NeveHarms Long-time former Peoria Heights mayor Ray PicI, who has devoted thousands of hours to the local sports scene, is the winner of the Neve Harms Meritorious Service to Sports Award for 1998.
PicI, in particular, has been synonymous with the Bradley Chiefs Club and the Chicago Cub Boosters of Central Illinois.
He has been a past president and currently on the board of directors of the Chiefs Club, a major fund-raising organization for the Bradley athletic program. Head man of the Chicago Cubs Boosters for 13 years, his efforts have made the appearance of the cub winter caravan a major event in Peoria with thousands attending the banquet each year. During his presidency the Cub boosters club has donated well over $100,000 to local sports programs.
He also has been coordinator of the Central Illinois Chicago Bears Fan Club and last year he finished second among 96 fan club coordinators in membership recruiting.
He was chairman of the committee that brought Junior League Football to Peoria Heights. Other volunteer duties over the years included public address announcer for Peoria Heights grade school sports and Peoria Heights High School football and basketball, official scorer for the Peoria Heights High School girls basketball team and coach in the Peoria Heights Junior Basketball League.
1979 AOL-Spalding Girl's Golf Team
Continuing the superb performance of the school’s inaugural squad, the 1979 team, in just its 2nd season as a varsity sport, finished second in the IHSA state finals. Marking the completion of another impressive season on the links, the Lady Irish persevered through extremely windy conditions in the final round to maintain the runner-up position behind Homewood-Flossmoor. Pat Ehrhart shot 172 over the 2 days of the finals, good for 10th place in the individual competition. During the regular season, the girls were unbeaten in dual matches and won three of the four tournaments in which the team competed. They dominated the Galesburg Sectional by finishing ahead of Macomb and host Galesburg by 9 strokes and 12 strokes respectively. Ehrhart also led the way in the Sectional by shooting a solid 82. Despite Ehrhart’s low scoring, the team boasted exceptional depth. Coach Schallau noted that, “None of our girls would have qualified (for state) if they weren’t on a team.” |