Baseball Hall of Fame

Ron was an all-conference athlete in football, basketball, and baseball at Spalding Institute and achieved all-state honors in basketball. He accepted a full scholarship to Western Illinois University for basketball, but after his freshman year, he transferred to Bradley University on a baseball scholarship.

At BU he played baseball for three years and football for two years.  In 1964, he was selected for the All-Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Team. Ron was invited to play on the first Peoria Pacers baseball team in the Central Illinois Collegiate League, batting fourth in the lineup and playing third base alongside Don Kessinger, the eventual star shortstop for the Chicago Cubs.

After college, he shared his sports acumen as an assistant coach for Spalding’s basketball teams that were state runners-up in the 1969 and 1970 Class AA Tournaments. He was the pitching coach for the 1974 East Peoria team that placed second in the Class AA Baseball Tournament.

Ron was a player/manager in Peoria’s Sunday Morning League for 15 years; for 20 years, he served as supervisor of the softball program for the Peoria Park District; for six years, was active in Little League; and for two years, helped lead a youth basketball program. He was an umpire/official in baseball, basketball, and football at various levels of competition over 21 seasons.