Poplar Bluff Sports Hall of Fame reaches milestone

This past September 20, 2018, the 33rd induction class of the Poplar Bluff Sports Hall of Fame passed a milestone. They inducted their 100th member, Janice-Lee York Romary. She attended PBHS in the mid-1940s and had quite an Olympic career after she left the halls of our local high school. She went on to compete in six consecutive Olympics from 1948 to 1968 in the sport of fencing.

The Poplar Bluff Sports Hall of Fame was established on July 20, 1981, with Sam Giambelluca as President and Founder, Bob Gray as Vice-President, Bob Thacker as Secretary, Paul Hogg as Treasurer, and the following as members: Dr. Robert Huntington O.D., E.E. “Bus” Carr, Tom Hoover, John Lawson, and Stan Berry.

Of the 100 local sports inductees, you will find artifacts about PBHS football players and coaches, PBHS basketball players and coaches, PBHS track stars and coaches, PBHS baseball players and coaches, local golfers including three members of the Godwin family, a boxer, a bowler, a canoeist, three golf teams, three basketball teams, two football teams, and one Olympian, Janice-Lee York Romary.

The current location for The Poplar Bluff Sports Hall of Fame is in The Poplar Bluff Museum located at 1010 North Main Street in Poplar Bluff. This great museum is open weekly on Sunday afternoons from 2-4 p.m. If you visit The Poplar Bluff Sports Hall of Fame, you will see 33 individuals and 10 sports teams displayed in shadowboxes as well as numerous other sports memorabilia displayed throughout the room. Included you will find sports pictures, playing uniforms, 100 plaques dedicated to the inductees, as well as many other items too numerous to mention.

The Poplar Bluff Sports Hall of Fame, Inc. is supported entirely by contributions received from individuals, businesses, service organizations, and memorials. Anyone desiring to make a contribution should mail it to: Poplar Bluff Sports Hall of Fame, Inc. , P.O. Box 1022, Poplar Bluff, MO 63902-1022. You may also email us at pbsportshof@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @PBsportsHoF.

— Clinton Salyer

Vice-President of The Poplar Bluff Museum, Co-Curator of The Poplar Bluff Sports Hall of Fame room