We seen the same thing earlier this year at the 3rd grade musical at Park. There was 4 seats taped off in the middle of a row in the exact middle of the auditorium. Great seats no doubt but the sad part was they showed up just as the musical was starting and everyone around them seats had to get up so they could get seated and then did the same thing by leaving in the middle of the musical. Pretty rude I thought.

Kay,
Why is it necessary for you to mention that Ron practices law. Would you prop him up if he was the greeter at walmart... i bet not. You totally proved me right... stroking our elitists. Next time you look into the crowds you may notice many who have attended games year-after-year. We have seen many dedicated coaches who have invested hundreds of hours coaching... I don't see them getting a trophy. Is Ron a good man, I bet he is. Is he Hall Of Fame material... only in Mayberry.

I don't have the exact wording on me, but I ran the exact criteria in the Dec. 27, 2007 issue of the Leader. The outstanding graduate category was someone who was a leader in their field, and reflected the education they received at Hutchinson.

If someone went on to be a prominent doctor or lawyer or mayor....something like that too.

Lindsay fits the category because she is a WNBA All-Star, could be heading to Beijing for the Olympics this summer, etc. She's one of the best women's basketball players in the country.

If people have other nominees for the Wall of Fame, there is always next year. Fill out a nomination form - the committee chooses candidates from them.

For those of you criticizing Mr. McGraw and Ms. Whalen for being selected to the wall of fame, all I can say is shame on you. You obviously didn’t care enough to learn of the process. It was posted in the leader some time ago, with the criteria. Obviously, someone nominated Mr. McGraw. He has also done a lot for the sports community. He also just happens to be lawyer. If you feel the Wall-mart greeter deserves to be a part of the WOF then you should have taken the time to nominate him/her. The outstanding graduate category is a very broad category. It covers any person that has graduated from Hutchinson High School and has gone on to do great things in their field. Ms. Whalen’s field just happens to be basketball.

I am amazed at how many people that just like to complain. If you don’t agree with the people that were selected that’s fine. If you did not take the time to nominate anyone, then you don’t have anything to complain about. I am sure there are many other people worthy of being on the wall that were not nominated this time around. For them there is always next year. If you feel someone should be up there, get off your duff and do a little work and nominated him/her.

It would have been very difficult for Ms. Whalen to make the wall of fame this as an athlete. In high school she never made it a state tournament in any sport. I think it would have been difficult for the commitee to place her in as an athlete when they had
Mr. Albrecht and Mr. Systma there. Both gentlemen lead their respective teams to state tounaments. Albrecht in basketball and Systma in football. If I am not mistaken, Mr. Systma's team won the title that year.

My thinking about the athlete award would be someone that made great athletic contributions to Hutchinson while in school. Ms. Whalen was a great high school basketball player, but her teams never made it to state. The competiton in that catagory surely must have been tough.

I am glad to read that you are planning on taking the time to nominate worthy people next time around. That's great. I am sure if they truely derserve to be on the WOF they will make. Make sure read the criteria first. As it has been posted again on the web,

"A fan must have made significant contributions and offered support to the activities programs at Hutchinson Public Schools."

It is not just someone who shows up to watch the games.

Just so that you all know, Hutchinson High School does not name either a Valedictorian or a Salutarian from their graduating senior classes. I understand that is because the school district does not want to make the rest of the class "feel bad" because they did not or could not achieve that status. I call that "dumbing down" of the students because there is no incentive to improve themselves because there is no "award" at the end of the tunnel for academics. However, you note that there are always athletic awards given for "All Conference" or "Outstanding Male/Female Athlete" - I think our priorities are somewhat misguided!!! As far as this "Wall of Fame" is concerned, I think there are better ways to use our time than to think of people who should be given this award. There are probably many, many people who should be given these awards and because nobody took the time or made the effort to nominate them, then they are simply forgotten. So I guess I would rather see a Valedictorian and a Salutarian named on an annual basis than this Wall of Fame for people that end up being more of a popularity contest.