Sara Ettner Glakas, one of Marengo's best female athletes ever, will be in the 2014 class inducted into the Marengo High School Hall of Fame Saturday night.
Also being inducted will former long-time baseball coach Jim Schmid, the 1966 through 1970 football teams of former coach Rod Poppe, Robert J. Kooi, Robert Chandler and Gladys "Penney" Miller. The induction will take place at the boys basketball game with Marengo hosting Richmond-Burton.
Ettner Glakas was the 1997 Northwest Herald Female Athlete of the Year and Girls Basketball Player of the Year and received 10 varsity letters (four in track and three each in basketball and volleyball). The last three Marengo basketball teams she played on were 72-14 and the Indians appeared in the Class A Elite Eight her senior year.
Ettner Glakas also medaled in state track all four years and teamed up with Kristi Ragsdale, Sara Nelson and Kerry Eddy to win the Class A 4x200-meter relay state championship in 1996.
In college, Ettner Glakas' Washington University women's basketball teams were 116-4 and won four NCAA Division III national championships.
Schmid is an Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer and coached in Marengo sports for 37 years. His baseball teams were 348-225 over 29 years and won 10 Shark Conference championships.
Rod Poppe's Marengo football teams have one of the longest winning streak in state history at 44 games. The Indians did not lose a game from 1966 through 1970. Those five teams all will be honored Saturday.
Kooi is remembered by people around Marengo for his generosity. Residents knew him for his humility and unassuming attitude when he was living, but after his death, people continued to recognize Kooi, who had in his will to set up the Elmer J. Kooi, Beatrice A. Kooi and Robert J. Kooi Education fund.
The fund was opened in 1993 with almost $1.8 million and now has more than $3.5 million, which goes to Marengo students pursuing college or vocational education. More than 100 students have benefited from the fund.
Chandler was an outstanding football and baseball player at Marengo and is being inducted for personal achievement beyond athletics. He now is a professor in biology, teaching, publishing and writing grants at Georgia College and State University and is an authority on birds and mammals.
Miller taught in the Marengo-Union community for 50 years and is being inducted for commitment. In 1938, she was hired by the regional superintendent to develop a "small school physical education program." She traveled around the area teaching a P.E. program in 106 one-room rural schools.