2019 Circle of Champions

While at Elyria High School, Tianna Bartoletta – known then as Tianna Madison – won nine OHSAA state track and field championships, including a record-tying four as both a junior and senior. As a senior in 2003, she helped the Pioneers win their only Division I state championship and set the state record in the long jump, a mark that stands today. Since that time, she has flourished internationally. Highlighting her career has been appearances in the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio where she has won three Gold Medals, two as part of the world record-setting 4x100 relay team and one in the long jump. She also has been a multiple gold medalist at the World Championships and won numerous golds in both the SEC and NCAA championships while at the University of Tennessee. Now residing in Alabama, Bartoletta continues to participate internationally and enjoys giving back by working with youth athletes and coaches.

Jim Cleamons moved to Columbus during his youth and helped Linden McKinley win the OHSAA big-school state basketball championship as a senior in 1967. He went on to play at Ohio State, where, as a three-year starter, he helped the Buckeyes win the Big Ten Championship in 1971 when he was team captain and earned conference player-of-the-year. The 13^th overall pick in the 1971 NBA Draft, Cleamons spent nine years as a player in the NBA and was a member of the 1972 World Champion Lakers. Since the 1982-83 season, he has given back to the game as an assistant or head coach at the high school, collegiate and professional levels. He was an assistant coach for nine NBA World Championship teams with the Bulls and Lakers and most recently assisted with the Yeshiva University high school team in Los Angeles.

 

 

 

Brad Sellers was an all-state basketball player at Warrensville Heights High School before playing two years of college basketball at Wisconsin and two at Ohio State. A captain with the Buckeyes, he was first team all-Big Ten as a senior. The ninth overall pick by the Chicago Bulls in the 1986 NBA Draft, Sellers spent 15 years as a professional basketball player, including six years in the NBA. He has served as the mayor of Warrensville Heights since 2012 and is also in his eighth year as postgame radio analyst for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Brad is the father of four daughters, one who is a member of the 2019 NCAA Division III women’s basketball champion, Thomas More University, and another who was just named first team all-Ohio in basketball at Aurora High School.

 

 

 

 

Born and raised in Columbus, Gary Trent was the Ohio Division II basketball player-of-the-year as a senior at Hamilton Township High School in 1992, when he averaged over 32 points per game and set a national record by shooting 81.4 percent from the field. He went on to an outstanding career at Ohio University, where he was the three-time Mid-American Conference player-of-the-year. Known as the “Shaq of the MAC,” the Bobcats have retired Gary’s No. 20 jersey. The 11^th pick by Milwaukee in the 1995 NBA Draft, Gary spent nine seasons in the NBA and played overseas before retiring after the 2006-07 season. Gary works with youths in need and has four sons including his oldest, Gary Jr., who played collegiately at Duke and is in his first year in the NBA with Portland.