Akron Public Schools Athletics Hall of Fame unveils Class of 2024
Moments after Markita Griffin-Roberts learned this week she would be inducted into the Akron Public Schools Athletics Hall of Fame, the former Ellet High School girls and Ball State University women's basketball star immediately shared the news by sending a text message to her son, Brian Roberts Jr.
“He's heard stories,” Griffin-Roberts said Wednesday during a phone interview, “but I don't really think he really understands the depths of my high school career.
“I'm so far removed from playing basketball, so never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would get a call about being a hall of famer. Once the shock settled down, it was definitely very emotional for me.”
Brian Roberts Jr. played hoops at Copley High School and Allegheny College. When the 2018 Copley graduate's mother is inducted into the APS Athletics HOF on Oct. 5 at Guy's Party Center in Akron, he'll have a chance to gain an even better understanding of her legacy.
At a time when the popularity of women's sports is soaring in the United States, the APS Athletics HOF Class of 2024 features three women: Griffin-Roberts, former Buchtel and Kent State University basketball player Stacy Hairston-Jones and former Ellet, University of Akron and Akron Racers softball standout Tracee McCoy-Jenkins.
Akron Public Schools Athletics Hall of Fame announces Class of 2024
The other members of the Class of 2024 are:
Former Ohio State and NFL running back Chris “Beanie” Wells, a 2005 Garfield graduate
The late Northwestern and NFL wide receiver Jim Lash, a 1969 Garfield graduate
Former Toledo track and field star and Olympic hurdler Paul Sehzue, a 1996 North graduate
Former Akron Zips basketball player and Norton and Akron South hoops coach Bobby “Sumthin'” Smith, a 1964 Ellet graduate
The late Major League Baseball player Gene Woodling, a 1940 East graduate
Former longtime Garfield football coach Bill McGee, a 1960 Garfield graduate
Former longtime Ellet football coach Joe Yost, a 1971 Ellet graduate
The Dies family of local wrestling fame will be inducted under the “special contributor” category
Chris "Beanie" Wells honored to be member of the third APS Athletics Hall of Fame class
Reached by phone Wednesday, Wells said he was surprised to be included in just the third APS Athletics HOF class because the City Series has such a rich history and so many worthy candidates.
At 35 years old, Wells is the youngest inductee this year by a decade and among the youngest to enter the APS Athletics HOF since its inception in 2022. It's a testament to his career, which included becoming a first-round draft pick (No. 31 overall) of the Arizona Cardinals in 2009 and playing with them for four seasons.
"When you're going through those times where you're a high school kid who's playing football and doing something that you enjoy, you don't often think about the legacy that you leave behind," Wells said. "For me to have left such a good legacy behind and people thought highly enough of me to make me a part of this hall of fame class is certainly heartwarming and makes me have fond memories of those times."
Wells is working as a football studio analyst for CBS Sports.
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Markita Griffin-Roberts and Stacy Hairston-Jones excited about the state of women's basketball
Like Wells, Griffin-Roberts, 46, remains involved with the game she loves.
She has been a high school basketball official for the past 20 seasons. She attended the NCAA women's basketball national championship between South Carolina and Iowa on April 7 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. South Carolina won 87-75, delighting Griffin-Roberts because one of coach Dawn Staley's assistants, Jolette Law, recruited Griffin-Roberts to Ball State.
“It was electric, one of the best experiences of my life, and I'm just so happy finally women's basketball is getting the attention and the recognition that I feel like it should have been given back in the Sheryl Swoopes era,” Griffin-Roberts said. “That was part of my era. But in 2024, I think women's basketball is going to continue to grow, and I'm just actually elated for the sport.”
As a youngster, 1995 Ellet graduate Griffin-Roberts said she watched 1987 Buchtel graduate Hairston-Jones play in a Summit Lake women's hoops league. Later, the two great City Series point guards got to know one another.
“She made everybody better,” Griffin-Roberts said of Hairston-Jones. “Her court IQ was insane. I don't know if she ever knew that I looked up to her, but she was one of my favorite players that I watched when I was young because I didn't see a lot of women's basketball.”
Hairston-Jones and Griffin-Roberts are two of the most highly decorated female basketball players in APS history.
Hairston-Jones received Class AAA All-Ohio honors as a junior in 1986 (third team) and as a senior in 1987 (first team). She was the Class AAA Player of the Year in 1987. She was the Beacon Journal Player of the Year in 1986 and 1987.
“To get the recognition in Akron and the surrounding areas is great news to me,” Hairston-Jones said Wednesday by phone. “Back when I played, [girls and women's basketball] was coming along. We had outstanding competition, but we didn't have the WNBA. We just had college, and then after college was European basketball. The recognition women's basketball is receiving right now is tremendous, and moving forward it will continue to grow.”
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Griffin-Roberts is the last City Series girls basketball player to be voted first-team All Ohio, an honor she earned in Division I as an Ellet senior in 1995, the same year she won Beacon Journal POY.
Griffin-Roberts has several connections to this HOF class. As a high school student, she knew 1999 Ellet graduate and softball sensation McCoy-Jenkins' older sister, Tiffany. And Griffin-Roberts said she considers Ellet football coaching icon Yost “a big, huge mentor in my life.”
The best part for Griffin-Roberts, though, is she was able to share some special information with her son.
"He got to know his mom's in the hall of fame," she said.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron Public Schools Athletics Hall of Fame announces Class of 2024
