Saginaw Sports Hall of Fame inducts eight members, including Saginaw High teammates

SAGINAW, MI – Eight new members of the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame were inducted Sunday, ending a 735-day wait.

The Class of 2020 waited until Nov. 7, 2021, after Covid canceled the 2020 ceremony.

“This is,” Hall of Fame president Jack Tany said, “the most patient class ever.”

The eight inductees are Bill Agresta, Larry Brethauer, Beth Bull, Robb Cook, George Kubiak, Eugene Seals Jr., Roy Manning Jr. and St. Stephen’s state championship basketball team from 1969.

Two of the eight inductees were teammates, achieving success as Saginaw High 2000 graduates, then building on it in college and after.

Seals and Manning were classmates and teammates at Saginaw High, leading the basketball and football teams. Seals went on to star on the basketball court for Miami of Ohio, while Manning started at linebacker for the University of Michigan.

“Their work ethic was the same, but you can say that for all the of the people who are honored,” Saginaw High basketball coach Marshall Thomas said. “What also set those two apart was their intelligence.

“Coaches can’t practice for every situation, but those two had the intelligence to adjust to situations on the court. For Roy, I assume it was the same way on the football field as it was on the basketball court.”

Manning, an assistant coach for the Oklahoma football team, was not able to attend, spending the weekend on a recruiting trip to Florida.

“Getting into the Hall of Fame is a very big deal, because I’m the type of person who puts his head down and just works,” Manning said. “When you’re focused, you don’t think about accolades, so when they come, they’re appreciated.

“Eugene Seals and myself … we were the same type of athlete. Just grind and grind and grind some more. That’s how we were brought up. You were just always working. That’s just how it was.”

Seals is also a coach and mentor. He is the head girls basketball coach at Saginaw Heritage and the executive director for the Pride Academy, a training program for players ages 7 to 18.

“I played against Roy in junior high and with him in high school … I had a lot more fun playing on the same team than I did playing against him,” Seals said. “We were always about the same height, but Roy was always stronger.”

The similarities went beyond the court or field, however.

“Both of our parents are pastors,” Seals said. “We were both brought up in church families. We have a lot of similarities. I always had a great time playing with and against Roy.”

Thomas said they also share another attribute.

“They’re both just good people,” Thomas said. “You know that they’re talented, and they have to be to achieve what they’ve achieved. But they’re also good people.”

The Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame did not induct a 2021 class, preserving the spotlight solely for the Class of 2020. But the Hall of Fame did hand out awards to high school students for the past two seasons.

For the Tom Slade Athlete of the Year honor, Birch Run’s Sarah Miller and Heritage’s Brady Rappuhn accepted for 2020, while Frankenmuth’s Ryan Brenner and Merrill’s Logan Heath won the award for 2021.

The Pat Brady Community Service Scholarship went to Harmony Endert from Saginaw Arts & Sciences for 2020 and Nicholas Ehlman from Saginaw Nouvel for 2021. The Team One Credit Union Scholarship went to Hemlock’s Sydney Peake for 2020 and Heritage’s Michael Kennelly for 2021.

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Roy Manning made mark at Saginaw High on way to Hall of Fame

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Former Carrollton star George Kubiak enters Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame as ‘role’ player

Work ethic pays off for former Saginaw High, Miami (Ohio) star Eugene Seals

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