Last night, Francis Howell Central inducted three past students into the Spartan Athletic Hall of Fame to celebrate their athletic accomplishments. The alumni were Justin Fuehrmeyer, class of 2005; Kelli Schulte, class of 2002; and David Guntorius, class of 2000. The three were inducted as the inaugural members of the newly-formed Athletic Hall of Fame. They were all called away from their day to day lives to step into their past and remember all they had accomplished at FHC.
“It felt great to be honored and to be chosen out of so many people along with being inducted,” said Guntorius.
The panel of FHC faculty originally had chosen 22 nominees, which were then narrowed down to 12 finalists, and finally, they settled on the three athletes chosen.
“We are three students out of thousands that got chosen; that’s a big deal,” said Fuehrmeyer, a past basketball and soccer player.
There was no criteria for the process by which they were chosen. Each student was just chosen for his or her accomplishments and respect for the sport, according to Activities Director Scott Harris.
“I held an academic and athletic standard,” said Guntorius, “I was always a student first, athlete second, and I accomplished my goals in both aspects.”
Guntorius was a baseball and basketball player who helped his baseball team become the first from the school to make it to state. He was not the only one of the three to reach state.
“I went to state every year for cross country, and I believe I still hold some of the cross country and track junior and senior records,” said Schulte.
Schulte started high school playing soccer for her first two years, then switched to track for her junior and senior years and went on to run D1 in college with a scholarship, but her interest in the sport has declined since college, she says. Even though her interest decreased, she and the other alumni will always be honored in the Athletic Hall of Fame due to her prior athletic interests.
Whether the sport was soccer, baseball, basketball, cross country or track, each of them made an athletic impact on FHC and will be remembered in the Athletic Hall of Fame.
