Lansing Hall of Fame 2022 class inducted

The Lansing Central School Athletic Hall of Fame inducted four new members on Nov. 26. The Class of 2022 inductees are Kyle Dake, Stuart Dean, John Duthie and Lansing’s 1963-1965 baseball teams.

Dake is not only one of the most successful athletes to come out of Lansing; he has also become a household name in wrestling across the globe. In September, Dake won his fourth straight world title after defeating Slovakia’s Tajmuraz Salkazanov in the 74-kilogram men’s freestyle at the 2022 Senior World Championships (tinyurl.com/2mpw9lst). He also won a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Dake recently joined the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, the regional training center associated with Penn State University, to continue his prolific professional career.

Dake began wrestling at 4 years old under the guidance of his grandfather Bob, who was a legendary wrestling coach at Lansing in the 1960s, and his father, Doug, who was an All-American wrestler at Kent State. With the Bobcats, Dake won the New York state wrestling title twice and finished with a record of 212-14. At Cornell, he became the only wrestler in NCAA history to win four straight titles in four different weight classes.

“I’m particularly honored to be going in with Kyle,” Dean said. “For me, he’s probably the most decorated athlete in the history of Lansing athletics in terms of his accomplishments, and I had him in [my] class.”

Dean enters the Hall of Fame as one of the greatest coaches in Lansing history, spanning 40 years and 1,755 games. He began coaching with the junior varsity girls basketball team in 1978 while he was still attending Ithaca College. He then took over the varsity program in 1982, guiding the Bobcats to two sectional titles and a Class C state championship in 2000-01. What made that run to states even more special was that his daughter Lindsey, a 2014 Hall of Fame inductee, was on the team.

“It was just so much fun,” Dean said. “They were an amazing group of kids who just really worked hard, and they played the game the way it’s supposed to be played, in my mind anyway: sharing the basketball. And we played pretty good defense. … It was a great experience, and having my daughter there made it that much more special for me.”

Dean also found success with the baseball team, coaching varsity for 10 seasons and winning two sectional titles. The standout year was in 2012 where the Bobcats went 26-0 and captured the Class C state title.

“It certainly was a unique group because the pitching was there,” Dean said. “We had two very good pitchers, and in baseball, you need to have the pitching. But we also were able to put together some pretty good numbers offensively. I thought the key for us was the defense that we played. Throughout the course of the year, we played pretty good defense that always kept us in games. You put those three components together — pitching, hitting and defense — and you’ve got a chance to be successful.”

Dean continued.

“I think back to that group and how committed they were with regards to their work ethic,” he said. “They just seemed to really embrace the idea of working hard. As the season wore on, we just kind of took one inning at a time, and that really helped us.”

Duthie made a name for himself in golf, winning state titles in 2005 and 2007 for the Bobcats. He was also the IAC MVP twice and the league’s individual champion in 2007. Duthie has been trying to make the PGA Tour for the past 10 years and is currently on the Canadian Tour. Duthie was appreciative of all the support he’s gotten from the Lansing community throughout his entire career.

“What made it fun was just people really caring about golf,” Duthie said. “They made it seem like it was important and a big deal. It was always very exciting to play in that kind of an atmosphere.”

The 1963-65 baseball teams captured the Tri-County Conference championship each season. They won 32 straight games during that span, a streak that started with the final three games of the 1962 season. The teams were all coached by Hall of Famer Stan Sobus, who was involved in more than just baseball.

“Stan also ran the track team, but the track team only ran on Saturdays,” said Geoff Wright, Lansing Hall of Fame Selection Committee chairman. “The players would play baseball Monday through Friday. On Saturday, he would send them up to the track, and they would win the sprints and the hurdles in the long jump, and they were just really good athletes.”

There were five athletes that played all four years from 1962-65: Harvey Barker, Dale Christopher, Bobby Christopher, Billy Howell and 1998 inductee Terry Teeter.

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