Hall of Fame Inductees

Fred Harold Turner graduated from Tuscola High School in 1918 and was accepted into the Chemistry program at the University of Illinois starting that fall.  While living in Tuscola, he worked for the Farmers and Traders Bank as a clerk, but after he started his degree that September, Turner accepted a new job on campus as a clerk for the Dean of Men, Thomas Arkle Clark, at 10 cents an hour.  He kept this job throughout his undergraduate studies and was promoted to chief clerk his Junior year. As Turner neared graduation, he had aspirations to go to medical school but could not afford the program.  His boss, Dean Clark, convinced Turner to accept the position of Assistant Dean of Men with the caveat he continued his education at the university.  He agreed and held the position until 1931 while he earned a master’s degree in psychology (1926) and a PhD in Education (1931). During his MA studies in Psychology Fred married Elizabeth “Betty” Weaver on June 1, 1924 in Marion County, IN. They moved to Urbana where they raised two daughters. After Fred completed his PhD, Dean Clark retired and Fred was promoted from Assistant Dean to Dean of Men in 1932. He remained in this position until 1943, when the university restructured their dean system so the Deans’ of Men and Women were under a Dean of Students.  Turner was promoted to the new Dean of Students post and stayed there until his retirement in 1966.  After retiring, he remained a part of the university as the chairman of the University Centennial Committee where he helped plan the anniversary celebration in 1968. He maintained his office on campus and continued to visit five days a week to organize and archive his papers from his fifty-year career.  Turner was known as a University historian and became a popular speaker for the alumni club. Along with establishing and organizing various offices, services and functions to assist students as Dean, Turner was also active in fraternal and professional organizations, wrote freelance articles for the Saturday Evening Post and the Chicago Tribune, and was associate editor of Banta’s Greek Exchange, a nationally circulated magazine for fraternities and sororities. On September 6, 1975 Fred died suddenly while vacationing at his summer home in Shelby, MI at the age of 75.  The former Dean of Students left an indelible legacy in Champaign-Urbana and at the University of Illinois for his years of commitment and dedication to the university and Illinois history.  His legacy is honored on campus through the Fred H. Turner Student Services building, Turner Hall and the Fred H. Turner Fellowship.  Beyond his accomplishments at the University of Illinois, Turner was known locally as a pianist, railroad enthusiast and as an artist of woodblock prints, which he made with his wife Betty as Christmas cards every year from 1946-1974. Fred Turner was the first person inducted into the TCHS Hall of Fame in 1987 by the Class of 1937, celebrating their 50th year out of high school.

Faye went on to college at Northwestern University in Evanston, where she joined Delta Gamma sorority. After a year, she transferred to Illinois Woman’s College (now MacMurray) and became a member of the Phi Nu society. Faye then transferred to U of I to earn her bachelor of arts degree in English in 1926. She went on to teach in 5 states, even Honolulu, HI for a year. She served as president of the National Society of the Daughters of American Colonists from 1970-73. Before elected national president, she held offices in the Lake Shore Chapter and was state regent of the Illinois society. As president she was required to travel to each of the 50 states, making personal appearances on tv and radio. In her hometown of Wilmette, she served as vice-president of the Wilmette Infant Welfare Society, helped Girl Scouts, taught Sunday school in her church for 8 years. She wrote humorous selections for Line-O-Type, a Chicago Tribune column. Tuscola also benefited from her contributions by being a member of the American Legion Auxiliary, Douglas County Museum and the Douglas County Genealogical Society. She was awarded the Delta Gamma Order of the Rose, the highest honor given for community service. Faye married Charles Michelet Jr. and had one daughter. She and her sister Frances were the first women inducted into the TCHS Hall of Fame in 1987.

Frances graduated as the valedictorian of the TCHS class of ’23. She continued her education at the University of Illinois, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in English in 1928. She went on to teach part-time and attend grad school at Northwestern University in Evanston. She earned a master of arts degree in childhood education in 1936. She also attended the Breadloaf School of English in Middlebury, VT. She taught at North Shore Country Day School in Winnetka, Latin School for Boys in Chicago and the Summit School for Girls in St. Paul, MN. As World War II got underway, Frances enlisted in the US Navy and was commissioned as a lieutenant junior grade in the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Service). Frances was sent to San Diego, CA and served in the intelligence office of the 11th Naval Dist. She was transferred to radar training school at the Naval Air Station on St. Simms Island, GA, where she met and married Princeton grad Lt. Cmdr. William Cabell Hopkins. They had one daughter. She has served on the board of directors of the Columbus Museum and the Three Arts League. She has also been a member of the Women’s Guild of the Columbus Museum, the Springer Opera House Guild, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra Guild and the Historic Columbus Foundation. She and her sister Faye were the first women inducted into the TCHS Hall of Fame in 1987.

Hine was nicknamed “Doc” even while a student at Tuscola. He followed in his father’s footsteps and became a dentist. He received his doctor of dental science degree from the University of Illinois in 1930 and his master’s degree from the U of I in 1932. The father/son team practiced together in Tuscola only for a few years during the Depression. In addition to his graduate work at the U of I, Hine completed graduate work at the U of Rochester in New York, studying as a Carnegie Fellow in 1935 and as a Rockefeller Fellow in 1936. Hine accepted a position with the U of I Dental School in 1936 and taught until 1944, working his way from instructor to assistant professor and finally to associate professor in oral pathology. He then accepted an offer from the Indiana University School of Dentistry, his father’s alma mater. He was a professor and headed the department of histopathology and periodontics. He was promoted to dean of the school of dentistry in 1945. Hine was named the first chancellor at Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN in 1969, serving there until 1973. In 1977 he was named chancellor emeritus and professor of periodontics emeritus. Hine held many offices in professional organizations and was elected president of many, including the American Dental Assn., the International Assn. for Dental Research and the American Assn. of Endodontics and wrote many books. He received many awards and honorary doctorate of science degrees throughout his career, also named International Dentist in 1986. He married Harriett Foulke and had three children.

Huff went on to study at the University of Illinois, completing an undergraduate degree in business in 1932. He returned to TCHS to teach math from 1933-1936. He then continued his education while teaching full-time culminating his efforts by receiving a masters of science degree in accountancy from the U of I in 1936. Huff then joined Phillips Petroleum in 1936 and stayed with the company until he was commissioned with the US Navy in 1942. The Navy benefited from his services until 1946, when he was discharged. He had attained the rank of lieutenant commander. After the war, Huff worked briefly for the Internal Revenue Service until he returned to the U of I that same year to work on a law degree, which he achieved in 1948. After graduation, he worked for an accounting firm in Decatur, IL for two years before joining Mueller Company. He stayed until he retired in 1975. Huff served on several boards: Decatur Memorial Hospital, Red Cross, Boy Scouts of America, Mutual Home Savings and Loan and Pershing National Bank. He married classmate Thelma Warren in 1934 and had two children.

​Chuck Galbreath became the first University of IL lineman from Tuscola to score a touchdown in a major college upset. He graduated from the U of I in 1936, captain of the football team. In 1960 Sports Illustrated named him to its silver anniversary All-American football team. He was an Army veteran of World War II and received the Purple Heart. He went on to Hollywood where he and Errol Flynn made a war movie. Galbreath had been with Merrill Lynch 30 years, retiring in 1979, as vice-president. He was a math teacher and football coach three years at Marmion Military Academy, Aurora, IL, until 1940. The Catholic Youth Organization gave him its John Bosco medal for outstanding services to the youth of Indianapolis in 1956. He was past president of Meridian Hills Country Club and American Business Club. He was a lifetime member of the Einsiedein Society and Knights of Columbus. In ’77 Mayor William H. Hudnut saluted him with a proclamation, declaring a Charles S. Galbreath Day. He was also named a Sagamore of the Wabash. 

He attended University of IL, University of AL and graduated from North Texas State College, Denton, TX. He earned a BS degree. Wayne went on to earn a masters degree in Education from Texas A&M. Wayne posted a 1:56.3 880-yard time in 1933. They also teamed up with two other runners to set a third unbroken school record in the 3200 relay with a time of 8:15.6. Wayne’s accomplishments at North Texas State included the 2-mile record at the Sugar Bowl Meet in Dec.1936 with a time of 9:03.5 to defeat world champion Don Lash. He also set world records at the Penn Relays in 1938 with a time of 9:54.4 as a member of the distance medley relay team and at the Princeton University Invitational Meet in 1938 with a 3/4-mile time of 3:00.3. Wayne held the Lone Star Conf. 880-yd. dash record from 1940-1969 with a time of 1:52.8. He was inducted into the Helms Athletic Hall of Fame in 1955, the National Athletic Trainers Assn. Hall of Fame in 1974 and the North Texas University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1981. The twins teamed up on relays, too. In 1938 Wayne & Blaine competed on the North Texas sprint-medley relay team, along with another set of identical twins, Elmer and Elmer Brown. That year on Feb. 5 the quartet set a world record at the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Delmer ran 440 yards, Elmer ran 220 yards, Wayne ran 880 yards and Blaine ran one mile in a world record time of 7:27.5.

One of the twin track stars who grew up in Ficklin, about 5 miles outside of Tuscola, chose to run to school at TCHS each day. Their “training” paid off – Blaine posted a 4:23.6 mile run in ’33. In addition, they teamed up with 2 other runners to set a third unbroken school record in the 3200 relay with a time of 8:15.6. Blaine broke all records in the mile as a junior at North Texas University. He served with the 4th Marine Division in the Pacific. After college he continued to run distance races and achieved international fame along with his brother. He was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame (Aug. 1955) and the North Texas Hall of Fame. He passed in 1981 at Ogden, UT after a distinguished career as an athletic trainer in several high schools and colleges, including the University of Nebraska, Texas A&M and North Texas State. Blaine also was athletic director for 2 years at Sheppard AFB, TX. He was inducted into the TCHS Hall of Fame posthumously.

Reeder was inducted posthumously for his first team All-American and first team All-Big Ten selections in 1939 at the University of Illinois. He played for Coach Bob Zuppke. He continued the tradition of Tuscola linemen by scoring a touchdown in one of the greatest upsets in college football history. A mediocre Illini team beat a Michigan team that was headed for one of its best seasons and led by the great All-American Tom Harmon. After graduation Reeder was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 1940 draft but he chose not to pursue a pro career. Reeder owned and operated the Horton & Reeder Grain Company at Sadorus. He was a member of First Methodist Church, Champaign; BPOE Lodge 39; Moose Lodge of Champaign; Sadorus Sportsmen’s Club; and the Champaign Country Club. He was a veteran of World War II, and held a degree in commerce from the U of I. He died in an auto accident in 1965 at age of 45. His legacy at Illinois endured, as evidenced by a memorial fund established in his name after his death to support Illini football players through grants-in-aid.

During World War II, Hoel served as a military band leader with the Army Air Corps. He was conductor of one of the top bands and orchestras in the European Theater of Operations, being voted second only to the great Glenn Miller Band. He conducted the military band and the historic meeting between General Omar Bradley and Russia’s Marshall Konev, and played for General George Patton’s funeral. He is a member of the honorary music fraternities of Phi Mu Alpha and Alpha Lambda Delta and is a former director of the U of I Men’s Glee Club. He also was choral director at the secondary school level for 25 years. Hoel is co-founder and president of the Park Forest Conservatory of Music and Dance which provides instruction to 1,000 students weekly. He was instrumental in organizing the Ray Wulliman (TCHS principal from 1923-54) scholarship, the All-School Reunion and the TCHS Hall of Fame.

Bill graduated from Tuscola Community High School in 1941. He was an All-State football player in 1940. He attended the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN. He was drafted into the US Army-Air Corps in 1943. He was a member of the University of Illinois 1946 Big Ten Championship Football Team and the 1947 Rose Bowl Team. He was drafted following his college career by the Cleveland Browns. Bill was a graduate of the Reisch School of Auctioneering in Mason City, IA. He was an instructor at the Decatur School of Auctioneering in Decatur, IL. He and his family operated the Huber Auction Team since 1958. He was a partner in the Huber & Sloan John Deere Dealership in Tuscola from 1964-1985. He farmed in the Tuscola area and was a horse breeder of American Quarter Horses. He was a member of the Forty Martyrs Catholic Church, was a charter member of the Knights of Columbus and the Tuscola ABC Club. He was a member of the Tuscola Rotary Club, where he was a Paul Harris Fellow. He was a member of the Tri-City Country Club, Villa Grove, IL. He married Suzanne Malhoit and raised 6 children.

Jim worked for local WDZ radio station which led to a lifelong passion for broadcast engineering. He attended Northwestern University until called to serve in Europe in WWII. His early band experience carried over as he played in the army band and recorded Big Bands at USO shows. In 2015 he was awarded the French Legion of Honour Medal for excellent military conduct during the war. Upon his return, he and Ginny were married on March 22, 1947 and moved to Connersville, IN where he was instrumental in launching WCNB radio station. They then moved to Decatur, IL where he started their first TV station WTVP (now WAND) in 1953. His broadcasting history continued in Milwaukee, WI where he was responsible for the design and construction of Milwaukee’s public television stations, WMVS-TV and WMVT-TV and served as their chief engineer and assistant director of operations. Dad’s last 20 work years were spent as Director of Engineering for the Journal Broadcast Group including WTMJ-AM, WKTI-FM and WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee where he ushered in color TV and many other industry advancements. He was very active in the National Society of Broadcast Engineers and served as Milwaukee chapter’s first president, as well as the President of the National SBE. He is well known as the “father” of the world renown SBE Certification Program which prompted the renaming of the SBE Education Award in his honor. He also received the SBE’s Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Wisconsin Broadcasting Museum Hall of Fame in 1998. After retirement, Jim and his wife moved to Green Valley, AZ.

His background in civil, hydraulic and pneumatic engineering has produced some revolutionary inventions for domestic, industrial and medical use. Joe is an expert in the field of concrete processing and the author of specifications for concrete processing equipment used in building many of the world’s existing nuclear power plants. He is president and owner of a firm dealing in concrete processing equipment and hydraulic and pneumatic components.

Martin graduated from the U of I with a bachelor of science degree then continued earning a doctor of medicine degree in 1954; a master of science in internal medicine degree from the University of MN in 1960 and a degree from the Mayo Fdtn. Grad School of Medicine in 1962.  He and his wife, Ada, raised five children. Dr. Maurice John Martin-M.J. to his colleagues and friends-his task was the practice of general psychiatry in what may be the largest consultation-liaison environment—the Mayo Clinic. M.J. arrived at Mayo as a resident in internal medicine in 1955. He was staff president of the Clinic in 1982, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology director from 1984-1992, and he chaired the Council on Internal Organization from 1983-1986. The founders, surrounded by a legion of medical and surgical colleagues caring for a vast population of patients, recognized the inherent opportunity to further nurture psychiatry in an intense medical environment. So did M.J. After completing his medical residency, M.J. spent 2 years on active duty in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. He returned to Mayo and entered a psychiatry residency. In 1962 he joined the staff as the first psychiatrist at Mayo with Board certification in both medicine and psychiatry.  He was president of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, the American College of Psychiatrists, and the American Board of Medical Specialties as well as a vice-president and director of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and a director of the American Board of Emergency Medicine. His 41 years in the Army Reserves culminated with his being the oldest colonel on active duty during the 1991 Gulf War.  He died prematurely at the age of 69 from a terminal illness. M.J. Martin epitomized a complete physician and an ideal consultation-liaison psychiatrist.

Gerhard “Gerry” Freche, after his graduation from TCHS, married Jean Ellis in 1951 and had two sons. He graduated with honors from Valparaiso University in Indiana in 1955, with a bachelor degree in Business Administration. Gerry served 4 years in the US Navy Reserves and was a veteran of the Korean War. His career with the Bell Telephone System spanned 33 years, beginning in 1955 with Illinois Bell Telephone Company in Chicago. His leadership skills led to rising management positions in the Bell System companies including AT&T, Northwestern Bell and Western Electric involving 14 relocations around the country. He became President/CEO/Chairman of New England Telephone (now Verizon) in Boston, a $6.5 billion business that employs over 27,000 people. During his career he served on many civic and corporate boards, among them, First National Bank of Boston, Equitable of Iowa, Bank of Boston, Omaha National Bank, Mass Mutual, United Way, Freedom Trail Foundation, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Museum of Science. Gerry was Chairman of the Boston Chamber of Commerce and a founding member of Friends of Post Office Square and Boston Against Drugs. He was honored to receive numerous awards including the Community Human Relations Award from the American Jewish Committee, Valparaiso University’s Hall of Honor Award, Distinguished Bostonian Award and an Honorary Doctorate of Commercial Science from Suffolk University in recognition of his civic contributions and leadership in Boston and Massachusetts. In 1988, he retired to Naples, FL.

McCarty graduated from TCHS in 1949. He attended Principia College in Elsah, IL for 2 years and then graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a BS in Agriculture in 1953. He was in the Army from 1954-56 and was stationed in Stuttgart, Germany where he married his wife, Carol Carlson McCarty in 1955. Upon their return to Tuscola, Bill joined the Tuscola National Bank in 1956 and became President in 1959. They welcomed four children: Bill, Kim, Matt and Kris. He is a former president of the Illinois Banker’s Assn. and has served as a member or officer of many community organizations, projects and fundraisers. He retired from TNB in December 1994. He founded the Tuscola Community Foundation with Doug McCumber and Emerson Moore in July 1994. Bill remains a keen investor and excellent steward of the family farm. He resides in Bloomington, IL and says, “I love the Tuscola Warriors and all of our friends!”

​Taylor earned a bachelor of science degree in agricultural science and veterinary medicine from the University of Illinois in 1955. Two years later he received a doctorate of veterinary medicine from U of I. In ’65 he received a masters degree in laboratory animal science from Texas A & M. He then went to the University of MN to earn a masters degree in public health, and a doctorate in environmental health, with a minor in epidemiology. While Taylor was working on his degrees he was also putting together an impressive employment record, beginning with his own general veterinary practice in Oakland in 1957. He also assumed numerous duties in the US Air Force. In September 1981, he returned to central IL to become the director of toxicology at ToxiGenics, Inc. in Decatur, working through June 1983. In 1983 Taylor was named as director of Laboratory Animal Care for the College of Veterinary Medicine at the U of I, through May 1986. In 1986 he became the head of the Laboratory Animal Medicine program at the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, director of lab animal care for the College of Veterinary Medicine and a professor of veterinary biosciences and veterinary pathobiology, all at the U of I. In addition to his work, Taylor was appointed to numerous committees, serving as chairman on several, including the NIH Committee for Laboratory Animal Facility Improvements, the AALAS Committee on Technician Training, the National Academy of Science/National Research Council Comm. On Educ. Programs in Lab Animal Science and the Council on Accreditation, AAALAC. Taylor also served on a myriad of college committees and chaired many. As a result of his contributions and achievements in his field, he has been awarded a Legion of Merit award, a Meritorious Service Medal, a USAF Commendation Medal and a USAF Outstanding Unit Award. Taylor and his wife, Marilyn, had three children.