The inaugural class of the Medford High School Hall of Fame will be honored Friday at the homecoming football game against St. Clair and during a banquet Saturday night at the Owatonna VFW.

Tigers' Activities Director Kevin Werk said it was a goal of his to create the hall when he came to Medford about six years ago. He consulted with other communities on how they organized one. Then he worked with a committee to come up with criteria. Categories include student-athlete, coach or adviser, contributor and team.

The first hall of fame class consists of ten members. Werk says a new class will be inducted every other year and will add five members. He said there were about 35 nominations for this year. Forms and information are available on the Medford school website. He said nomination forms will be retained from year to year.

2017 inductees to the Medford Hall of Fame:

  • Carmen Bonde (Kuntz) - 1983 graduate,  she excelled in volleyball and basketball and went on to play at UMD.
  • John Gross - football coach, 1968-1997.
  • Leah Kaplan (Steinbauer) - 2004 graduate, lettered in volleyball, basketball, track and softball and was the first Tigers' girls basketball player to reach 1,000 career points.
  • Terry Keller - 1979 graduate, lettered in football, wrestling and baseball. He was inducted into the Wisconsin-River Falls wrestling hall of fame in 1995. Keller was the Tigers' wrestling coach from 1995-98 and works with the elementary wrestling program.
  • Mitch Kuhlman - graduated in 2003 after winning three straight state wrestling championships. He went on to have a success wrestling career at the University of Minnesota, earning the team's Most Courageous Award in 2006. Kuhlman also played football and baseball.
  • Carrie Robb (Redman) - A 1991 graduate, Carrie lettered in volleyball, basketball and track and was very involved in music and theater.
  • Jerry Roberts - basketball and baseball coach, teacher and athletic director, retired in 1998.
  • Jim Slifka - wrestling and track coach, 1961-1997.
  • Kevin Steinbauer - 1976 graduate who was a wrestler and track athlete. To this day, Steinbauer remains active in running wrestling tournaments, including assisting with the state tournament.
  • Orville Young - 1940 graduate. Young played football, basketball and baseball and was a founding member of the 'M' club. He drove bus in the district for 43 years and was a member of the chain gang for football for over 20. Young will be honored posthumously.

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