Nineteen former Palm Beach Gardens High School student-athletes, coaches and administrators were inducted into the school’s inaugural Sports Hall of Fame Feb. 28 during a ceremony at the school.
Palm Beach Gardens High School inducted its first class into the school’s Sports Hall of Fame Feb. 28. The class includes athletes, coaches and administrators. (Photo provided)
Former Major League Baseball player and announcer Tommy Hutton served as master of ceremonies during the event, which included remarks from Palm Beach Gardens principal Larry Clawson, athletic director Bill Weed, and the athletes.
Eighteen of the 19 athletes attended the ceremony.
The 2016 class includes: Joe Grahe (baseball); Darren Studstill and Emanuel Cook (football); Julie Brand Gallup (golf); Alex L’Heureux (cross-country and track); Jackie White (swimming); Cindy Gordon (softball); Caroline M. Williams-Hill (track); Harry Joseph (wrestling); Andrea Harper (basketball); Meredith (Merrianne McCall) Freeman (volleyball, basketball, softball); Fred Brown (football, basketball); Xon Williams (basketball); Randi Goldblatt Cohen (soccer); Mickey Neal (golf coach and athletic director); Tom Mullins (football coach); Jim Arbogast (basketball, cross-country, boys volleyball, bowling coach); Dr. Ed Eissey (principal); and Jay Rader (athletic director).
“Those athletes inducted in the first class represent a cross-section of individual state champions and team sport standouts who went on to professional careers, numerous all-state selections and Palm Beach Gardens Athletes of the Year,” said Rader, who was the driving force behind the Hall of Fame. “Several were deemed ‘possibly the best, or among the best’ in sports history in that sport.”
Coaches and administrators include those who were instrumental in the early stages of Palm Beach Gardens athletics, and set the stage for later coaches and administrators, Rader added.
