By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Terry Connor, athletic director at Thomas More University, will become one of five new additions to the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame during a ceremony that begins at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Villa Hills Civic Club.
Terry Connor
Connor, who will be joining his late father, Jim, in the Hall of Fame, was a high school teacher and coach before he came to Thomas More in 1998 as men’s head basketball coach. After he was appointed full-time athletic director in 2005, he stepped down from his coaching duties to run the Saints’ athletic department that now offers 13 men’s and 12 women’s intercollegiate sports.
Kevin and Brian Alessandro will also be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Wednesday. Both brothers were distance runners at Highlands and Northern Kentucky University. Brian is now coaching cross country and girls track at Highlands.
The other inductees will be: Jim Riddle, who earned varsity letters in four sports at Bellevue; Bill Kelsch, the all-time leading scorer in basketball at Augusta; and Tom Eckerle, a two-sport athlete at Covington Catholic who has coached high school baseball and football for several years.
The induction ceremony is free and open to the public. The guest speaker will be George Wilson, a former college and pro basketball player who was a member of the U.S. team that won a gold medal in the 1964 Olympics.
An exhibit featuring memorabilia from Northern Kentucky Hall of Fame members is at the Behringer-Crawford Museum in Covington’s Devou Park until May 12.
