Inductee Class of 2025
James “Jamie” Angeli
James “Jamie” Angeli graduated from West Iron County HS (1980) where he led the conference in scoring twice, was a two-time unanimous All U.P. First Team selection, and chosen All-State as a senior. He graduated from UW-Stout and embarked on a successful 40-year basketball coaching and administrative career in three countries and seven states. Angeli’s head coaching record is 221-136 (.619). He won a district championship at Norway (MI) HS in 1997 and multiple professional titles in the country of Qatar (2004-2007), including the coveted Asian Cup (2005). He was NCAA Coach of the Year at City College of New York (2016) and a 12-year assistant at the Division 1 level, most notably with UCLA (1998-2004), competing in the NCAA tournament five times and Sweet 16 three times. Angeli is a best-selling author on basketball strategy and is known throughout the U.P. and NE Wisconsin for his Basketball Camp of Champs.
Nick Baumgartner
Nick Baumgartner, pride of the U.P., is a 4-time US Olympian, winning gold at the 2022 Beijing Games in the inaugural mixed snowboardcross event, standing atop of the podium alongside his teammate Lindsey Jacobellis. An Iron River native, Nick was an All-U.P. selection in football, won a U.P. wrestling title and a U.P. hurdles championship all in the same school year at West Iron County High School. He later played football at Northern Michigan University. Baumgartner also won gold and silver in SBX at the ESPN X-Games. A 3-time world snowboardcross champion, Nick’s accolades off the snow included 2011 Rookie of the Year honors in the TRAXXAS Torc Series (off-road truck racing) and later racing in the Super Truck Series and Baja Series. A proud YOOPER, Baumgartner’s book, “Gold From Iron” hit shelves in January 2024 and quickly rose to the top of the Amazon charts for sports books. Named among the 100 most influential skiers of the last century by SKI Magazine.
Rachel (Folcik) McClure
Rachel (Folcik) McClure helped tiny Carney-Nadeau High School win a Class D state basketball title as a sophomore. She scored 1,749 points for the Wolves, was an all-state selection, and Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan (BCAM) Player of the Year as a senior. McClure went on to Ferris State University, where she scored 1,705 points and was a two-time All-American. After her collegiate career, she earned the MVP title at a pro tryout tournament in Germany and secured a contract to play professionally in Portugal with Clube Desportivo da Povoa. Following her playing days, McClure coached at D2 and D1 colleges, as well as at the high school level in Oxford, OH, and at Notre Dame Academy in Green Bay, WI.
Lesley (Noel) Delvaux
Lesley (Noel) Delvaux was a dominating pitcher at the Little League, high school, and college softball levels, and was the pitching coach at Escanaba’s Bay de Noc Community College when the softball program started in 2019. She helped Gladstone Little League to back-to-back runner-up finishes at the World Series at the age of 15-16 in 2001 and 2002. She was all-region and all-state at Escanaba High School and was 68-8 with a career-best 0.19 ERA as a junior. She was one of the first U.P. players to earn a Big 10 scholarship (Michigan State), where she had an overall 42-40 record and a 3.02 ERA. She is still in the top ten all-time at MSU for career wins (42), innings pitched in a career (569), complete games in a career (46), saves in a career (7), and shut-outs in a career (15).
Jeff Olson
Jeff Olson coached football for 37 years, basketball for 30 years, and track for 11 years. He was the Varsity Football Coach in Ishpeming for 27 years with a record of 200-91. Jeff won three Division 7 State Championships (2012, 2013, 2015), was Runner-Up twice (2010, 2014), won five Regional Championships and 12 District Championships, and coached his teams to the State Quarterfinals 12 of his 27 years at Ishpeming. He was the State Coach of the Year four times, U.P. Coach of the Year four times, and Regional Coach of the Year nine times. He was selected to coach the U.P. All-Star Game 12 times and coached in the state All-Star game in 2018. Jeff also coached freshman and junior varsity basketball for 27 years, before serving as Ishpeming’s Varsity Head Basketball Coach for three years, compiling a 47-20 record and one District Championship.
Denise Porath
Denise Porath, one of the first female athletes to take advantage of Title IX, was an outstanding athlete who turned to coaching. She began playing softball at age 13 before the days when girls were allowed in Little League. She played fastpitch softball for 35 years and played on two state championship teams. She also played on Escanaba's first girls’ basketball team and was a vaunted sprinter on the school's first girls' track team in 1974. She played field hockey at Northern Michigan University and had a single-season record of 31 goals. She tried out for the Olympic Team in 1979, but the U.S. boycotted the Olympics in 1980. She was inducted into the NMU Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. Porath also coached basketball and golf at Powers North Central and has won five Highland Golf Club women's titles along with seven runner-up titles.
John Prokos
John Prokos was an outstanding pole vaulter for nearly 40 years, a career that included a third place in the Master’s Division of the national track championships in 1977. His love of the sport led him to become a coach, and he used his talents to inspire vaulters at North Central High School in Powers. John’s pole vaulting expertise extended to other areas of the U.P. where he held clinics for high school vaulters. John coached cross country as well, and his sixty-year career led the Escanaba harriers to their first class A-B championship in 1991. In addition to coaching, John loved to announce football games and to discharge the starter gun at local cross country meets. He was a staunch supporter of girls’ sports and an advocate specifically for girls’ pole vault.
Barb Sickler
Barb Sickler was a physical education teacher in Gwinn and Munising who began her coaching career at Lake Linden-Hubbell in 1964. At that time, there were no high school teams – instead, there were three “Sport Days” allowed for girls by the MHSAA. From 1966 until 1985 she was head coach for both gymnastics and track and field at Lake Linden-Hubbell, guiding them to a Class D U.P. track championship in 1983 after finishing runner-up in 1982. Sickler was also responsible for training gymnastics judges in those early years and conducting her own track meets. She represented the U.P. at the First Institute for girls and women’s sports at Eastern Michigan University and conducted a clinic for girls track coaches in the late 1960’s. Sickler was herself a volleyball referee and state-accredited gymnastics judge and was inducted into the first class of the Lake Linden-Hubbell Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
Dave St. Onge
Dave St. Onge spent 53 years officiating high school and college basketball games, working many seasons officiating 25 boys games, 25 girls games plus an additional 12-16 college games. He also officiated State Final games for both boys and girls basketball. He was selected to the Basketball Coaches Association Michigan Hall of Fame in 2010. He also officiated football games for 24 years, mentored young officials and worked numerous U.P. all-star games.
Jeannie Thoren
Jeannie Thoren is known and respected around the globe as the catalyst for women's specific, ski-related, anything. Before Jeannie, ski equipment was designed by men for men. Called a "crusader" for women's skiing, she had the courage to insert herself into an industry resistant to considering the differences in the female form. The Thoren Theory simply states: "Women are not small men, they need different ski equipment." From building the first women-specific ski with a forward binding location in Mittersill, Austria (Blizzard Skis 1986) or working with Dynastar in Chamonix to design their Exclusive Carve Ski (2007 Gear of the Year Award), Jeannie’s commitment to innovation for women-specific gear on the slopes has never wavered. In 2009, Jeannie Thoren's Women's Ski Center, the first women’s only ski resort in the US, opened in Vail, CO.