Six sports figures with local ties were a part of the first two Illinois Sports Hall of Fame classes. That number will grow to 14 at the Bank of Springfield Convention Center on July 25, 2026, when eight new area figures will join the hall in the hall’s third year.

Here is a look at the soon-to-be honorees.

Darla Moldenhauer, volleyball

Moldenhauer was a pioneer of girls sports at Bradley-Bourbonnais, where she arrived in 1973 after graduating from Illinois State. As the school’s first volleyball coach from 1973 to 2005, she went 559-256 with 14 regional titles, five district titles and three sectionals. As the softball coach from 1975-1997, Moldenhauer went 355-221 and won five regionals. She is a member of the Illinois Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Dean Cappel, football

Cappel brought wins to all five high school programs he coached over a three-decade career, including successful stints at Herscher, Bradley-Bourbonnais, Clifton Central and Reed-Custer. A Shorewood native and member of both the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame and Central Athletics Hall of Fame, Cappel won 196 games in his career and led his teams to 16 playoff appearances.

Jerry Krieg, football

Krieg won three Class 3A state titles at his alma mater Bishop McNamara on the staff of Rich Zinanni, a 2025 inductee into the Illinois Sports Hall of Fame. As a player at Illinois State, Krieg was a Kodak College Division All-American and AP All-American Honorable Mention. He is currently an assistant for the Bishop McNamara boys basketball team, where he was also head coach for 20 years.

Tyjuan Hagler, football

Hagler earned First Team All-State honors as a junior at Bishop McNamara in the 1998 season before a successful college career at Cincinnati, where he was a Third-Team All-Conference USA pick in 2004. A fifth-round pick to the Indianapolis Colts in 2005, the Kankakee native appeared in 50 games over five seasons and recovered a fumble in the Colts’ Super Bowl XLI win over the Bears.

Brandi Kordelowski (Branka), Bowling

A Momence native and former basketball star at Bishop McNamara, Kordelowski will become one of seven bowlers in the Illinois Sports Hall of Fame. She was an All-American and NAIA champion at McKendree University in 2011, has been in the Professional Women’s Bowling Association since 2016 and has also served as head bowling coach at Maryville University.

Lorenzo Smith III, bobsledding

A Kankakee native, Smith III found himself far from Illinois while competing in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. He was a member of the United States bobsledding team that finished sixth in the four-man event that year and also was part of a eight-place four-man team at the 2005 FIBT World Championships. He was also a college track star at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Bruce Vaughan, golf

Vaughan turned pro in 1990, played on the Southern Africa Tour and earned his first PGA Tour card in 1995. The Kankakee native qualified for the PGA Champions Tour in 2007 and won the Senior British Open in 2008 at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland. He also saw time on the Korn Ferry Tour, Sunshine Tour and Nike Tour, earning six career wins in total.

Alex Storako, softball

Storako played two seasons at Bishop McNamara, helping lead the Fightin’ Irish to a third-place finish at state as a freshman and an Elite 8 appearance as a sophomore, before transferring to Lincoln-Way East and graduating in 2018. She was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Year as a junior at Michigan in 2021 and won a Women’s College World Series title with Oklahoma in 2023. She was the first overall pick of the Women’s Professional Fastpitch draft to the Oklahoma City Spark in 2023.