Played with Harlem Globetrotters for nine years, later served as playing manager of New York Broadway Clowns and the Vancouver Royals. With Globetrotters he played more than 15 games against the College All-Stars, never losing, and also played on the winning team in the 1946 World International Cup Tournament in Mexico City. Played high school basketball at East Tech, co-captaining the team and leading it in scoring.
Outstanding righthanded pitcher who enjoyed a 20-year major league career with the Cleveland Indians. Won 223 games, lost 186 and owned a lifetime earned run average of 3.80. Was the starting pitcher for the Indians first major league baseball game ever played in Cleveland Municipal Stadium. After his retirement as an active player, served for many years as pitching coach for Cleveland.
As a coach in several different sports and then as a leader in the Police Athletic League programs, he has served untold numbers of youth. While Golden Gloves and Amateur Boxing have been the particular focus of his interest, he has also provided leadership in a broad spectrum of youth oriented sports activity. His responsibilities have also extended to leadership at the national level.
A winner of numerous City, Northeastern Ohio and State Championships from 1966 to 1985 in Singles and Doubles Competition. A durable competitor, he was elected to the Dartmough College Hall of Fame in 1985. Was named Captain of the U.S. Squash Team that competed in the World Championships in 1983 in Auckland and repeated in the position in 1985 in Cairo.
A hurdler in the 1948 Olympic Games, she subsequently moved to Cleveland and more recently has distinguished herself as a competitor in the Master Program. In the Masters Pan American Games in Canada she won and set records in the Shot Put, Discus and Javelin. In 1983 she placed 2nd in the Shot Put and Discus and 4th in the Javelin in the World Masters Games and then again as recently as 1985, in the 55 to 60 years age group, placed 4th, 4th, 6th respectively in those same events.
Became Cleveland’s AAU and Golden Gloves 126 lb. Champion in 1930, as well as capturing the National AAU Junior Championship. He repeated as City Champion the following year adding the Chicago Golden Gloves title. A memorable international match at Soldier Field saw him defeat the French champion.
He arrived in the United States in 1978 bringing an impressive dossier of soccer credentials with him from native Finland to make a major impact on American soccer first as a player, and later as a player coach and eventually solely as a coach and teacher. Nowhere had that impact been stronger than in Ohio and particularly in the Greater Cleveland area. He began his American career in the North American Soccer League, playing for three years there and also playing indoors with the newly formed Major Indoor Soccer League. He joined the Cleveland Force for the 1982-83 season and gave the city its first genuine indoor soccer hero during five seasons in which his Nordic good looks and scoring feats so captivated the town that in a 1985 Plain Dealer poll asking readers to name the Top Ten Greatest Athletes in Cleveland sports history he finished third behind Bob Feller and Jim Brown. When the franchise floundered he left to join the Baltimore Blast in 1987-88 and 1988-89, only to return triumphantly as player-coach of the reborn Cleveland Crunch in 1988-89, continuing as a player here until his retirement in 1993. When his career in the MISL ended he ranked second in assists, third in points scored, eighth in total games played and 10th in goals scored and had the privilege of seeing his Number 12 become the first number retired in the 24-history of Cleveland indoor soccer. He has since served in a variety of coaching positions in professional, amateur and youth programs, and in 2005 became the head women’s soccer coach and assistant to the director of athletics at Cleveland’s Myers University. He lives in Rocky River.
Earned a place for himself amongst Cleveland’s best-known sports writers during a career that spanned a remarkable 50 years, twenty-four of them as the beat writer for Cleveland Browns. During the lengthy career he covered many of America’s prime sporting events, including World Series, Kentucky Derbies, Super Bowls, Indy 500s, College All-Star Games, and the National Golf Opens. His Plain Dealer columns—Plain Talk, Extra Points, and Off the Cuff—were required reading for two generations of sports fans. He was the winner of the 1980 Pro Football Writers Association’s Dick McCann Memorial Award for Distinguished Reporting of Pro Football, and also was honored with the Cleveland Touchdown Club’s Meritorious Service Award in 1987, and the Society of Professional Journalists Distinguished Award in 1990. He retired in October 1993 and, at the time of his induction, was in his 41st year as a resident of Bay Village.
Deceased 2008
Seven years his brother Fred’s junior, he already had a 10-year professional career etched on his record when he was traded by the Montreal Canadians to the Cleveland Barons joining his player-coach brother for the 1964-65 season. A fiery right winger, he had begun his pro career with Winnipeg of the Western League where he set a record for most rookie goals. Drafted by the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks in 1958, he played briefly with Chicago then moved to Calgary. He played for the Buffalo Bisons of the AHL in 1958-60, carrying on a fierce rivalry with brother Fred, then played two years with the Detroit Red Wings in 1960-62, accumulating 21 goals and eight assists in his first season there and performing solidly as a checker when the Red Wings reached the Stanley Cup final. In his six seasons with the Barons he reached double digit totals in goals scored five times, highlighted by a career best 41-goal outburst in 1967-68 to earn the team’s MVP award. After retiring in 1969, he left his son Michael in Greater Cleveland where he remained deeply involved in coaching high school and minor league teams and frequently hosts his famous dad.
The Glover Brothers
Fred and Howie Glover become only the fourth pair of siblings to be inducted into the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame when they are honored tonight and only the second to be inducted together, joining swimmers Gretchen and Christine Kluter who were honored in the first induction ceremonies in 1976. Paul Fina was inducted in 1978 for his feats in gymnastics and brother Louis followed in 1984. For sheer numbers, however, the Milkovich family still stands alone. Wrestlers Tom (1976) and Pat (1986) are enshrined with their father Mike, the legendary Maple Heights High coach who was honored for meritorious service in 1978.
One of the American Hockey League’s greatest stars he would become one of Cleveland’s most popular players after joining the Cleveland Barons in 1953. Prior to that he had played for the AHL’s Indianapolis Capitals in 1948-49, put in a pair of brief stints for the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL, returned to Indianapolis where he led the league in scoring with 48 goals in 1950-51 and was named to the league’s first all-star team. Called back to Detroit, he played 54 games for the Red Wings in 1951-52, helping them to the Stanley Cup. In the 15-year stint with the Barons which was to follow, the last five of which he also served as the team’s head coach, he would lead them to Calder Cup championships in 1954, 1957 and 1964, before retiring in 1968. At that time he was the league’s career leader in games played, goals (520) assists (814) and points scored (1,334). A six-time all-star, and two-time AHL scoring leader, his Number 9 was retired in 1969. He died at his home in Hayward, CA in August, 2001 at the age of 73.
The Glover Brothers
Fred and Howie Glover become only the fourth pair of siblings to be inducted into the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame when they are honored tonight and only the second to be inducted together, joining swimmers Gretchen and Christine Kluter who were honored in the first induction ceremonies in 1976. Paul Fina was inducted in 1978 for his feats in gymnastics and brother Louis followed in 1984. For sheer numbers, however, the Milkovich family still stands alone. Wrestlers Tom (1976) and Pat (1986) are enshrined with their father Mike, the legendary Maple Heights High coach who was honored for meritorious service in 1978.