Check out the profiles of this week’s six September inductees in a class that got the new season going for the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame.
• Lloyd Memorial 1991 grad Billy Lyon had a memorable football career after his days as an All-Region Juggernaut moving on to Marshall University where he was a two-time NCAA 1-AA All-American defensive lineman and three-year starter who led Marshall to a 39-5 record those three seasons. Marshall finished with 15-0 record his senior season culminating in a 1-AA national championship after making it to the title game his junior season thanks to his career-high 13 tackles in a semifinal win over McNeese State.
Undrafted coming out of college, Lyon — a Marshall Athletic Hall of Famer — would go on to a six-year, 72-game NFL career with Green Bay and Minnesota including two seasons – 2000 and 2002 — where he played all 16 games.
• Also from Lloyd, 1970 grad Mike Baker was a four-year trainer and three-year football letterman for the Juggs. But it was something Mike began as a junior in high school for which he’s being honored.
That’s when he started coaching Dixie Area Knothole players, a career that would last 21 years with his 1969 team of 18 players the highlight. Mike would stay with that team for nine years with 17 of those players going on to play high school sports, and five who went on to play in college — three at NKU and two who would play football at UK.
• St. Henry alum Paul Ritter starred in football and baseball for the Crusaders where in his five varsity years, he was named MVP while earning all-conference honors.
At NKU, where he played shortstop and center field, Paul helped lead Coach Bill Aker’s teams to 110 wins and was named offensive MVP his senior year. Then Paul moved on to coaching eight years in the Boone County Knothole program while helping coach several high school baseball teams.
• Another St. Henry Crusader, 1979 grad Brian Donohue was a four-year starter in baseball, earning District MVP honors his junior and senior seasons. He also played four years of basketball.
But Brian got an early start on his high school career playing eight seasons of Dixie Area Knothole for Mike Baker and John Dunhoft, stepping in to coach when they weren’t available.
• Covington Latin alum Jim Noll was that rarest of all creatures, a top student and heavyweight Golden Gloves champion boxer from Covington Latin with its advanced academic program. He even managed a spot on the Kentucky Golden Gloves exhibition undercard with Louisville’s Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali.
Jim would go on to become an honors grad at Thomas More, a naval officer and veterinarian with a practice in Northern Kentucky.
• Dayton High’s Kenny Richardson not only played football, basketball and baseball for four years for the Greendevils, he earned all-conference and all-state honors as a two-way football player.
But nothing will outshine his role as co-captain for the 1966 Class A state champion football Devils as Kenny helped lead Dayton to its only playoff state football title.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X @dweber3440.