Portage South Announces 2014 Wall of Fame Class
The 2014 Portage South Baseball Wall of Fame class was selected in August with one former Black
Squirrels being honored. Robert Paradise was chosen by the PS Wall of Fame committee.
Robert Paradise was a founding member of Portage South in 1997 and played 18 seasons. Over his career
he played all nine positions, including catching the only perfect game in PS history. Paradise earned an
All Star selection in 2004 and made the All-Tournment team for the Wood Bat Classic in 2009. He finished
his career with 249 games played, third most at the time. Paradise was also the head coach from 2002-2009,
taking over for his father. He compiled a 179-104-4 record.
Portage South Stars Sweep the Big 3 League Awards
The NEO Roy Hobbs Baseball committee selected the annual league player awards for all divisions.
In the Greater Akron AA division, Portage South Black Squirrels swept the 3 awards. Phil Smith
won the Frank Garcia League MVP award and the George Sisler Award for the league's top hitter.
Smith hit .421 with 24 hits, 7 doubles, a triple and 3 homeruns. He also had 17 RBIs and 12 runs scored. Kevin
Haley was awarded the Dave Young Pitcher of the Year Award. Haley was 5-3 with a 0.90 ERA
in 46 2/3 innings pitched.
Four Black Squirrels Named All Hobbs Team
The Roy Hobbs/Greater Akron AA League Awards were announced and 4 Black
Squirrels were named to the All-League team. This year the team was selected by the Awards Committee.
24 players were selected for each division, American and National. Phil Smith, Mike Darrah, Kevin Haley and Ron Spears were honored for PS in the 2014 season.
PS Team Awards Announced
With the 2014 season now over, the Portage South Black Squirrels announce the annual team
awards. The PS MVP was presented to Kevin
Haley. Haley had 23 hits, 10 runs scored,
3 doubles and drove in 8 runs. He also went 7-5 on the mound with a save in a PS record, 77 innings pitched to win the
PS Cy Young. Haley had a 1.09 ERA with 56 strikeouts. Phil Smith finished the
season with a .449 average which gave him the Stan
Musial Batting Title. The fourth and final award given out is known as "The Herb".
The 2014 Herb went to Danny Campfield.
Portage South Star Honored
On July 20th, the Greater Akron Baseball Hall of Fame inducted
the Class of 2014 in a dinner ceremony at the SYB Hall. Among those honored was Portage South standout and manager,
Ron Spears. Spears was also asked to throw out the first pitch at a July 18th Akron Rubber Ducks game, throwing to his
son.
Ron
Spears is trained well to know the law of the land as a highly respected attorney in Akron. But the Kentucky native readily
answers to an even higher court as a standout baseball player.
Spears, who moved to Akron in 1997, has been a standout
on the diamond and has been consistently playing the game he is so passionate about since he was a 7-year-old in Kentucky.
He played
football, basketball and baseball at such a high level that he received college athletic scholarship offers in all 3 sports
after a stellar career at Madison County High School, where he also excelled academically and was salutatorian of his senior
class and a Presidential Scholar.
It was inevitable that Spears would narrow his athletic path to baseball. He accepted
a scholarship from Eastern Kentucky University. He lettered 3 years at EKU and was named the Ohio Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete
as a junior and senior. He earned a bachelor’s of arts degree in political science from EKU in 1992 and a master’s
degree in public administration at EKU in 1994. He then earned his juris doctorate from the University of Kentucky College
of Law and became a practicing attorney.
Despite his rigorous academic path, Spears never lost his passion for baseball.
He has been a standout on several area teams during the past 17 seasons. He has been a 10-time all-star selection in the NEO-AAA
and Greater Akron AA leagues. He won the Garcia Award in 2007 while playing for Wadsworth and was a Garcia finalist 4 other
seasons.
Spears was named George Sisler MVP of the Buckeye 18+ state championship tournaments in 2006. He was a key
cog in Roy Hobbs championships in 4 seasons playing with the A’s and Knights.
Spears also found time in his busy
professional, family and athletic lives to join the Kent Roosevelt High School baseball coaching staff as an assistant coach.
