PLYMOUTH – Plymouth High School honored some of the most important members of the Athletic Department on Friday night – people that have kept contests and teams moving forward to the excellence that they have attained at PHS over the years but may have gone unnoticed.

 

Several years ago Plymouth AD Roy Benge felt that the volunteers that make Plymouth athletics possible should be honored in some way and came up with the idea of an “Athletic Support Staff Hall of Fame”.

 

Friday night Plymouth honored it’s initial inductees into that hall.

 

Deb Davis

Deb kept the scorebook for girls basketball games for a total of 17 years. The first three of those years were at Lincoln Junior High and after that 14 years for Plymouth High School.

She was a staunch supporter of Plymouth basketball but more than that she was also a good friend to the players and coaches of the teams she served over the years. In addition she could have been considered an addition to the coaching staff aiding the coaches after a home game she would tabulate stats and fax the results to the print media so they could be viewed in the newspaper the next day.

Deb’s award is posthumous and the chairs used for the teams benches at Plymouth basketball games were also bough in her honor by her family.

Diane Eveland

Diane was an elementary school teacher in Plymouth from 1965 – 2003. She has worked for the PHS Athletic Department for over 50 years.

Diane is a familiar face to Plymouth sports fans as she was likely the first person they have seen at any home game. She sold game tickets at football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, wrestling, track, and softball over the last 50 plus years.

Besides selling tickets at PHS sporting events, Diane also has kept a scorebook in volleyball and basketball.  For a short period of time, she even learned how to run the scoreboard during wrestling meets.

Diane is proud of her perfect attendance for working every home football and boys basketball game over the last 50 plus years.

Herb Eveland

Herb was an art teacher at Lincoln Junior High and Plymouth High School from 1967 – 1998.  During that time, he has had several jobs for the PHS Athletic Department.

His involvement started parking cars in the days when Rockie football games were played at Lincoln Junior High before the current facilities were constructed.

Herb also has run the scoreboard for boys basketball, girls basketball, football, track, wrestling, and volleyball games.  He continues to serve the PHS Athletic Office in working several sporting events each year.

Frank Holloway

Another posthumous award, “Pops” was a fixture at Plymouth High School athletic events for over 65 years. Even in his later years he was still able to recall certain athletes or athletic events as he approached his 100th birthday. Pops was a charter member of the Plymouth Athletic Booster Club.  

Always dressed in his Big Red best attire at events he loved to wear his Big Red sweatpants with his name on them.  His favorite pregame meal at football, basketball, and baseball games was a hot dog and a red Powerade.   A plaque honors the seat he always sat in while attending a Plymouth Pilgrim baseball game at Bill Nixon Field in Centennial Park.

Pops died just four months short of his 100th birthday. 

Jim Maurer

Jim was an Industrial Arts teacher at Plymouth High School from 1963 – 1999.  During that first year in 1963, he also started filming Plymouth High School sports.  Jim has filmed PHS sporting events for over 50 years.

Over the years, Jim has filmed girls basketball, boys basketball, baseball, volleyball, soccer, tennis, and track. Coaching staffs for all of that time benefited from Jim’s attention to detail and unique ability to catch the right footage to be the most beneficial. Countless PHS athletes and teams benefited from film study that was possible because of Jim’s selfless work.

Jim continues to serve the PHS Athletic Department by filming baseball, girls basketball, and volleyball games.

Mike Mercer

Mike was a Social Studies teacher at Lincoln Junior High from 1962 – 2007.  During that time, he served as a junior high basketball coach for 30 years.

For nearly that long he led the Plymouth 13-15 baseball program that was the introduction of most future Pilgrims to the Plymouth baseball program. He has been a positive influence in the life of countless students and athletes in his time in Plymouth.

He also served the athletic department at PHS and Lincoln Junior High by driving a bus and transported student-athletes to various venues around Indiana. He has also run the clock at varsity football games since 1964, been a track coach, and PA announcer at basketball games.

John Oliver

John came to America from England in 1962 at the age of 18.  He came to Plymouth in 1966 as a laborer and worked at Ireco Aluminum.

Moving up the corporate ladder at Ireco, he became president in 1977.  By 1986, he became the owner and renamed US Granules.

John has not only been a benefactor of the athletic programs at Plymouth he has been greatly involved in the community with volunteer work with the United Way and St. Joe Regional Hospital.

In 1996, his leadership and financial backing built the baseball stadium in Plymouth to honor former head baseball coach Bill Nixon.  For his continuous contribution to high school baseball in Indiana, he was inducted into the Indiana High School Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009.