Hurley honors five individuals, one team, during annual Hall of Fame induction

By JASON JUNO

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Hurley — An all-time great running back, two excellent basketball players, a coach credited with turning around the girls basketball program and an outstanding athlete and coach joined the 1949 Saxon boys basketball team at the 19th annual Hurley Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Kurt Van Epern, Nichole Mazurek, Luke Sargent, Chris Kelly, Bob Alleva and the district-champion Saxon hoops team were inducted with a ceremony at the Hurley K-12 School Saturday.

Chris Kelly

(coach 1987-2015)

Kelly's cross country teams were sectional champions seven times and they advanced to the state meet 11 times.

His boys track-and-field squads won 10 regionals. He coached Kyle Elsemore to a cross country state title in 1998 and the 1,600 and 3,200-meter run championships at the state track meet in 1999.

Track coaches split duties based on their expertise, not worrying that Kelly was the boys coach and Vicki Sargent the girls coach.

“I think that is basically why the program succeeded the way it did,” Kelly said.

He went 113-60 as girls basketball coach, winning two Indianhead Conference championships. Kelly started as coach in the 1995-96 season.

Kelly started three freshmen his first season and then won 16 wins in his third season.

“The girls basketball program was in shambles,” Hurley football coach Scott Erickson said. “It took a couple of years, but it has not fallen since.

“It has been one of the top programs in our school since then.”

Nichole Mazurek

(Class of 2003)

Mazurek scored 1,594 points and averaged 18.11 points per game, good for second in Hurley's girls basketball record book.

Kelly remembered the night when Hurley played South Shore and future Wisconsin Badger star Jolene Anderson and Mazurek matched Anderson bucket for bucket.

“The scouts were there to watch Jolene. All of a sudden, all these scouts were learning how to say Mazurek,” Kelly said. “She put herself on the map that night.”

Mazurek played at Gogebic Community College and is in the top 10 in scoring there with 792 points.

“If you saw Nichole on a basketball floor, she moved with grace,” Kelly said. “It was so much fun in practice to be able to set up plays. What do we call this one? Nicole 10. Nicole 11. Nicole 12.”

Luke Sargent

(Class of 2001)

Sargent excelled in basketball, football and track-and-field at Hurley.

His name remains in the record books. He scored 1,132 career points, which ranks fifth all-time at Hurley.

His 2000-01 team went undefeated in the regular season. He played basketball for three seasons at UW-Superior.

In football, he caught eight touchdown passes, which is third all-time.

Sargent was conference champion in the high hurdles and triple jump.

“Luke was a special player for us,” said Erickson, who coached him in football and basketball. “Obviously at Hurley, 6-7 guys don't come around all that often. … He's the first kid that I could remember that could drop step and dunk.”

Sargent said his parents came to every single event, even long road trips when his Dad, Sam, had to get up at 2 or 3 the next morning for work.

He joins his mother Vicki, and brother, Joe, in the hall of fame.

Kurt Van Epern

(Class of 2001)

In a school with a lot of great running backs, Van Epern stood out.

His career rushing total is sixth all time at Hurley, the 1,492 yards he rushed for as a senior was a record at the time and the 295 yards in a game against White Lake-Elcho remains a record.

He suffered a serious knee injury in the opening game against Ironwood in his junior year.

“Gone for the season. We thought,” Erickson said.

With the playoffs approaching, Van Epern wanted to play and the doctor said it couldn't get any worse before surgery. He rushed for 128 yards in the postseason game.

“Kurt was as tough of a back that I've ever had,” Erickson said. “He had this smoothness that looked like it was effortless running, until contact came and he wasn't afraid to lower the boom on anybody coming to tackle him.

“At defensive back, he was a heat-seeking missile.”

1949 Saxon boys basketball team

Saxon, with just 18 boys in the high school and five freshmen on the team, won the Ashland district tournament. Saxon finished the regular season with a 13-6 record.

Saxon beat Ondossagon 43-20 and Port Wing 41-40 in the district.

Drummond was going for its fifth straight district title in the final, but Saxon beat them 49-45.

In the district playoff at Phillips, Saxon beat Prentice 50-48.

Saxon advanced to the sectional where it lost to eventual state champion Hurley.

Saxon finished with a 17-8 record.

The roster included: Richard Baker, Byron Bluse, Frank DuCharme, Gene Hegbloom, Jim Hegbloom, Reynold Kero, Dean Krall, Bob Meredith, Bill Nordberg, Ron Peterson, Tim Sullivan, manager Pat Krall and coach Sye Castagna.

Robert Alleva

(Class of 1966)

Alleva lettered in football, basketball, baseball and skiing at Hurley. At UW-Superior, Alleva lettered in football and became the first to letter for four years in gymnastics there.

He signed a contract to play for the Sheboygan Redwings of the Central States Football League.

Alleva was the varsity alpine ski coach at Hastings High School for 10 years and the program was consistently in the state's top five.