MADISON TOWNSHIP — There will be no shortage of star power when the Madison Athletic Hall of Fame welcomes its inaugural class of inductees later this year.
Nine luminaries will be enshrined, along with the 1997 state championship volleyball team, at the Aug. 12 induction banquet at the Mid-Ohio Conference Center. Tickets for the event are $25 and will be for sale beginning in May.
The list of individual enshrinees includes Mike Blevins, Tom Ellis, Joe Jakubick, Sunny (Litteral) Jones, Rory Meister, Ryan Pore, Melissa Stone-Watters, Sue Subich and Nate Yetzer. Here’s a closer look at their accomplishments.
Mike Blevins
A 1997 graduate, Blevins is among the greatest, if not the greatest high school sprinter in Richland County history. He won Division I state championships in the 100 meter dash in 1996 and 1997 and the 200 in 1996. He was runner-up at the Division I state meet in the 200 in 1997 (21.53). Blevins very nearly won a team state track championship all by himself as a junior in 1996. He scored 20 points by winning the 100 (10.70) and 200 (21.73). That was good enough for a runner-up finish to Akron Buchtel, which finished with 22 points to claim the Division I team championship. As a senior, he set a state meet record by blazing to a 10.51 in the 100 finals. Blevins also won Junior Olympic and AAU national championships in the 100. He still owns school records in the 100 (10.51) and 200 (21.49). He continued his career at Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he was an All-American.
Tom Ellis
A Korean War veteran, Ellis was Madison’s wrestling coach from 1961 to 1979. He led the Rams to Cardinal Conference championships in 1965, 1966, 1973 and 1979 and to J.C. Gorman team titles in 1965 and 1966. Six of his wrestlers qualified for the state tournament. Mike Owens placed third at 138 pounds in the Class AAA state tournament in 1973 and Jim Burch was fourth at 120 pounds in 1965 (the state tournament wasn’t divided into enrollment classes before 1971). Ellis is still a regular at Madison sporting events. The annual Tom Ellis Wrestling Classic is named in his honor.
Joe Jakubick
A 1980 graduate, Jakubick was one of the greatest high school basketball players in Richland County history. He scored 940 points in just two seasons at Madison after transferring from St. Peter’s. He averaged 18.4 points a game as a junior and 24 points a night as a senior, leading the Rams to a Cardinal Conference crown. Jakubick played collegiately at the University of Akron, where he scored 2,583 points. He led the nation in scoring as a senior and is still the Zips’ career scoring leader. He was inducted into Akron’s Hall of Fame and had his jersey retired.
Sunny (Litteral) Jones
A 1995 graduate, Jones is arguably the greatest female athlete in Madison history and one of just three former athletes to have their jerseys retired at Madison. Jones was a two-time Ohio Heartland Conference Player of the Year in softball (1994, 1995), the OHC girls soccer Player of the Year in 1993 and the girls basketball Player of the Year in 1995. She was an All-Ohioan in all three sports. Jones went on to star at Division II Ashland University, where she was a four-time first-team Division II All-American and the Division II Player of the Year in 1999. She still owns AU’s career records for at-bats (654), hits (294), runs scored (200), RBIs (294), triples (32), home runs (44), stolen bases (63) and games played (220). She was inducted into AU’s Hall of Fame in 2010. She was selected by the Akron Racers in the 1999 Women’s Pro Softball League draft.
Rory Meister
A four-sport athlete, Meister earned 13 varsity letters and was an All-Ohioan in baseball, soccer and football before graduating in 2003. The right-handed pitcher was a member of three Division I regional runner-up teams at Madison. He is the program’s career leader in wins, strikeouts and earned run average. Meister played college baseball for Ohio State, where he ranks eighth in career appearances (90) and sixth in career saves (15). He was a member of two Big Ten tournament championship teams (2005, 2007). He once won five games in eight days for the Buckeyes.
Ryan Pore
The 2002 graduate was one of the most prolific goal scorers in Ohio high school soccer history. Pore scored 62 goals as a senior and 154 in his career — he ranks second on the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s single-season goals list and fifth on the career scoring list. In addition to his soccer exploits, Pore is Madison’s career scoring leader in basketball with 1,347 points. He played college soccer at Tulsa and was a finalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy, college soccer’s Heisman Trophy. Pore was drafted by the Kansas City Wizards in the second round of the 2005 MLS Super Draft and played 58 games with the Wizards. He then starred for the Portland Timbers from 2009 to 2011, scoring 25 goals. Pore is now the head men’s soccer coach at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Madison retired his jersey.
Melisa Stone-Watters
A 1993 graduate, Stone-Watters won Division I state championships in the 50-yard freestyle and 100 freestyle in 1991, 1992 and 1993. She qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 50 free as a junior and had the fastest time in the country in the 50 when she graduated. Stone-Watters swam collegiately for the University of Michigan, where she won Big Ten championships in the 50 free (1994, 1995) and the 200 backstroke (1996). She was a College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of American All-American in multiple individual and relay events during her stay in Ann Arbor. She went on to a successful coaching career at Lexington.
Sue Subich
A 2011 Ohio High School Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee, Subich was the architect of Madison’s powerhouse program during the Ohio Heartland Conference era (1987-2002). She piloted the Rams to the Division I state championship in 1997 and a return trip to the Final Four after pocketing a state poll championship in 1998. She first piloted Madison to the state semifinals in 1993. Subich was 395-114 in 20 seasons at Madison with 11 district titles and three OHSVCA Division I poll championships (1994, 1995, 1996). Subich’s mastery of the OHC was legendary. She led the Rams to 15 conference titles in the OHC’s 16 years of existence and was the OHC Coach of the Year 11 times. Madison was a combined 140-8 in OHC play under Subich.
Nate Yetzer
A 2000 graduate, Yetzer won a Division I state wrestling championship at 145 pounds during his senior year after taking runner-up honors at 140 pounds as a junior. He is Madison’s only boys state wrestling champ. Yetzer went on to star at Division I Edinboro (Pa.) University, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in 2003, 2004 and 2005. He was a 2004 All-American, placing eighth at 174 pounds. Yetzer has coached at the collegiate level since his wrestling career ended and is currently the head coach at Division III Roanoke College in Salem, Va.
1997 Madison Volleyball Team
This was the best squad of the Sue Subich era, which made a habit of reaching the volleyball Final Four. The Rams made six state tourney trips between 1993 and 2011. But the 1997 squad was the best of the bunch, ripping off a 26-3 record and living up to its No. 1 ranking in the state polls by winning the Division I state title in a thrilling trip to Wright State University. The Rams were led by their twin towers at the net, Megan Pease, a first-team All-Ohioan who went on to play at Dayton, and Bethany Brafford, who earned a scholarship to Minnesota. The Rams knocked off Cincinnati Seton in the semifinals, then rallied in the championship match to top Stow-Munroe Falls, 6-15, 15-9, 15-7 for the first state crown in school history.
