Inductees carry Warrior traits through life

Sam King said he doesn’t need “or particularly want any sort of public acknowledgment” for what he has done in life.

But, being inducted into the Brookfield Warrior Hall of Fame for his accomplishments as a basketball player has been “really kind of nice just to reminisce on what was a magical time in life,” the 2005 Brookfield High graduate said.

Part of the magic was the support he had from family, the neighboring Litman family, and his coaches, he said at the Oct. 22 induction ceremony. King, who was Third Team All State and Trumbull County Player of the Year his senior year, among other accolades, addressed his young children, telling them there is a direct line between his experiences in Brookfield, and what kind of life he hopes to create for them.

“Daddy had a lot of good people in his life that instilled very important qualities in him that he’ll now get to pass along to you,” King said as his wife, Alyssa, recorded his acceptance speech on her phone.

“No matter where we live or where you go to school, you’ll always have some Brookfield Warrior in you,” King said.

King was inducted with:

• Brian Gedeon, a 1989 graduate, wrestler and First Team All State football player, who went on to play with championship teams at the College of the Desert in California and the University of Findlay, Ohio.
• Jill Kirila, a 1990 graduate and member of the state runner-up basketball team from 1989-90, and track and cross country runner.
• Lou Scudere, a 2003 graduate who set the school record in the 100-meter dash and anchored the school-record setting 400-meter relay team. He also was an All State Special Mention football player.
• The 2006-07 wrestling team, which was undefeated during the regular season, won the Eastern Ohio Wrestling League championship and had three state qualifiers and a state alternate.
• Mike “Pop” Faber, a long-time manager for the football and girls and boys basketball teams.
• Marc Hubbard, a long-time manager for the football team.

The hall, which held its first induction in 2011, has now inducted more than 80 individual athletes, teams and contributors, and Scudere said it is an honor to be mentioned in the same breath with the other inductees.

“These were legendary people in school,” he said. “It definitely means a lot.”

There are qualities that are associated with Brookfield’s blue and gold, its Warrior nickname and the constant chip on the shoulder the students have of coming from a smaller school.

“The characteristics that go with that, which I think are loyalty, perseverance and, hopefully, a little humility, is something that marks us all as Warriors,” Kirila said.

“Being back here does bring a lot of memories back, but what I realize is they’re all really good memories,” she said. “I’ve always been proud to be from Brookfield.”

Gedeon, who was praised for excelling on a team that went 1-9 in his senior year, wanted to talk about others. He remembered the time Faber ran onto the field at a junior high game in his underwear, with “Beat Hubbard” scrawled on the back of his underpants.

Gedeon also praised the contributions of Marc Hubbard, recalling the time he walked the sidelines rubbing the players’ hands on a very cold game day.

“Who does that?” Gedeon said. “Someone who’s dedicated. Someone who cares about Brookfield and cares about the people around him.”

Hubbard has been associated with Brookfield football for something like 50 years.

“Marc never has a schedule but he lives on Davis Street and it seems like, when the lights come on, he appears” at Nicholas Field on Addison Road, said current head football coach Randy Clark. “Anything that goes on down there, little kids playing, Marc shows up.”

“I just want to thank you for what Brookfield High School did for me and let me do this job,” Hubbard said. “Thank you, Brookfield.”

Hubbard’s devotion also was found in Pops Faber, as evidenced by the Warrior stickers he plastered all over his Chevette. Mike Faber, grandson of Pops Faber, said he didn’t understand that devotion when he was young.

“For me, as a kid, I felt almost like I shared him with the whole community,” Mike Faber said, but he came to admire that passion and how it, hopefully, touched the student athletes his grandfather worked with from the ’80s until Pops died in 1999.

“It’s nice to see that he’ll be remembered for years and years and years,” Mike Faber said.

Scott Thompson, head coach of the 2006-07 wrestling team, said that year’s success was the culmination of more than a decade of effort.

“This group, we kind of had them since they were in first grade, and we moved up with them, which was a big key,” Thompson said. “They worked hard. They never had a break. We had practice on Thanksgiving. We had practice New Year’s Day, Christmas, Christmas Eve. Not one day off. They were tough. Definitely a dream team.”

“We were like family and that’s the most important thing,” said assistant wrestling coach Rick Tice. “Everybody was together, the parents were together, we all traveled together. I think that’s the most important part of being part of a team – your whole family’s there.”