A brother race car driving tandem from Duluth, a multi-sport athlete from Moose Lake, a former NFL on-field official from Gilbert and a Duluth sports radio and television broadcaster comprise the Class of 2012 to be enshrined in the DECC Athletic Hall of Fame on Sept. 12. The class was announced Friday.
The 24th induction ceremony is 7 p.m. at the Harbor Side Convention Center at the DECC. Currently, there are 52 members of the Hall of Fame. Portraits, with biographies, are displayed on the ground level of Amsoil Arena, directly below the ticket concourse.
Tommy and Bobby Archer of Duluth have combined to win more than 38 titles in 40 years in motor sports racing, starting in 1972. The Archer Brothers Racing team peaked from 1989-96 in winning eight straight Sports Car Club of America World Challenge Championships and earned Eagle Talon's first professional series win in 1989. There were also SCCA World Challenge Speed GT championships in 1999 and 2004 in Dodge Vipers. Tommy Archer, 57, lives at Island Lake, outside Duluth, while Bobby, 59, resides in Keller, Texas.
Annie Adamczak-Glavan helped Moose Lake High School win five state titles in 10 appearances in four years from 1978-82 in volleyball, basketball and softball, including a combined 71-0 record in 1981-82 as a senior. She was a three-year volleyball starter at the University of Nebraska and a 1985 All-American, and played professionally for the Minnesota Monarchs in 1987. Adamczak-Glavan, 47, resides in Edina, Minn.
Bernie Kukar of Gilbert was a quarterback, running back and defensive back at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., graduating in 1962, and scored 1,389 points in four basketball seasons. He was a collegiate football official for 19 years and then for 22 seasons in the NFL from 1984 through 2005. He officiated in two Super Bowls, XXXIII in 1999 and XXVI in 2002. Kukar, 72, lives in Edina, Minn.
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Bob Junkert, a North Dakota native, was a play-by-play radio broadcaster in Duluth for 28 years with WDSM-AM 710 and WEBC-AM 560, and was sports director at WDSM-TV, which has since changed from KBJR to the Northland's NewsCenter. He did play-by-play of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey for 14 years and play-by-play of Duluth Dukes baseball. He died in 1982 at age 55.
Recently retired University of Minnesota athletics director Joel Maturi, who played basketball at Chisholm High School, will be the guest speaker.
Hall of Fame induction ceremony tickets, at $25, are available at the DECC ticket office, Grandma's Marathon at 351 Canal Park Drive and the Duluth News Tribune at 424 W. First St.
The DECC Athletic Hall of Fame inducted its charter class June 4, 1968, into what was then known as the Duluth Arena Sports Hall of Fame. Those associated with athletics, and having grown up in northeastern Minnesota or northwestern Wisconsin, or with ties to the area, are eligible. Nominations are made by the public.
The Hall of Fame inducts classes every other year. The Class of 2010 was ski jumper Jim Denney, track and cross country coach Roy Griak, high school hockey coach Larry Ross and baseball pitcher Jerry Ujdur.
