Willie Pless and Steve Renko to be Inducted into Kansas Sports Hall of Fame

June 4, 2010

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

Kansas Sports Hall of Fame Board of Trustees and President/CEO Ted Hayes announced the induction of University of Kansas football great Willie Pless and three-sport athlete Steve Renko into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday.

Pless and Renko are joined by five other men and four women, marking the largest number of women ever inducted to the KSHOF at one time.

Pless, the all-time leading tackler in Kansas football history, finished his four-year career (1982-85) with 633 stops for the Jayhawks. He is one of nine players in school history to be named first-team all-conference three times and was honored as the Canadian Football League’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player five times.

Renko competed in football, basketball and baseball for KU from 1963-65. He played 15 seasons in the major leagues and won 134 games as a pitcher.

Other inductees include NCAA softball All-American Lisa Carey, gold medal weightlifter Tara Nott Cunningham, two-time Olympic rower Anna Seaton Huntington, Wichita State golf coach and former PGA professional Grier Jones, former major league baseball pitcher Ray Sadecki and former Lawrence High volleyball coach Joan Wells.

Former baseball great ‘Smoky’ Joe Wood and U.S. Olympic coaches Richard Quick and Gerald Tucker will be inducted posthumously.

The 2010 KSHOF class will be inducted in Wichita, Kan. on Oct. 3.