Elgin Sports Hall of Fame to induct five

Five new inductees will take their place in the Elgin Sports Hall of Fame when the organization holds its annual banquet and induction ceremony on Sunday, Nov. 4 at the Elgin Recreation Centre’s Heritage Ballroom.

Beth Fitchie Barnes, James Kossakowski, Paul Hudgens, Ryan Sienko and David Wurm were voted into the Hall of Fame by the foundation’s board of directors on Monday night.

Fitchie Barnes is a 1999 Larkin graduate who was a four-year gymnast and also played softball. As a gymnast she broke 17 combined individual and team records. She finished in the top three in 61 percent of the high school events she competed in with 78 first-place finishes. She qualified for the state finals all four years, finishing second in balance beam and third in floor exercise her junior year. In 1999, she was named the Larkin Female Athlete of the Year and was nominated to the National High School Prep all-American team.

Kossakowski was a three-sport athlete at Larkin, graduating in 1988. He was a four-year varsity wrestler, compiling 91 wins in his Royals career. He finished second at state at 145 pounds his junior year and second at 155 his senior year. The grandson of legendary Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe, Kossakowski was named Larkin’s Male Athlete of the Year in 1988. He went on to wrestle at Northern Illinois, where he won 86 matches and fell just one win short of all-American status his senior year. He was named NIU’s Most Valuable Wrestler in 1992-93 and qualified for the Olympic trials in Roman-Greco style wrestling in 1992.

Hudgens is a 1955 graduate of Elgin High School who was the playmaking guard for the 1955 Maroons’ team that finished second in the state basketball tournament. During his senior year, Hudgens led the team in assists, averaged 11.3 points per game and was named most valuable player of the team. He made the all-state tournament second team and is a member of the All-Chesbrough team. He went on to play three years at Beloit College, where he was team captain his senior year.

Sienko, nominated for baseball, is a 1993 Larkin graduate, where he was a member of four straight Upstate Eight Conference championship teams. As a senior, Sienko hit .430 with a slugging percentage of .835 and an on-base percentage of .596 while leading the conference and setting Larkin records with 9 home runs and 39 RBI. He continued his career at the University of Iowa, where he was a three-year letterman, hitting .311 with 7 homers his senior year. He was signed as a free agent by Texas in 1998 and played in their minor league system as well as for the White Sox in the minors. He also played for the Schaumburg Flyers and the Joliet Jackhammers and in 2010 was the first player inducted into the Jackhammers’ Hall of Fame.

Wurm is a 1983 St. Edward graduate who helped lead the Green Wave to their first state football playoff appearance in 1983. A lineman, he was a second team Catholic all-American his senior year. He also competed in field events on the track team and twice won conference titles in the discus, placing eighth in the event at state in 1983 and second in 1984. Wurm earned a football scholarship to Vanderbilt, where he started all four seasons and was a co-captain his senior year.

For more information on the Elgin Sports Hall of Fame Foundation, log on to www.eshof.org.