A ten-time All-American pick at ASA National Slow Pitch Tournaments, Ida Jean Hopkins was chosen as the tournament’s most valuable player in 1967, 1968 and 1970, when she was the tourney’s leading hitter with a .704 average. She played fastpitch softball for ten years before switching to slow pitch in 1960. Ida began managing slow pitch teams in 1964, and coached her teams to eleven Regional ASA Tournament wins in 12 years and the national tournament in 1967.
During a pitching career spanning 17 years of topflight competition, Warren “Fireball” Gerber recorded over 500 wins, including 50 no-hitters. He averaged 15 strikeouts per game during his career and pitched four perfect games, once striking out 20 of 21 batters. Fireball had a 40-0 record for Columbus Ferguson’s national runners-up in 1939. In 1945, pitching for Cleveland Allmen Transfer, he turned in three consecutive no-hitters as his team won the city championship.
William Hann was one of the all-time basketball greats to come out of the Cleveland school system, where he was an All-Ohio pick twice and an All-American as a high school senior. At the University of Tennessee, he led the Vols to three consecutive 20+ win seasons while garnering honors which included All-NIT, All-Southeast Conference and All-American.
Elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1963. Began his 13-year major league career as an outfielder with Philadelphia in 1898. Came to Cleveland in 1902 and played with Cleveland until he retired in 1910. Completed a lifetime batting average of .315 and was so highly regarded that Cleveland refused to trade him for Ty Cobb when the Detroit Tigers proposed such a deal in 1908.
Elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1962. Considered one of the greatest righthanded pitchers of all time. Joined Cleveland Indians in 1936 at age 17 and struck out 17 batters in one game that season. In 1938 he set a major league record with 18 strikeouts in a game. Went on to break virtually every modern strikeout mark, pitching three no-hitters and 12 one-hitters while winning 266 games.