Wife joins husband in Stivers School for the Arts Hall of Fame

The Oct. 10 induction of Patty (Greger) Wikle completes the package. Bill Wikle was enshrined last year.

It marked the first time in Stivers history that a husband and wife were enshrined. They are 1964 graduates and have resided in Beavercreek the past two years.

Patty Wikle, a diminutive 4-foot-11 gymnastics standout in her Tigers heyday, was introduced and presented a plaque at the banquet at the Presidential Center by University of Dayton coaching legend Don Donoher and former Belmont, Ohio State and New York Knicks basketball star Bill Hosket.

She was accompanied to the podium by her former physical education teacher, Janet Nicely.

“I became acquainted with Coach Donoher when our gymnast team used to entertain at halftime at the Flyer basketball games,” Patty Wikle said. “And Janet Nicely — we called her Mrs. Nicely, of course — was my gym teacher and mentor. My gymnastics coach was Joe Sullivan.”

And Patty Wikle’s popularity at Stivers reached beyond her gymnastics stardom.

“I was also on the school’s drill team and was named Dayton City Schools Miss Fitness of Dayton in ’63, but for me the most memorable thing was my senior year when I was homecoming queen and Bill was captain of the football team.”

“We didn’t go to the same elementary school, so the first time we met was in our freshman year,” said Patty Wikle, who won gymnastic gold medals four straight years either on the trampoline or floor exercises. “And it was during the summer between our junior and senior years that we started dating.”

Bill Wikle, a Stivers football hero, laughed heartily when asked about his wife.

“She was an iddy-biddy thing with a bright personality and she was full of pep ... but I wasn’t a whole lot bigger. In fact, I weighed about 137 pounds — and it was a good thing I could run fast.”

The Tigers’ star running back of that era, Bill Wikle was nicknamed “Wee Willie Wikle” by Dayton Daily News sportswriter John Olesky. He was all-city on both offense and defense.

Although football was his game, like his wife-to-be at the time, Bill Wikle also excelled in gymnastics, his specialties being the high bar and steel rings.

But his wife gets the nod here. Her husband’s medal collection was mostly confined to silver. At the time, prep gymnastics had not yet expanded to district and state competition.

Their daughter, Annette Fulton, lives in Enon. Son, Billy Wikle, resides in Dayton.

Granddaughter Nicole Fulton is a senior gymnastics whiz at Yellow Springs High School who’s being recruited by several colleges.

Other 2010 Stivers Hall of Famers were Terry Thompson (’55), Bobby Claude Williams (’57), Ora Rolfe (’57), James Fiorita (’38), Marvin Farrier (’28), twin brothers John and Jim Lord (’55), Dale Keiter (’55), Ted Lewis (’62), Herman Raiff (’24), Bill Ginn (’44), K Schnarre (’54), Shirley Turvey Griffith (’52), Max Padlow (’30), Herbert Brown (’29), and Carl Cramer (’29).