the Purple Raiders had just one to their credit when Borchert hit campus in 1994. After going 22-3 his first two season, including a pair of losses in the playoffs, Borchert guided the Raiders to consecutive 14-0 seasons and two national titles, jump-starting Mount Union’s 54-game winning streak. Along the way, his numbers, like those of the Raiders, were staggering. He completed 671 of 1,009 passes for 10,201 yards and 141 touchdowns. In the 1996 Stagg Bowl win against Rowan, he passed for a record seven touchdowns and 505 yards. A year later, the Raiders racked up 697 yards of offense against Lycoming, with Borchert supplying six scoring passes and 411 yards. Those feats did not go unnoticed as he was named the Division III national player of the year as a junior and senior, earning both the Melberger Award and Gagliardi Trophy in his final season. The Cleveland Touchdown Club honored him with the Joe Fogg Memorial Award as the premier collegiate player in 1997. Borchert is in software sales for IBM, based in Cleveland, and lives in Broadview Heights with his wife Erin and daughters Lauren and Emily.

Deceased 2022

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Browne, Mary K.

Mary K. Browne

Induction Year : 1976

Sport: Tennis

One of the first great female tennis players, Mary K. Browne was a three timesNational Singles champion and five time National Ladies Doubles champion, won the Ladies Doubles championship of England at Wimbledon and twice captained the International Wightman Cup Team. She was also the first female tennis player to turn professional, started the first woman’s tennis clinic in America and was one of the first women to be enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

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Busbey, Robert

Robert Busbey

Induction Year : 1976

Sport: Swimming & Diving

Robert Busbey won All-American designation three times in the free style sprints at Cleveland State University (then Fenn College) in 1948 and 1949. The dominant swimmer in the Greater Cleveland area from 1946 to 1950, he lost only four races in four years of collegiate competition against some of the best swimmers in the country. Robert broke over 100 records in NCAA and AAU competition, including a national record in the 50-yard freestyle that stood for 12 years.

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Abrams, Ted

Ted Abrams

Induction Year : 1976

Sport: Swimming & Diving

One of the first nationally-acclaimed swimmers from the Greater Cleveland area Ted Abrams set an American and world record in 1924 for the “plunge for distance”.  His mark of 84 feet, six inches has never been broken.

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Burke, Rose Boczek

Rose Boczek Burke

Induction Year : 1976

Sport: Swimming & Diving

An outstanding diver, Rose Boczek Burke won the national indoor championship for the ten foot (three-meter) board in 1928. A medal winner in Senior Championships from 1926 through 1929, she was also the Indoor and Outdoor Senior AAU State champion in 1926-27-28-30. Rose won numerous regional and inter-sectional titles between 1926 and 1930, and was founder and coach of the Ohio Women’s Swimming Association in 1935.

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Dorsey, Leo

Leo Dorsey

Induction Year : 1976

Sport: Basketball

Leo Dorsey was an outstanding forward, starring on leading teams in the Muny League from 1922 to 1930. A top scorer in Cleveland for many years, he averaged 19 points a game in the days when teams scored a total of 35 to 40 points. His clubs won six Muny crowns. Leo was a member of the Fairplay team that played the first basketball game ever in Cleveland Public Hall on January 30, 1922.

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Dorenkott, Al ‘Oppie’

Al "Oppie" Dorenkott

Induction Year : 1976

Sport: Basketball

One of Cleveland’s all-time great players, Al “Oppie” Dorenkott was a member of several of the city’s outstanding teams that won numerous Muny League titles in the 1920s and early 1930s. He was invited to join the famous Rosenblum-Celtics team in 1932, but declined. A guard, Oppie excelled in rebounding and was a superior play maker.

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Amico, Peter L.

Peter Amico

Induction Year : 1992

Sport: Basketball

A member of the East Tech and John Carroll Halls of Fame, Peter Amico went on to coach football, basketball and baseball for 25 years. He has officiated both football (45 yrs) and basketball (47 yrs) at the junior high school, high school and college levels. A rules interpreter of football and basketball rules for 25 years, Peter has received appreciation awards from The Cleveland Touchdown Club and The Basketball Coach’s Association.

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Dickenson, David S.

David Dickenson

Induction Year : 1992

Sport: Tennis

David Dickenson played on and captained the University of Virginia tennis team and in 1962 moved to Cleveland. He became the Greater Cleveland Men’s Champion in 1962, 1963 and 1964, and the Ohio State Claycourt Champion in 1962. He coached the Northeastern Ohio Junior Davis Cup Team in 1963 and 1964. David won the National 50’s Claycourt Championship in 1989 and has played in numerous national and international tennis competitions.  He and his wife Francis are a nationally ranked senior mixed doubles team.

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Caraffi, Ralph

Ralph Caraffi

Induction Year : 1992

Sport: Soccer

Born in Pennsylvania, Ralph Caraffi came to Cleveland in 1925 to play soccer for the American Hungarians and scored three goals in his first appearance to signal what was to be an exceptional career spanning several years. His team reached the Western Finals of the National Challenge Cup two out of three years, won the Ohio State Cup competition in 1926, 1927 and 1929, and was National Runner-Up in 1930. Ralph was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1959.

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