GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Thursday night, the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame honored their newest inductees for the class of 2024.
"I'm so grateful for the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame for bringing athletes back to celebrate their careers. It gives me a chance to thank some of the people that have helped me along my journey," said Fouch.
The 2024 elected class for the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame has demonstrated sports excellence at the highest levels, and includes Michigan’s winningest high school girls’ basketball coach, an All-American college football player, an NFL player, an LPGA Tour player and a devoted high school coach and mentor.
The honorees, who will be inducted on Thursday, Sept. 26 in ceremonies at Van Andel Arena, include:
- Mary Cicerone, a former Coopersville basketball standout who later starred at the University of Detroit Mercy and then became Michigan’s winningest girls’ high school coach at Bloomfield Hills Marian where her teams won over 700 games and six Class A championships.
- Bill Dufek, who was an All-American in football and wrestling at East Grand Rapids High School, then later was an All-American lineman for the University of Michigan football team.
- Allison Fouch of East Grand Rapids, who won three times and earned All-American honors in golf at Michigan State University, and later played six seasons on the LPGA Tour, including 2008 when she was ranked among the top 50 golfers on tour.
- Joe Staley, a standout athlete at Rockford who played college football at Central Michigan University, was drafted 28th overall and played 13 years for the San Francisco 49ers where he was named to the Pro Bowl six times (left tackle) and to the NFL’s 2010s All-Decade Team.
- Jimmy Carter, who was a high school standout basketball player at the now defunct South High School and then served as an assistant coach at Ottawa Hills, Creston and Union and capped his career as a successful head girls’ coach at East Kentwood. He is being inducted as the Warren Reynolds Lifetime Achievement Award winner for 2024.
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