Three to Be Inducted into BGSU Athletics Hall of Fame

The Bowling Green State University Athletics Hall of Fame will welcome three new members on Saturday, Oct. 22. The class of 2011 will include Kyle Kramer '91 (football), Anthony Stacey '99 (men's basketball) and Verne Zabek '75 (lacrosse).

COMPLETE RELEASE - PDF | PHOTO GALLERY of the 2011 Hall of Fame inductees

The official induction ceremony, as mentioned, will take place on Saturday, Oct. 22. The class will be recognized on the field at halftime of the BGSU-Temple football game at Doyt L. Perry Stadium. The game, which begins at 3:30 p.m., is designated as Hall of Fame Day, and is part of Letterwinner Weekend. The class will be officially inducted into the Hall in conjunction with a reception immediately following the football game that evening at the brand-new Stroh Center. The reception is open to the public.

Biographical sketches on each of the three inductees follow:

KYLE KRAMER (football, 1985-88)

Kramer, a native of Kettering, Ohio (Fairmont H.S.), was a four-year letterwinner and a three-year starter at safety for the football Falcons. A two-time All-Mid-American Conference First-Team selection, he also was named to the Academic All-MAC Team on two occasions. Kramer earned All-America honorable mention in each of his last two seasons in the Brown and Orange.

Kramer was named to the all-conference second team in his sophomore season of 1986, after tying for second on the team with 105 tackles that fall. He also had a career-best total of five interceptions as a soph. Kramer's tackle total deadlocked him for 10th in the MAC.

In his junior season, Kramer led the team with 139 tackles, causing three fumbles and breaking up three passes that year. He was named to the All-MAC First Team, and also was an Associated Press All-America honorable-mention selection. Kramer was named to both the Academic All-MAC and the CoSIDA Academic All-District teams in his junior seasons. He would earn all four of those honors again as a senior in 1988.

In that junior year, Kramer had a whopping 21 tackles, including 14 solo stops, against Arizona, and he also made 18 tackles in the Eastern Michigan game. He ranked fourth in the MAC in tackles that season, and intercepted passes against Western Michigan and Toledo, setting up BG scores in both cases.

As a senior, Kramer was a team co-captain, and was named the Falcons' Most Valuable Player. He led the team with a total of 143 tackles, ranking fifth in the MAC. Kramer had 19 stops against EMU in his final collegiate game, and also made 16 tackles at TCU that year, blocking a punt out of the end zone for a safety in the latter game.

Kramer's career total of 399 tackles was the third highest in BGSU history at the time of his graduation, and it still ranks fifth on the school's career list today. He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round of the 1989 NFL Draft, and was with the Browns for two years before an injury ended his career. Kramer had 17 special teams stops during the regular season as a rookie in '89, and recorded his first NFL interception in the Dec. 17 game vs. Minnesota. He missed several games due to a thigh injury that year, then suffered a shoulder injury in the Hall of Fame Game in 1990, missing the entire season. Kramer was with the Browns until 1991.

Kramer currently works for Zimmer, a worldwide leader in joint replacement solutions and orthopaedics. He resides in Bellbrook, Ohio, with his wife, Kiki – a BGSU alumna – and their two daughters, McKenna (12) and Kalli (11).

ANTHONY STACEY (men's basketball, 1995-2000)

Stacey, a native of Elyria, Ohio (Grafton Midview H.S.), is the most prolific scorer in BGSU men's basketball history. He ended his career with a total of 1,938 career points, and also set the school record for career steals, with 226.

Stacey began his career with a bang, posting the best freshman season of any BGSU player in the modern era. He scored 433 points to set a BG freshman scoring record, and was named MAC Freshman of the Year, also earning all-league honorable mention. The first freshman to lead the team in scoring since frosh became eligible to play with the varsity in the early 1970s, Stacey averaged 16.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game that year. He ranked fifth in the league in scoring and seventh in field-goal percentage.

As a sophomore in 1996-97, Stacey again earned honorable-mention All-MAC honors as the team captured the league's regular-season title. He was second on the team in scoring that year, with 14.3 ppg, and had a total of 72 steals, the third most in program history. In 1997-98, Stacey missed the season after tearing plantar fascia on the bottom of his right foot, and was granted a medical hardship from the NCAA.

Stacey showed no ill effects the following year. He was named to the All-MAC First Team, and also earned NABC Second-Team honors in 1998-99, finishing fourth in the MAC in scoring (18.5 ppg) and second in steals that year. Stacey also was in the league's top 15 in field-goal pct., free-throw pct. and rebounding. He scored in double digits in 25 of the 27 games, with 13 efforts of 20 or more points, that season.

As a senior in 1999-2000, Stacey was named MAC Player of the Year, averaging 16.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game despite being bothered by a dislocated finger on his shooting hand and a sprained ankle from December on. Stacey hit the game-winning shot with just 1.1 seconds left in a February win at Akron, and became the BGSU career scoring leader with a field goal early in the second half of a win over Kent State that same month (Feb. 16, 2000). Stacey was a repeat selection to the NABC Second Team that year.

In addition to his point and steal totals, Stacey ended his career with a total of 760 rebounds, ranking seventh on the BGSU list at the time. He scored in double digits in 105 of his 119 career games, with 16 double-doubles. In the 2010-11 season, Stacey was named to the All-Anderson Team.
Stacey played professionally in Spain for over nine seasons. After assistant-coaching stints with the Lorain Admiral King boys basketball team and the Lorain girls program, he was named the head boys basketball coach at Medina High School in May of 2011. Additionally, he is a financial professional associate for Prudential.

VERNE ZABEK (lacrosse; 1972-75)

Zabek, a native of Westbury, N.Y. (W.T. Clarke H.S.), was a constant scoring threat for coach Mickey Cochrane's Falcons. He holds nearly all of BGSU's offensive records and helped the Brown and Orange to great success on the field.

Zabek was named an honorable-mention All-American in both 1974 and 1975, and earned All-Midwest Division first-team honors in both of those seasons after being named to the second team in 1973. He helped the Falcons to a perfect 12-0 record in his junior season of 1974, sharing team Most Valuable Player honors, and led the Falcons to an 11-1 mark as a senior in '75. BGSU won the Midwest Lacrosse Association title in both the '74 and '75 campaigns.

Zabek's record-setting career began with a 49-point season as a freshman in 1972. Zabek had 18 goals and 31 assists that season, then had 52 points as a soph, on eight goals and 44 assists. That sophomore season saw him set school single-game records for both assists (nine) and points (10), in a win over Ohio Wesleyan.

He had 55 points, tying the school single-season record in his junior year, scoring 19 goals and distributing 36 assists as BGSU rolled along to that 12-0 record. Then, in his senior season, Zabek scored 14 goals and added 22 assists for a 36-point season.

Zabek's 44 assists in his sophomore year set a school record, and he also holds the BGSU career marks for both assists, with 133, and points, with 192. He was a multiple-year selection to the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Midwest Division All-Star Team. During Zabek's four seasons, the Falcons had an overall record of 41-9, including a 23-1 mark his last two years.

After graduation, Zabek served in the U.S. Navy, and he also spent some time coaching. Zabek currently resides in Westfield, Mass.

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The 2011 class of inductees, the 47th class in history, brings membership in the Athletic Hall of Fame to 219. The 1983-84 national championship hockey team is also in the Hall of Fame.

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