PERRYVILLE – The St Vincent High School Alumni Athletic Hall Of Fame will hold its sixth annual induction ceremony on Saturday, February 25 ,2023. (Because of the pandemic, this class is for 2022.)
The event will begin with an open house at St Vincent High School at 3:30 p.m. to tour the new gym entry, renovated gym, library, and halls.
At 4:30 p.m., those who wish to attend mass can sit together in reserved pews.
After church, the scene shifts to the Perryville Elks Lodge at 921 Perryville Blvd. (the bypass) by soccer fields.
There will be a “meet and greet” until 6:30 p.m., followed by a meal, then the induction ceremony.
This year’s inductees include Jerry Winkler, class of ’57, who quarterbacked the team to an undefeated season in 1955 and had an 8-1 record his senior year. He also played basketball and four years of baseball, where his team won two Catholic conference championships.
Alex Armbruster was our first all-state player in basketball. Alex was a gifted athlete who excelled at any sport he participated. He quarterbacked St. Vincent’s state champion football team of 2004. He was an outstanding pitcher for our baseball team. His jersey is the first to be retired in boys basketball.
Courtney Besand-Wren ‘09 was a three time all-state soccer player. She was second team her sophomore year and first team her junior and senior year. She was also named Missouri Soccer Player of the Year 2009. Courtney was All Conference and All District in volleyball, basketball, and soccer.
Our volunteer inductee is Jim Lottes, class of 1968. Jim is one of those guys who works behind the scenes to see that things get done. He doesn’t seek publicity. He has been a silent benefactor of our school and sports program.
The undefeated 1965 football team, coached by legendary Ken Paulus. Is this year team induction.
He led the team to its third undefeated season. Paulus was also the quarterback the two preceding season. In one of the most-seen games at PHS stadium on a cool Sunday afternoon on November 14th, 1965 undefeated St Vincent hosted undefeafted Valle Catholic.
SV took a 6-0 lead but missed on 2 PATs.
Valle took the lead later and made their PAT to lead 7-6.
Late in the fourth quarter SV took the ball down to Valle’s 10-12 yard line. Coach Paulus called to kick a field goal. [In those days it wasn’t done] The irony is that Mike Zoellner, who missed on two extra point attempts earlier, was called upon to kick. With about 40 seconds left, his kick split the uprights and SV held on to win 9-7.
St. Vincent had its first all-state player named in Larry Hoffman, who played center and middle linebacker.
The charge for the evening is $25 payable at the door. We would ask those who wish to attend to call the St Vincent Parish Center at 573-547-4300 and leave your name, the number of guests and a call back number.