Price Hill Baseball Oldtimers to honor 11 West-Siders

PRICE HILL –

The Price Hill Baseball Oldtimers are set to add eight new members into their hall of fame during their 62nd annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony May 7 at The Farm in Delhi Township.

First up is St. Xavier High School graduate Paul Deiters. Before suiting up for the Bombers, Deiters won a knothole city championship with the Class B Beavers. After graduating from St. X he played four years at Xavier University where he was named team captain as a senior. After spending two years in the Army, Deiters played in the Tri-State League before coaching knothole for 10 years.

After leading the Elder Panthers in batting average, hits and RBI and helping his team to a district title in 1963, Paul Weidner went on to the University of Cincinnati on a dual-athletic scholarship for baseball and basketball. Weidner played under the tutelage of coach Glenn Sample for four seasons. After coaching the Panthers' reserve basketball squad in '68 and '69, Weidner is now an NFL replay official after spending 23 years as a head linesman and working Super Bowl XXX.

Tim Burman pitched for Elder coach Jim Massa in 1970-71 and earned First-Team All-GCL honors as a senior. Burman went on to pitch for Sample at UC where he was named Most Valuable Pitcher three years straight and an All-American honor as a junior. Burman was drafted in the fourth round by the Pittsburgh Pirates and played two seasons in the minor leagues. He is currently in his 26th year of pitching batting practice for the Cincinnati Reds and spent the last two seasons as pitching coach for the Cincinnati Steam.

Western Hills graduate Wally Flender was one of the founding members of the Covedale Athletic Association. Flender coached Price Hill Knothole for more than 20 years, winning several district titles and a city title in 1963 with St. Lawrence Bakery. In addition to becoming a member of the PHBO Hall of Fame, Flender is also a member of the Price Hill Knothole Hall of Fame and the Knothole Club of Greater Cincinnati Hall of Fame.

Jerry Paner played shortstop for coach Paul Nohr at West High for three years where he found himself sandwiched in between the likes of Pete Rose and Ed Brinkman. Paner took his talents to Bowling Green State University on a baseball scholarship where he earned Second-Team All-MAC and Regional NCAA All-American in 1961.

Vern Hettesheimer Jr. won a national championship in 1964 on a Cheviot Building and Loan team that went 48-0. After earning Most Outstanding Junior honors at Oak Hills is 1965, Hettesheimer Jr. was drafted into the Army in 1969. He coached knothole teams and was manager of Cheviot in the Tri-State League in 1994. Hettesheimer Jr. is currently in his 25th year as historian for the team.

Vern Hettesheimer Sr. (posthumous inductee) graduated from Western Hills in 1942 and served in World War II. After winning a bevy of knothole titles he went on to sign a professional contract with the St. Louis Browns in 1946 and played in the Texas League, California League and the Canadian American League.

Following his professional career Hettesheimer played in the Tri-State League before coaching knothole from 1956-68 where he won a state title in 1963.

Silverius "Cy" Kunz (posthumous) graduated from Elder in 1923 when it opened in St. Lawrence and was a member of the first football, basketball and baseball teams at Elder. Cy went on to attend UC where he played basketball and baseball. He still owns UC's single-game record after throwing 19 innings against Miami University.

The Oldtimers will also honor three high school student-athletes with the Gallagher Award.

Western Hills' Jewel Chancellor is off to Davis and Elkins College in West Virginia next year, where she will major in sports broadcasting and psychology. While at West High she earned 'A' Honor Roll her senior year while participating in dual enrollment in math and English receiving college credit. She was also a four-year starter on the basketball team, as well as a member of the marching band, a volunteer for Breast Cancer Awareness and being active in her church.

Elder's Brian Guck is the second honoree and will attend Adrian College and major in sports management and accounting. Guck is a member of National Honor Society, is a peer tutor at Elder and will continue his baseball career at Adrian College after spending the previous two seasons under coach Mark Thompson.

Oak Hills senior Ben Laumann received and athletic and academic scholarship to Wright State University for golf. He was a four-year varsity golfer and helped lead the Highlanders to a Greater Miami Conference title in 2013. He is also a three-year starter for both the baseball and basketball teams. With his 3.82 GPA, Laumann is a perennial honor roll student and an Academic "O" Award winner four years running.

For tickets or details on the Price Hill Baseball Oldtimers, call Dick Kuehn at 484-2496.