PROCTORVILLE — Fairland High School has announced four new members of the Athletic Hall of Fame to be inducted this year.
Anita Cook
Daughter of Betty Cook and the late, great track official Bob Cook, Anita was a four-year standout in track and basketball and also played volleyball and cross country. She is the second all-time leading scorer in girls’ basketball and had 40 points in a game, the second most only to Jennifer Jones with 45. She played in the McDonald’s North/South Game and the Ohio-Kentucky All-Star Game.
Anita is the school record holder in the long jump at 18-feet. She was third in the state in the 100-meter hurdles in 1985 and fourth in the long jump in 1982. She played college basketball at Shawnee State from 1985-87 and ran track at Marshall University from 1987-88
Craig Burd
Burd made his biggest impact in track where he was the Ohio Valley Conference high point winner for three years, all-state in track and third in the state meet in the 110-meter hurdles, an event in which he still holds the school record.
Craig also played football and was honorable mention All-Ohio and nominated for the North/South All-Star Game. He ran track for Muskingum College from 1985-86 and was the Ohio Athletic Conference champion in the 110-high hurdles He also played wide receiver in football.
He transferred to Marshall University and was All-Southern Conference in the 110 and 400-meter hurdles all three seasons (1986-89). He holds the 60-meter high hurdles indoor record as well as the shuttle hurdles.
After college, Byrd worked as an NCAA football official from 2003-14, working multiple conference championship games along with regional and semi-final games. He was an NFL official from 2012-14 officiating both AFC and NFC games. He worked in the Arena League and was watched and selected by Ron Baynes, supervisor of the NFL Officials Development for training to become an NFL referee.
Nathan Hughes
Hughes is the Fairland all-time scoring leader in basketball 2ith 1,438 points. He has the highest field goal percentage of for anyone with a minimum of 800 attempts, making 548 of 901 for 60.8 percent. He also holds records for most consecutive free throws made of 38 and 31 and has the most free throws made in a game with 17. He was a three-time All-Southeast District selection and two-time All-Ohio including a third team All-Ohio selection in 1991.
Michael Hill
A four-sport standout in football, basketball, golf and baseball, Hill made his greatest impact in baseball as one of the area’s all-time best pitchers. He played baseball for four years while playing the other three sports for two seasons.
As a pitcher, Hill earned a full scholarship to East Carolina before transferring to Cincinnati where he earned a scholarship. He ranks in the top 10 at UC in strikeouts, top 10 in all-time starts, was the Big East Pitcher of the Week during his junior year and once retired 23 straight batters. At Fairland, he has the most career wins with 25, total innings pitcher at 206 and most strikeouts with 358. As a batter, Hill hit a school record .614 and has the career record for stolen bases with 64, runs batted in with 91, career doubles at 27 and career hits with 137. The Dragons won four OVC titles and two districts during his career.
Hill was all-district in basketball and football while earning second team All-Ohio honors in football.