The Warren Sun

The implementation of a Richmond Hall of Fame program is one step closer to reality after being approved at the March 27 board meeting of the Richmond Community School District.

Athletic Director Preston Treend, alongside Susan Boyd, a member of the Richmond Education Foundation (REF), presented their plans to establish a Richmond Hall of Fame program. The concept has long been discussed by the athletic departments and the district.

The Education Foundation suggested making it a joint effort in order to honor both athletic hall of fame members and academic achievements.

“It would definitely be some work on the front end and we have kind of brainstormed ideas on how to divvy up that work and take advantage of our summertime to do that,” Treend said. “What I really liked was in the athletic portion. You can search athletes, you can search teams, you can get their websites and their program history. 

"This is where we could have our Hall of Fame section as well as those all-state athletes and be able to flip through those gold plaques virtually," he added. "But the other idea of this as well, is you are able to generate profiles for alumni.”

The academic Hall of Fame would be selected by the REF, while the athletic Hall of Fame would be chosen by the Hall of Fame committee. Both groups would be inducted with a ceremony during homecoming week.

On the athletic end, six new members across four categories of coach, athlete, team and contributor will be inducted annually. Contributor is the only optional category, as it will recognize extraordinary figures who aid the program. 

On the academic side, the program is looking for former district students who attended Richmond for at least five years and made an impact on the community, town, state or nation. Foundation members cannot nominate themselves, but they can nominate a club or team that they were a part of.

The group has put together an online form where interested parties can nominate candidates for the Hall of Fame. A committee then will decide who to induct that year. The committee will consist of the superintendent, athletic director, principal and the current student president of the athletic association. Moreover, there will be three other members chosen.

The academic committee will consist of current REF board of directors' members. 

The display of the Hall of Fame honors will be a digital interactive board where users can scroll through plaques and information on the members. The program can also scan in all yearbooks and graduation composites to have information for students and alumni.