April 21, 2004

CHS selects first Hall of Fame class

Trojan Hall of Fame inductees: Dr. Tom Hall, Tom Kozelko, William Milliken, Jim Ooley and Dr. Terrie Taylor

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer

       A new Trojan Hall of Fame will showcase the best and brightest to come out of the long history at Traverse City Central High School.
      Spearheaded by two current teachers, the Hall of Fame will induct five Trojan graduates on June 5, during a reception at the school as well as at graduation ceremonies held at the Kresge Auditorium. The Hall of Fame members will also be recognized at the Central-West High School football game this fall.
      Inductees for this inaugural year are the late Dr. Tom Hall, Tom Kozelko, former Governor Bill Milliken, Jim Ooley and Dr. Terrie Taylor.
      The goal of the Hall of Fame is to celebrate the school's history as well as inspire students who are building their own futures. They believe that the school has produced numerous notable graduates or teachers and hope to instill a sense of pride among current students in these achievements.
      "This is a sense of history, a sense of tradition, that has not been recognized," said Larry Nykerk, a language arts teacher at the school. "For a year, we've been talking about the fact that a lot of these kids graduate and they don't even know who these people are. If we don't do something, nobody's going to remember them."
      Nykerk teamed up with colleague Steve Lockman, a math teacher at the school, and they approached principal Mike Murray. They received an enthusiastic green light with one crucial caveat: no school money was available.
      Nykerk and Lockman forged ahead anyway; a donation from the TBA Credit Union helped keep the project going. They formed a committee, received 14 nominations and winnowed the list down to the five winners. The committee focused on overall contributions of a person to the Traverse City community after high school, recognizing more than the athletic performance of a typical Hall of Fame.
      The Hall of Fame will be situated in the school's main lobby, with photos and information on each member prominently displayed. In addition, Nykerk hopes that funds will be found to have a touch-screen computer display about the Hall of Famers' lives.
      For the two veteran teachers, the Hall of Fame is an idea whose time has come.
      "I grew up here in Traverse City with some of the legends in this town," Lockman said. "We were talking about these people and the kids today didn't know who they were."

      • Dr. Tom Hall
      A member of the class of 1953, Dr. Hall was an outstanding athlete playing football and a member of the ski team. He graduated from Dartmouth Medical School in 1958 and completed 30 years of private practice in urology in Traverse City. Always active in the community, Hall most recently helped found Mount Holiday, Inc. to save the ski facility he and his father helped create in the 1950s. Hall died in February.
      • Tom Kozelko
      The first athlete from Traverse City to play professionally, Kozelko graduated from Traverse City Senior High in 1969. He played professional basketball with the Washington Bullets from 1973-76, represented the United States on the Olympic basketball team and coached numerous athletes from the region. Kozelko has donated thousands of hours of time to elementary school as well as Traverse City Central basketball camps.
      • William Milliken
      Former Governor of the state, Bill Milliken is a 1940 graduate of Traverse City Senior High, where he was a noted athlete in tennis, basketball and track and member of the high school band. Milliken left Yale University to serve as a gunner in the Army Air Fore in World War II, flying 50 combat missions over Europe. He returned to Yale after the war and received his degree in political science in 1946; he launched his political career as a state senator and later served as lieutenant governor. He was governor from 1968-1982, the longest-serving governor in the state's history.
      • Jim Ooley
      A graduate of Menomenie High School in 1946 and the University of Wisconsin, 1949 and 1957, Ooley taught industrial arts, biology, computers and science at Traverse City Senior High from 1953-1993. He served as the Trojan football head coach from 1967-1992 and was the assistant football coach from 1953-1966. Ooley has received numerous statewide coaching and community awards.
      • Dr. Terrie Taylor
      Taylor graduated from Traverse City Senior High in 1973, from Swarthmore College in 1977 and from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1977. A full professor of internal medicine at Michigan State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine, Taylor specializes in tropical medicine, achieving international recognition for her expertise. She is the director of the Malaria Research Project, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, in Malawi, Africa, where she spends six months of every year.

      For more information on the Trojan Hall of Fame or to make a donation, call Larry Nykerk at 933-7453.