Belleville High School names 3 to Hall of Fame

The Belleville High School Athletic Hall of Fame inducted five new members earlier this month. The Athletic Hall of Fame was organized and continues to recognize and honor student athletes, teams, and coaches for their achievements and or contributions to Belleville High School.
A posthumous induction was awarded to Karen (Kotlarczyk) Fowler from the class of 1987. She led the Women's Swim Team at Belleville High School to four Western Wayne Invitational first-place championships, four league first-place swimming championships, as well as being a four-time state qualifier in the sprint freestyle events where she placed in the top 10 each time.
She earned a full scholarship for swimming to Oakland University, but was injured during her sophomore year that ended her swimming career. She transferred to Eastern Michigan University and completed her degree to become an occupational therapist.
Also honored was Ian Gold, class of 1996, who was selected First Team All-State in both football and track during his senior year, and received an academic scholarship to continue his education at the University of Michigan where he earned his degree in political science. He participated in football, basketball, and track every year of his high school career. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in 2000 NFL draft. Following eight seasons on the gridiron, Gold left professional football  and eventually established Plant Water Grow Harvest, Inc.
Judy (Wisniewski) Houlihan, class of 1984, was also inducted into the honor group. She played varsity softball during her years at Belleville High School and continued to play at Henry Ford Community College. She earned her bachelor and master degrees from Eastern Michigan University and currently is a regional sales director for a coatings company. During her high school years she was named all-league and all-region for three years, all state for two years and was pitcher on the 1983 and 1984 state championship teams along with a list of other records.
Three sport athlete Robyn (Golden) Liberty, class of 1999, played softball, basketball, and volleyball. She went on to play softball at Michigan State University. While in high school, she was 1999 Michigan Softball Gatorade Player of the Year; Michigan High School Coaches Association Academic All-State; all-league for two years; all-district for three years; all-region for two years and all-state her senior year. In basketball she was all-conference and in volleyball all-conference and all-region.
Garrade Pettus, class of 1971, was also a three-sport athlete in football, basketball, and track while attending Belleville High School. In track he was one of the first people in the state to convert to the Fosbury Flop, named after Dick Fosbury, who developed this style of jumping and made it famous in the 1968 Olympics. Garrade changed to this style of jumping the day before the conference meet in 1969.  Using the technique  he cleared 6-foot, 3-inches. He earned all-state high jump and long jump honors in track, is the record holder in high jump at 6-foot, 8-inches in 1970 and 6-foot, 8 ¾-inches in 1971, plus all-American and National Champion in 1971, and holding many conference championships in jumps and hurdles. In basketball he was all-conference and all-area for basketball and all-area in football.
 Nominations for the 2020 induction into the Belleville High School Athletic Hall of Fame will be accepted until Oct. 1.
Nominations and forms are available in the Athletic Office at the high school and at: (http://www.vanburenschools.net/o/belleville-high/page/bhs-athletics-homepage) or at https://bellevilleathletics.net .