By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
Chip Bach, Turfway Park/Newport Racing and Gaming General Manager will be the guest speaker at the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame’s final induction meeting of the year, Wednesday, April 20.
In making the announcement, Joe Brennan, president of the organization said five new inductees will be added to the Hall on this date.
The meeting – open free to the public – is set for the Arbor Room at the Gardens of Park Hills (1622 Dixie Highway) at 1 p.m.
Bach has held leadership positions at the Florence track for more than 20 years, and served as director of operations, prior to his appointment as General Manager on November 29, 2012.
Chip Bach
Bach joined Turfway in 1999 as director of human resources and safety, where he developed and implemented the track’s continuous improvement customer-service program. In this role, he also developed the equine industry-standard protocol for communications and response to high-risk infectious diseases.
In 2006, he was named director of operations and assumed oversight of all day-to-day track activities including racing, mutuels, admissions, facility, grounds, customer service, and horsemen relations.
The Chicago native moved to central Kentucky during elementary school and later graduated Eastern Kentucky University.
The April Inductees are :
Steve Sigmon – The Silver Grove High School alum was a four-year starter in baseball and basketball – and was named All-Conference in 1967.
He attended Brewton-Parker Junior College and participated in the state basketball finals – and was named to the All-Tournament team. He later signed with Piedmont College, played two years of basketball and three years of baseball where he was named All-NAIA, and was an All-District 25 third baseman.
He returned to Silver Grove as head basketball coach (1975-81) – and again (1993-96). From 1988-92 he served as head girls coach, and served as baseball coach (1972-77).
“My biggest thrill,” he said, “being named ‘The Face of the Program’ at Silver Grove by ESPN, joining the legendary Owen Hauck, Stan Arnzen, Ken Shields, Benny Clary, Reynolds Flynn and Stan Steidel locally.
Ray Arnold – The 1995 Boone County High graduate was a member of the football team that was ranked 18th in the country by USA Today.
He was named All-Northern Kentucky, All-Conference, All Tri-State, and Honorable Mention All-State. He was considered the best defensive end in the state and was a Buddy LaRosa Player of the Week, three times.
He was a four-year starter at Western Kentucky University and was named a pre-season All-American prior to his senior year. The 6-2, 315-pounder ran the 40-yard dash in 4.85 seconds and benched 225-pounds 28 times. A season-ending injury in the fourth game of his senior season ended his career.
Dave Peru — A running back at Dixie Heights High School, he turned his passion to golf. He’s been a junior golf instructor since 2006 and has coached elementary and recreational basketball the past four years.
His golf career has included stints at World of Golf in Florence as General Manager/Superintendent from 2001 to 2014. He served as General Manager of Covington’s Devou Park Golf Course (2014-19), and Kenton County (2020-present).
His awards include Rookie of the Year by Billy Casper Golf Association, Regional General Manager of the Year by Billy Casper Golf, National General Manager of the Year by Indigo Golf Partners.
Steve Cunningham — Steve lettered in two Fall sports – football and golf.
Golf was where he made his mark. He became Assistant Pro at A.J. Jolly Golf Course – a position he’s held for 27 years.
He was later hired by David Bay to help bring life back to The Pendleton County Country Club, which had gone bankrupt. Bay said he saw Steve’s leadership skills, work ethic and ability to bring golfers/customers to the club – that’s when Bay said, he made the $1.4 million investment to purchase the Club.
Cunningham was instrumental in making that golf course, the Course of the Year by Cincinnati Magazine., in 2020.
Larry Rose – The 1970 Dayton (Ky.) High School graduate was a three-year basketball starter – he averaged 22 points-a-game as a senior.
As a three-year baseball starter – he was the lone lefthander on the team – he was selected All-Conference. He played for legendary Northern Kentucky State (now Northern Kentucky University) coach Bill Akers. As a pitcher, his earned-run-averaged never rose above 3.000 his entire three-year varsity career.
In 1979 he assumed the head coaching job at Dayton High School – he was Ninth Region Coach of the Year in 1995 and 1996. He coached through 2000.
He’s been a basketball official for 39 seasons.
