PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD/WYZZ) — Three league champions and a state basketball runner-up have been voted into the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame, the GPSHOF board announced Thursday.
The 2000 Peoria Rivermen, the 2000 and 2002 Peoria Pirates and the 1980-81 Richwoods High School girls basketball team will be inducted into the hall in March. The induction dinner is March 23, 2024 at the Peoria Civic Center.
The Rivermen, coached by Don Granato, won the 2000 Kelly Cup as champions of the ECHL, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to beat Louisiana four straight games in the Cup finals.
The Pirates, coached by the colorful Bruce Cowdrey, took Peoria by storm and won the Indoor Football League’s Gold Cup in 2000, the second year of the franchise’s existence. Two years later, the Pirates won the af2 league championship.
The 1980-81 Richwoods girls basketball team, coached by Mary Kay Hungate, went 30-2 and took second place at state, falling in the title game to Elk Grove. That team brought back Richwoods’ first girls basketball state trophy.
The Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame will announce the remainder of its class of 2023, which will include five individuals and the Neve Harms Award winner for meritorious service to sports, at a later date.
