Five inducted into Belleville High School Athletic Hall of Fame

On Friday, five former Belleville High School students were honored as 2019 inductees into the BHS Hall of Fame during half-time at the BHS-Franklin High School basketball game.
• Karen (Kotlarczyk) Fowler, class of 1987, (posthumous award) led the BHS Women’s Swim Team to four Western Wayne Invitational first-place championships, four league first-place swimming championships, as well as being a four-time state qualifier in the sprint freestyle events where she placed in the top 10 each time. She earned a full scholarship for swimming to Oakland University, but was injured during her sophomore year that ended her swimming career. She transferred to Eastern Michigan University and completed her degree to become an occupational therapist;
• Ian Gold, class of 1996, was selected First Team All-State in both football and track during his senior year, and received an academic scholarship to continue his academic learning at the University of Michigan. He participated in football, basketball, and track every year of his high school career, which he said played a vital role in his athletic and academic development. Upon receipt of a degree in political science from U of M, the Denver Broncos selected Ian with the 40th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft. Following eight grueling seasons on the gridiron, Gold capped off his NFL career by walking away from an NFL contract out of his growing desire to discover life’s true meaning and purpose. Ian has since established Plant Water Grow Harvest, Inc. to define and give structure to his life’s work: to attain, and help others attain, emunah in Jesus Christ. He adds, “If I could deliver a message to my school-aged self, it would be: before GOD purposed you to do anything, HE created you to be loved by HIMSELF. Receive HIS love.”
• Judy (Wisniewski) Houlihan, class of 1984, was an excellent varsity softball player during her years at BHS and her softball career continued at Henry Ford Community College after graduation. She earned her bachelor and master degrees from Eastern Michigan University and currently is a regional sales director for a coatings company. During her high school years she was named all-league and all-region for three years, all state for two years and was pitcher on the 1983 and 1984 state championship teams, plus a long list of other records.
• Robyn (Golden) Liberty, class of 1999, was a three-sport athlete in softball, basketball, and volleyball. She went on to play softball at Michigan State University. At BHS she was 1999 Michigan Softball Gatorade Player of the Year, Michigan High School Coaches Association Academic All-State, all-league for two years, all-district for three years, all-region for two years and all-state her senior year, plus other awards for softball. In basketball she was all-conference and in volleyball all-conference and all-region;
• Garrade Pettus, class of 1971, was a three-sport athlete in football, basketball, and track. In track he was one of the first people in the state to convert to the Fosbury Flop, named after Dick Fosbury, who developed this style of jumping and made it famous in the 1968 Olympics. Garrade changed to this style of jumping the day before the conference meet in 1969. Prior to that, he used what they called the Western Roll. His best jump using the Western Roll was 6’0”. Using the Flop he cleared 6’3” and the rest is BHS history. He earned all-state high jump and long jump honors in track, is the record holder in high jump at 6’8” in 1970 and 6’8 ¾” in 1971, plus all-American and National Champion in 1971, and holding many conference championships in jumps and hurdles. In basketball he was all-conference and all-area for basketball and all-area in football.
The BHS Athletic Hall of Fame exists to recognize and honor student-athletes, teams, and coaches for their achievements and/or contributions to BHS.
The deadline for nominations for the 2020 class is Oct. 1. Nominations and forms are available in the Athletic Office at BHS and on the athletic website: (http://www.vanburenschools.net/o/belleville-high/page/bhs-athletics-homepage) or at https://bellevilleathletics.net .