Sapp To Be Honored Tuesday at EHS/T-town Game; One of Several Area Individuals to Make This Year's List of IBCA Hall of Fame Inductees

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Published on December 8 2017 1:55 pm
Last Updated on December 9 2017 10:02 am
Written by Millie Lange

The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) will honor one of its Distinguished Media Service Award winners, Effingham area radio legend Greg Sapp, at Effingham High School Tuesday.

The honor comes in the wake of Sapp's being named to the 2018 class of inductees in the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

The presentation will take place at halftime of the Effingham vs. Teutopolis varsity boys basketball game at Effingham High School.

A junior varsity contest will be played at 6:15 p.m. The varsity game is slated at approximately 7:45 p.m. and the presentation at approximately 8:15 p.m. The presentation will occur at center court. The IHSA will be in attendance.

Sapp has been the voice of high school sports in Effingham, as well as for several surrounding high school communities since the mid-1970's. A huge sports fan growing up, Sapp helped with the baseball and basketball programs at Effingham High School before graduating in 1974.

He attended Lake Land College in nearby Mattoon, all the while remaining involved in Flaming Heart athletics. That involvement included providing play-by-play on basketball video broadcasts, which led to an opportunitiy to call play-by-play on the radio.

Sapp was on the ground floor of starting Effingham's WXEF radio in 1994 and is currently the News and Sports Director at 97.9 XFM and KJ Country 102.3 FM in Efifngham.

Some highlights in his career include watching his alma mater play in the 1980 IHSA Class AA Boys Basketball State championship, calling St. Anthony's thrilling overtime victory in the 2017 IHSA Class 1A boys basketball state title game, as well as being behind the mic for Teutopolis' back-to-back IHSA baseball state championships in 2010 and 2011.

Sapp says he "feels blessed in covering some might good and successful coaches along the way", but Effingham basketball coach Jim Maxedon will always hold a special place for his efforts in helping kickstart his broadcast career.

A member of the Effingham County Salvation Army Board, who was named Effingham's Citizen of the Year in 2009, Sapp says the greatest compliment he can be paid is when listeners tell him, 'I feel like I'm at the game when hearing your broadcasts.'

Sapp is also among this year's inductees into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. The list of inductees was announced this week.

Other area inductees in the IBCA Hall of Fame this year include Lori Kerans, a Newton High School graduate, who has been the head women's basketball coach at Millikin University 32 years. She's led the Big Blue to 13 20-win seasons including an NCAA Division III National Championship in the 2004-05 season. She recently recorded her 550th career win. She'll be inducted in the Coach Category.

Also in the Coach Category is former Stewardson-Strasburg Coach John Giesler who also coached at Roanoke-Benson and won a state championship as coach at Illini Central.

Matt Laur, a South Central graduate, will go in as a player. He graduated from McKendree College and served as an assistant coach at SIU Edwardsville.

Two players who gave Effingham fits during their years as Olney Lady Tigers will also be inducted. Brittany Johnson went on to play for Ohio State, while Sara Stevenson, daughter of Effingham native Randy Stevenson, played at Illinois State.

Two longtime area officials also will gain Hall of Fame status...Randy Hart of Centralia and Trent Purcell of Carlyle.

And, Ken Crawford, longtime Teutopolis High School boys basketball coach, has won the Chuck Rolinski Award, named in honor of one of the pioneers of the IBCA.