Soberdash backs out, will not be inducted
The Executive Board of the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame made a unanimous decision to hold out Don Soberdash from its 2013 class of inductees.
Soberdash, a football player from Dunbar Township High School, was all set for induction, but became unable to attend Saturday’s banquet due to out-of-town business commitments. Since booklets already have been completed, Soberdash will be listed as an inductee.
“We heard from him late that he wasn’t going to make it for business purposes,” said Chris Cluss, chairman of the HOF board. “He was very kind about it, but we were very disappointed, certainly. We met on it, as a committee, and we’re not going to put him in.”
The situation is similar to, yet different from, the case of Chuck Muncie, who was voted into the hall’s inaugural class, but declined to attend the banquet. Muncie was told then that he would be enshrined when he committed to attending the banquet. He committed to attend last year’s banquet and was inducted, despite not attending the banquet.
“Last year, Chuck had definitely planned to come in,” Cluss said. “He had his plane ticket and everything, but his doctor said he should not fly. That was a medical situation and we made the choice to put him in.”
Muncie died within the last year.
Cluss noted a similar medical situation occurred with Ed Roebuck, who was inducted a few years ago without attending the banquet to accept. “He wanted to come in from the West Coast, but he fell ill and was unable to make it,” Cluss said.
As for Soberdash, Cluss said the board made its decision for this year, without laying out plans for any subsequent year.
“We would have to revisit it as a committee as it relates to future years,” Cluss said. “I can’t speak to that without talking to the committee. We made a 100-percent decision that he is not going in this year.”
Banquet attendance has been a sticking point for the local sports hall since its inception. According to hall of fame by-laws, a living honoree must make every effort to attend the enshrinement banquet.