Inducted 2008

Joining its predecessors from 1973 and 1974 as members of the Elyria Sports Hall of Fame will be Elyria Catholic’s back-to-back state champion cross country teams. Under the direction of Steve Currier, EC won the 1977 championship. Two runners – junior Bill Kukucka and senior Brad House – finished in the top 15 as the Panthers won with a score of 106. The following year, Hall-of-Fame coach Dick Elsasser returned after a two-year hiatus to lead the Panthers to an incredible winning score of 43 which remains the lowest in the history of cross country state meet. All five Panther runners finished in the top 15 at the meet. Sophomore Ron Rick finished fourth, sophomore Mike Wirscham sixth, senior Adam Rick seventh, senior John Murphy 12th and senior Kukucka 14th as EC finished in front of runnerup Navarre Fairless by an incredible margin of 84 points. Only 22 seconds separated EC’s top five runners in 1978 and all five turned in their best times of the season at Columbus.