Inducted 2000

On a May day in 1935, it’s doubtful that the four Elyria High runners would realize their performance would bring them lasting prominence but they did know they had accomplished something pretty special. No Elyria High mile relay team had ever gone the distance in less than three minutes, 40 seconds before that memorable day in May, 1935. At the state track meet, the team of Bob Vanek, Chuck Streicher, Don Hull and Bob Roe did just that. They didn’t win the state meet – Toledo Scott’s relay team did that. They didn’t even place but their time of 3:33.7 was best in school history and the best ever run by a Lake Erie League quintet to that time. The previous school record was 3:42.2 set in 1931 and the mark Vanek, Streicher, Hull and Roe set lasted 26 years – a remarkable feat. Elyria’s Sports Hall of Fame has honored football, baseball, basketball and wrestling teams but the 1935 Mile Relay team was the first Track team to be so honored. The four are standing together in the second row of this picture of the 1935 Elyria High track team and shown enlarged at the right (Don Hull, Robert Vanek, Robert Roe and Charles Streicher).