Cooperstown, New York School’s Athletic Hall Of Fame Nominations Open

Nominations for the Cooperstown Central School's Athletic Hall of Fame have opened for 2024.

Get our free mobile app

An induction weekend for the class of 2024 will be held by Cooperstown Central School and the Cooperstown Sports Booster Club in late September or Early October 2024, this will also be homecoming weekend. Five individuals and two teams at a minimum will be inducted. The nomination deadline is March 11, 2024.

The ability to nominate is open to all. In order to be considered, the athlete needs to have graduated from CCS prior to 2014. Teams must have formed in spring of 2014 or earlier. Administrators, coaches, and boosters are eligible as well. People in this category must be retired from CCS for at least two years to be eligible.

The Hall of Fame Committee will review nominations and announce the inductees in the spring. The committee is made up of school officials, booster club members, and current or retired CCS coaches, boosters, and administrators.

A summer golf tournament is currently in the works as well.

CCS Booster Club president Greg Klein says the 2024 induction is happening to catch up on qualified applicants. “We picked a lot of no-brainer Hall of Famers last year and did not need much debate to get our numbers,” Klein said. “However, we knew there were a lot of historic teams and qualified student-athletes still to consider. With the 2015 and 2019 state championship basketball teams looming and a lot of Olympic sport athletes in the past decade who excelled, I knew some people could get lost in the shuffle if we didn’t make up one of the inductions we lost to COVID.”

Klein went on to say that applications do not need to be resubmitted, but commented on what he noted were incomplete applications. “Old stats are hard to come by, I know, but for some candidates we need more information,” he said. “Testimonials work, especially for defenders or goalies, or harder to quantify candidates. Before my time on the committee, I witnessed one candidate get in after years of discussion in the community about their status. When I dug into the records, I saw a long letter had been submitted for this player by a teammate. It was persuasive writing, because the player got inducted that year!”

Klein asks that candidates that have previously been nominated reach out to him at JYDBook@gmail.com or speak with CCS Athletic Department officials Josh Wagner or Maria Field to see what applications are marked incomplete.

The link to the nomination form can be found here. For more information or to submit a nomination, email CCS Athletic Director Josh Wagner at JWagner@cooperstowncs.org.