The Howard County Sports Hall of Fame inducted six new members on Saturday. The induction of the six brings the total membership of the group to 42.

The six new members are Basil Mawbey, Tim Miller, Emerson Applegate, Kathie Wise-Layden, Keith Slaughter and Bobby Pettigrew.

After dinner was served, the six inductees or their representative in the case of Emerson Applegate spoke about how their athletic careers and the people who influenced them along the way.

Tim Miller

Golfer Miller talked about the influence of other golfers like Cary Hungate and Jerry Jackson, both Hall of Fame members themselves. Miller shared a story about some advice from former Kokomo Country Club pro Mal McMullen.

“He told me to loosen up on the club,” Miller said. “I did and that has helped me ever since.”

Generally known as one of the best amateur golfers in Howard County and even the entire state, Tim Miller has accomplished an amazing amount of success over the course of his career. A 12-time Howard County Golf Association champion, Miller was the Indiana Golf Association Senior Amateur champion in 2001. He was the U.S. Senior Challenge champion in 2003 and 2005 as well as the Golfweek Magazine Senior Player of the Year in 2005. The same year he finished 15th in the British Senior Amateur and won the Shoal Creek Invitational. Locally he's being the Kokomo Country Club champion 13 times. He will be the third Howard County golfer inducted into the Hall of Fame, following in the steps of Jerry Jackson (2004) and Cary Hungate (2005).

Basil Mawbey

Former Kokomo High School coach Mawbey talked about some of the best games his Wildkats were involved in, in particular a game against Marion.

“Little did I know that both teams would have future professional players,” Mawbey said. “I had Joey Thatcher, who is pitching for the San Diego Padres, and Marion had Zach Randolph, who is dunking for the Memphis Grizzlies. So you can figure out how that turned out.”

As coach of the Kokomo Wildkats, Mawbey was 248-80. After leaving Kokomo, Mawbey moved up the road to Lewis Cass, where he promptly went 68-3 in the first three seasons and collected his second state title in 2003.

Career-wise, Mawbey was 645-246, which translates into a .723 winning percentage. His teams have finished with winning records 32 out of 37 seasons, including 14 seasons with 20 wins or more. He has also captured 24 sectional championships, won 11 regional titles, and made four Final Four appearances. He earned the distinction of District Coach of the Year three times from the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association.

Bobby Pettigrew

Pettigrew talked about his competitive nature including his last race against fellow Hall of Fame member Frankie Young. The story goes that Young was bigger than Pettigrew in middle school but, apparently, Pettigrew was faster.

“Our last race, I beat him,” Pettigrew said. “So I won’t ever race him again.”

Pettigrew talked about how Young was so encouraging during his first state title win.

“On the bus home, he told me how proud he was of me, even though he had just broke his won state record,” Pettigrew said. “That showed me what kind of friend he was.”

Easily the best shot-putter to ever put a shot in Howard County, Bobby Pettigrew won the state title two years running for the Kokomo Wildkats. At the 1994 state track and field meet, he recorded a throw of 62' 6.25" to claim the title. The following year, his distance in the state meet was 63' 6.25." In addition, Pettigrew was the 1995 RCA Dome shot put champion with a throw of 66' 0.5", which was the best indoors throw by a high-schooler that year.

Pettigrew was also an all-state football player in 1994, being named to the Indiana Football Coaches Association's Top 50 at the linebacker position. Pettigrew attended Ball State University after graduating from Kokomo High School. After one year at BSU, Pettigrew attended and competed for the College of Dupage in Glen Ellyn, Ill.

His accomplishments at Kokomo High School are what stand out, however. He was inducted into the Indiana Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame in 2002.

Emerson Applegate

Applegate was, perhaps, the most prolific track star ever at Kokomo High School. His daughter, Nanci Andrews, was on hand to speak about her father.

“He never talked about his high school days,” she said. “This is a new experience for my family to come here and learn about this part of my father’s life.”

The sole deceased inductee for 2009 is probably the best track athlete that most people in Kokomo have never heard of. Emerson Applegate won five individual state championships in track and field between 1910 and 1911 - something unheard of these days. In two trips to the state finals, Applegate scored all but two of his team's points. His junior year, the Wildkats came up short, losing by a half point to Linton in the state meet held at Ingalls Field in Crawfordsville. His senior year was a different story, however, as the Kats beat South Bend, 29-27.5 at Rose Field in Terre Haute. Once again, Applegate scored all but two of the 29 points. He won the state title in the 100-yard dash, the 220-yard dash, and the 440-yard run - the only person to win all three in state meet. Applegate also won the state title in the pole vault at the same meet.

Keith Slaughter

For inductee Slaughter, it was all about the “we” and not the “me” in sports, he said. Slaughter spoke about how coaches like Joe Platt influenced him not just as an athlete but as a coach later.

“It was a big decision (to take the Haworth job) but it worked out,” he said. “It was a thrill to win the sectional that first year with no seniors. It was the first sectional title for the school.”

After spending five years in the baseball program in Kokomo, he was named the head coach at the new, cross-town rival, Haworth High School, where he coached the Huskies for 11 seasons. He posted a record of 202-111, which included seven sectional titles, four regionals, and two semi-state honors, along with three Olympic Conference titles. He served as an assistant coach for the North All-Star Series in 1978.

Highlights included coaching the first sectional championship for Haworth High School in 1969, which began an eight-year run (1969-76) in which Haworth got to face the Underwood brothers (Tom and Pat from rival Kokomo, both of whom pitched in the major leagues.) During that stint, Haworth won five sectional titles and made two trips to the state finals, in 1970 and 1978. In both cases, they ran into Evansville Memorial, which ended the tourney trail. After his teaching career as a marketing education teacher, he retired in 1995. Slaughter joins his former mentor, Joe Platt (2006), in the hall of fame.

Kathie Wise-Layden

Wise-Layden, rightfully so, may be best known for coaching the Tri-Central Lady Trojans to three consecutive Class A basketball state titles. But before she was hanging banners at the Sharpsville school, she was an outstanding athlete at Taylor High School.

At the banquet, Wise-Layden talked about the coaches that influenced her life, including the most important one.

“My father (Dave Wise) was the best coach I ever had,” she said. “Sports was such a big part of my life.”

Wise-Layden was a cornerstone of the basketball and volleyball teams as well as the tennis teams at Taylor High School. On the tennis court, she achieved all-state honors.

Basketball-wise, Layden was a solid performer for the Titans at a time when most eyes in the community were fixed on Kokomo High School and its state championship teams.

Her teams at Tri-Central put together an impressive run, starting in 2003, to win three championships. The first year, the Lady Trojans beat North Vermillion, 57-55, after finishing the season with a 23-4 record.

The following year, Tri-Central (21-6) beat Washington Catholic, 46-36, for title No. 2. Finally in 2005, Layden's team completed the hat trick with a 47-46 win over Northeast Dubois.

Layden is the third female inducted into the Hall of Fame and the first female coach.