2012 Circle of Champion Members:
Dick Snyder
Barry
Clemens
Bob Hoying
LaVonna Martin-Floreal
Harry �Butch� Reynolds
Gene Tenace
Dick Snyder
was born in North Canton and was a standout in football,
basketball and baseball at Hoover High School. Besides earning
all-state honors in basketball, he was named a Parade
Magazine All-American as a quarterback and was MVP of the Ohio
all-star baseball series. He earned a basketball scholarship to
Davidson College, where he had an outstanding career, was a two-year
starter in baseball and even participated in track and field.
On the hardwood, Snyder played for
legendary Coach Lefty Driesell and helped the team go 67-13 in three
years. As a senior in 1966, in what was expected to a rebuilding
year, Snyder led the Wildcats to a 21-7 record, their first Southern
Conference championship and their first appearance in the NCAA
Tournament. He averaged 26.9 points per game that year and was named
second team All-American, third team Academic All-American and
conference player-of-the-year.
Snyder ranks sixth on the Davidson career scoring list with 1,693
points. He also was a second-team all-conference outfielder as a
sophomore and junior and was drafted by the Washington Senators
after college. In addition, he long and triple jumped for the
Wildcats in the Southern Conference Track and Field Championships.
Dick continued his basketball career in the NBA, spending 13 years
with St. Louis, Phoenix, Seattle and Cleveland and had 11,755 career
points. Dick ended his career with his second stint in Seattle and
was part of the 1978-79 SuperSonics� World Championship team. Dick
and his wife, Terie, reside in the Phoenix area where he has his own
insurance agency.
Barry Clemens
was born in Dayton and grew up in Xenia. He was a standout in
basketball, cross country and track and graduated as class
salutatorian. He went on to have an outstanding basketball career at
Ohio Wesleyan University and helped the team win 71 games and an
Ohio Athletic Conference championship during his four years. He was
a four-time all-conference selection, won the league�s MVP award as
a senior in 1965 and ended his career as Ohio Wesleyan�s and the
conference�s scoring leader with 1,905 points. As a junior, he
earned third team AP Little All-America honors when he averaged 24.1
points and 13.4 rebounds a game, and his senior year he was second
team AP Little All-America when he averaged 23 points and 14.7
rebounds per contest.
Clemens was a third-round draft pick and
the 19th overall selection by the New York Knicks in 1965
and spent 11 seasons in the NBA with New York, Chicago, Seattle and
Portland and spent the 1972-73 and 1973-74 seasons with Cleveland.
Known as one of the game�s top pure shooters of his era while
playing mostly in a reserve role, he retired in 1976 with career
totals of 5,312 points and 2,526 rebounds. Barry and his wife,
Vivian, have three children and three grandchildren. He is currently
a managing director with Wells Fargo Advisors in Westlake.
Bob Hoying
was a standout athlete at St. Henry High School. He led the Redskins
to a state football championship in 1990 when he earned Ohio Mr.
Football honors as a quarterback. He also helped St. Henry win
back-to-back state basketball championships in 1990 and 1991 and was
all-state as a senior.
Hoying then attended The Ohio State
University, where he started for three years and led the team to a
record of 30-7-1. As a senior, he earned first team all-Big Ten
honors, was a team captain and rewrote the Buckeye record book by
throwing for 3,269 yards and 29 touchdowns while also setting school
records for completion percentage and passing efficiency. He
currently ranks second at Ohio State with 7,232 career passing yards
and holds the OSU career mark with 57 TD passes.
Bob earned a National Football
Foundation award as the top senior student-athlete in college
football and was a four-time Academic All-Big Ten selection. He is a
member of the Ohio State Athletic Hall of Fame. The grandson of
baseball player Wally Post, Bob was drafted in the third round of
the 1996 NFL draft by Philadelphia and spent six seasons in the
league with the Eagles and Oakland. He retired after the 2001 season
and has been a partner with Crawford Hoying, a comprehensive
commercial real estate firm that was established in 1999. Bob and
his wife, Jill, and their four children reside in Dublin.
LaVonna Martin-Floreal was born in Dayton. While at
Trotwood-Madison High School, she was a standout in track and field,
leading the Rams to back-to-back state championships by remarkably
scoring all of her team�s points at both state tournaments. As a
junior in 1983, she finished first in the 100, 200 and 100 hurdles
to account for 30 points, and as a senior in 1984 she scored 38
points by placing first in the 200, 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles and
second in the 100. Her times in both hurdles events set state
records.
LaVonna went to the University of
Tennessee and had an outstanding career. She won All-America honors
14 times, captured six Southeastern Conference indoor championships
and six SEC outdoor crowns and won five NCAA championships. She
earned a bachelor�s degree in education from UT in 1989.
As a 100-meter hurdles specialist, she
won a gold medal in the 1987 Pan American Games, then qualified for
the U.S. Olympic Team in 1988 that participated in Seoul. Martin-Floreal
also won a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team four years later that
competed in Barcelona and she captured a Silver Medal in the hurdles
with a personal best time of 12.69 seconds.
LaVonna married former Canadian Olympic
Team triple and long jumper Edrick Floreal, who is currently the
director of track and field at Stanford University. Edrick has been
selected as an assistant coach for the U.S. Track and Field Team
that will compete in the 2012 Olympics in London. They reside in
Palo Alto and have two children.
An Akron native,
Harry �Butch� Reynolds
placed second in the 400 meters at the OHSAA state track and field
tournament as a junior and senior before graduating from Archbishop
Hoban High School in 1983. He then earned All-America honors at Ohio
State in 1987 after winning Big Ten and NCAA championships in the
400 and winning three titles in the conference indoor championships.
Butch then became one of top runners
internationally, breaking the 20-year-old World Record in the 400 in
1988, a mark that stood for 11 years and still ranks second all
time. That same year he participated with the U.S. Track and Field
Team in the Olympic Games in Seoul and won a silver medal in the 400
and a gold medal in the 4x400 relay. In 1993, he became the World
Indoor Champion in the 400 and he won two successive Silver Medals
in the outdoor World Championships. He also was a member of the U.S.
4x400 meter relay team that won world outdoor titles in 1987, 1993
and 1995, with the �93 team setting a world record that stands
today. He qualified to be a substitute for the 4x400 relay team in
the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and ran the 400 in the 1996
Olympic Games in Atlanta.
Reynolds received his degree from Ohio
State in 1991 and recently moved back to Akron to serve as CEO of
the Care For Kids Foundation, where he works with youth to stress
the importance of education, values, sportsmanship and respect. He
and his wife, Stephanie, reside in Akron. They have two children.
Gene Tenace
is a graduate of Lucasville Valley High School. He helped Valley
finish as runners-up in the OHSAA Class A state baseball tournament
as a senior in 1965, homering in the title game for the Indians�
only run. Drafted out of high school by the Kansas City Athletics,
he played 15 seasons in the Major Leagues between 1969 and 1983 for
Oakland, San Diego, St. Louis and Pittsburgh.
Tenace became the A�s regular catcher
during the 1972 post-season. After helping Oakland beat the Tigers
in the American League Championship Series, he went on to win World
Series MVP honors when the A�s knocked off the Reds in seven games.
In game 1, he became the first player to hit home runs in his first
two World Series at-bats, driving in all three of Oakland�s runs in
a 3-2 victory. In game seven, he was again the hero, driving in two
runs in a 3-2 victory to help clinch the World Championship. He
collected four homers and nine RBIs in the series. That helped him
earn a full-time starting job with Oakland as he played first base
when the A�s repeated as World Series champions in 1973 and �74. The
following year he was selected as the starting first baseman in the
All-Star Game.
Tenace then spent four years with San
Diego beginning in 1977 before moving to St. Louis, where he spent
two seasons and was a member of the Cardinals�1982 World
Championship team. His final year in the majors was with the Pirates
in 1983. Gene continued in baseball as a minor league and major
league coach before retiring in 2009. He earned his fifth and sixth
World Series rings when he was a coach in Toronto when the Blue Jays
won championships in 1992 and 1993. Overall he played in 1,555 games
in the Majors, accumulating 1,060 hits with 201 homers, 674 RBIs and
an outstanding .388 on-base percentage. Gene and his wife, Linda,
reside in Redmond, Oregon, and have three daughters and two
granddaughters.
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