Northbrook Park District - Northbrook, Illinois

The Northbrook Park District honors volunteers and athletes in the community with its Hall of Fame and Sports Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame, created in 1978, recognizes volunteers who significantly improved the quality of Park District programs or facilities. The Sports Hall of Fame, created in 1995, recognizes the accomplishments of athletes who are from Northbrook or who have used Northbrook Park District facilities as their primary training location.

The Board of Park Commissioners reviews nominations to the Halls of Fame and votes for admission. Winners are inducted at a Board meeting and will have their name and photo on a plaque displayed in the Northbrook Sports Center.

Click here for a Hall of Fame Nomination Form.
Click here for a Sports Hall of Fame Nomination Form.

Hall of Fame Recipients

1978
Hugh Barth	Mary Eitel	Norbert Koehs	William “Torchy”Peden
Shirlee Barth	Anne Henning	Albert Lavick	Edward J. Rudolph
Cliffe Eitel	Eleanor Koehs	Walter “Doc” O’Neil

1979	1980	1981	1982
Dick Evans	Franco Giannotti	Helen McGohan	Arthur Kunde
Chas. “Bud” Heckler	Jim Rushing	Mary Kay Gage	Glenn Miller
Klaus Ruege			Sam Poulos

1983	1984	1985	1986
George Martin	Hunter Gilbertson	Robert Richter	Gene Adams
Frank Quinn	George Garner
Herman Wenk

1987	1989	1991	1992
Dick Lay	Donald Kissock	Stephen Cohen	Richard Widmark
Lee Lippman

1993	1997	2002	2004
Jeanne Seffren	Thomas “Tommy” Rifkin	Jeff Steinback	Dr. Darryl Skale
		Mark Gerstein

Sports Hall of Fame Recipients

1995
Brian Arseneau	Andy Gabel	Nathaniel Mills
Neil Blatchford	Janet Goldman	Leah Poulos Mueller
Sally Blatchford-Dye	Anne Henning	Pat Moore
Beverly Buhr	Dianne Holum	Edward J. Rudolph
Chuck Burke	Mark Huck	Edward J. Rudolph, Jr.
David Cruikshank	Greg Lyman	Lydia Stephans

2007	2008	2009
Jim Papreck	Scott D. Sanderson	Greg Biagini
		Debra Suzanne Cohen

2012	2013
Richard Widmark	Heather Aseltine
Jason Kipnis

Jason Kipnis – a Northbrook native, graduate of Glenbrook North High School and Major League Baseball player – was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame on January 8, 2013. At Arizona State University, Kipnis was an All American and the 2009 Pac 10 Conference Player of the Year. He was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the second round and played in the international All-Star Futures Game. Kipnis made his major league debut in July of 2011, starting at second base against the White Sox.

Heather Aseltine

At the age of 3, Heather Aseltine of Buffalo Grove learned to skate at the Northbrook Sports Center, and she trained there for 16 years. In 2002, while attending the University of Illinois, she was named National Collegiate Figure Skating Champion. She is one of the few skaters who have passed the ISI Freestyle Level 10 test and USFS Golds in Moves and Freestyle. After college, Aseltine began working at the Northbrook Sports Center and became a Leisure Services Supervisor and director of the award-winning Northbrook-On-Ice. She was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame on February 27, 2013.

Northbrook resident Richard Widmark caught the attention of the world in the 1960s and ’70s, jumping more than 30 feet over a row of barrels – on ice – and jumping through flaming hoops, also on ice. He won World Championships in barrel jumping, speedskating and cycling. In recognition of his accomplishments as an athlete, the Northbrook Board of Park Commissioners inducted Widmark into the Northbrook Park District Sports Hall of Fame on February 22, 2012.

Click here for a recent article about Richard Widmark.