Best athletes in southeastern Ohio all time?

[tkbuckeye]

My vote is for Justin Gail from NY

Honorable mention
Brad Young - wellston
Justin Roush - meigs
Derek Arnold - ny

[kantuckyII]

Ironton's own Jim McAfee and Coy Bacon..One is in NFL Hall Of Fame, The other, Coy, should be in the Hall of Fame. You can read all about Coy on the link provided in the article written by Jim Ridgeway. There will be a similar article soon by the same on Ironton Football Dot Com very soon on McAfee

[earp]

One of the best I can remember in recent history as far as an all around athlete would be Jonathan Eaton from Wheelersburg,Kid was good at everything he did!

[LetsGoPSU]

Chris Gentry-class of 82 Portsmouth
KB Johnson-Class of 84 Portsmouth
Tom Bowman-Class of 81 ? -Portsmouth Notre Dame
Just a few from my era

[tkbuckeye]

The Conrad twins from Logan are also on my list

[GOINDIANS]

The best i have seen personally was gerin veris of chillicothe. There will be a new contender for the crown in a few years.

[MightyOaksFan]

Jo Jo Parker-Portsmouth

[wrestlefan1]

brad bates and mike gawalek of chillicothe
bates scored on osu in the shoe while he was at marshall
gawalek started a couple years for illinois (16 tackles vs. michigan and bigten player of the week)

jimmy skinner (QB) of chillicothe.. watched him play a few times on espn during his years at marshall
marshall was darn good those years

any athlete from this area that has started on teams of that level would be very very high on the list

[schenk11]

Pure athleticism and not necessarily stats or awards...

Cosgrove from Logan
Gregory from Athens
C. Amigo from Marietta
Humphreys from Jackson

I will add as I think of more.

[javagt]

Katie Smith - if any sport

[Pocket Aces]

Great thread.

I have two from my lifetime.

Bobby Brice, IHS class of '88. Known best for his football exploits (80ish yard run at Boyd County my personal fave), BB was a beast on the court as well.....thisclose to leading IHS to a victory over eventual state champs Portsmouth in their backyard of SSU early in the '88 tournament....he also would have been an ABSOLUTE superstar had he chosen to play baseball, as he could crush the ball.

Dennis Gagai, IHS class of '06. Known best for his hoops ability. Scratch golfer and hit about 600 (every day in the paper = 3-4, 3RBI, rinse/repeat) in his senior season playing baseball. I'm thinking that he also would have been a stellar WR. What a joy to watch....got the majority of his talent from his Uncle George.

[Johnny Utah]

Pure athletic ability, go way back to Tommy Spencer at Gallipolis in the late 60s early 70s, the guy could flat do it all in any sport!!!

[BBallin fool]

I Got to say yes on Spencer football, track, basketball, baseball!!! Played for the Reds, Whitesoxs and I still think he coaches somewhere in there.

[wrestlefan1]

if any sport, i would go with quantres bates of chillicothe
2X national champ and 3 time all-american wrestler for univ. of findlay
sr. year he transferred to oklahoma so he could do it div. 1
big twelve champ for oklahoma before losing his dad the week of the ncaa's
the kid he pinned in the finals of big twelve competition went on to place at the ncaa's while quantres won a couple of matches before going out and going home to his dad
really a sad story but also q's accomplishments were outstanding

[WE ARE ND]

Chuck Ealey, Notre Dame class of 67

[Ironman92]

Katie Smith...not even close

[alabama mike]

One of the best I can remember in recent history as far as an all around athlete would be Jonathan Eaton from Wheelersburg,Kid was good at everything he did!

I have to agree with Eaton. In the last 20 years, he was one of the best pure athletes, if not the best I have seen in southern Ohio. I am sure other names can be added but pound for pound, I'll take him.

[West_Sider]

Have to throw Eli Parks in there. Any kid that can play one or two soccer matches (which I hear he was very very good at) a week and then be a stud on the football field has to be mentioned... Although, see my sig to see how I feel about kickball. I'm sure he was amazing at other sports as well.


Brian Howell from West was the best all around athlete I have seen in my lifetime. Three sport stud.

[traffic8484]

Drew Cannon from New Lexington

[MTSWNGRVSG]

Art Schlichter Miami Trace-best I have ever seen in person from Southeastern Ohio.