Greater Dayton Baseball Hall of Fame adding seven new members

The Greater Dayton Baseball Hall of Fame and induction banquet is Nov. 5 at Alter High School. CONTRIBUTED

The Greater Dayton Baseball Hall of Fame and induction banquet is Nov. 5 at Alter High School. CONTRIBUTED

Jeff Klepacz won’t be umpiring any more pro games after retiring this summer as a substitute at Dayton Dragons games, but he will continue officiating amateur games, and let’s not forget the annual Greater Dayton Baseball Hall of Fame and induction banquet on Nov. 5 at Alter High School.

Klepacz again will be master of ceremonies for the event, which he helped establish.

The newest addition of hall of famers features pitcher Jeff Greene of Bethel High School and the University of Toledo; Meadowdale pitcher Pat Reid; shortstop Scott Vagedes of Milton Union High School and Ohio Northern University; Meadowdale pitcher Jimmy Johnson, who also starred at Sinclair and the University of Toledo, pitcher Mark Tindall of Belmont high school, East Tennessee State and Sinclair and longtime umpires Carl Stermer and Bob Juliano Sr.

>Greene graduated from Bethel in 1982 and was drafted by Atlanta in the 11th round in 1985 following an outstanding career at Toledo. He played four seasons of minor league baseball and was in Durham during filming for the movie Bull Durham, making it into that movie was as an extra.

>Reid also played a couple of seasons in the minors. A champion many times over, Reid’s teams won four Dayton City League titles, advanced to the state finals at Cochise College and he was on the 1985 AABC Stan Musial team that went to the finals while playing for H.H. Morgan.

>Vagedes not only was a four-year starter as a high school shortstop when he enrolled at Ohio Northern in 1971, the coach liked his arm and turned him into a closer. He helped his team to two Division II World Series competitions.

He’s also still playing, participating in the local Roy Hobbs League, where he has won his team’s MVP 12 times in 27 years and has helped his team win six Hobbs World Series’.

>Johnson helped Meadowdale to four straight City titles and was All-Conference and All-Region at Sinclair and All-SEC at Tennessee. He lives in Tipp City and is the pitching coach for the high school team.

>Tindall, a left-hander, was All-City and All-Area in baseball, recording a 9-0 record and 0.83 ERA as a senior. He was also an outstanding pitcher at East Tennessee State and Sinclair College before being drafted by the Montreal Expos and spent two years in the minor leagues. He is currently a finance manager at Beau Townsend Ford in Vandalia.

>Stermer, retired from NCR (his college degree was in Particle Physics), worked nearly 30 years as an official in several different sports, specifically baseball. He worked for the old Montgomery County Recreation Department, the Gem City Umpires Association and the Dayton Amateur Baseball Commission. He was also the commissioner of the Western Ohio League, the Dayton Public League and the Southwestern Buckeye League.

>Juliano, like Stermer not a Dayton native, eventually landed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base and began umpiring games in the Greene County Officials Association and Ohio High School Athletics Association. He was so good, he was asked to teach classes to train other officials.

He worked five OHSAA state championship games and several in the old DABC and CYO leagues.

Klepacz is no stranger to halls of fame as he is in four of them -- the Greater Dayton Baseball Hall of Fame, the DABC (as an umpire), the Wilbur Wright High School and the Dayton City League Hall of Fame. His officiating career has covered nearly 40 years and has worked nearly 30 years for Dayton’s Recreation & Parks division.

Klepacz also works as a field timing coordinator for the pitch clock at Day Air Ballpark.

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