The stars are all aligned for the biggest night in Kenosha sports.
The 70th annual Holy Rosary Sports Night Dinner of Champions is all set for Sunday, Feb. 19, at Holy Rosary’s Corinne and Frank Petretti Gymnasium, 4400 22nd Ave.
Each year, Sports Night — which debuted back in 1954 — honors the Kenosha County Male and Female Outstanding Athletes of the Year and features several notable Guests of Honor from the sports world. They will participate in a meet-and-greet autograph session, where sports memorabilia will also be up for auction.
PHOTOS: SUBMITTED PHOTOS
Then, the main feature of the Sports Night program is the famous chicken and spaghetti dinner, followed by an awards ceremony that’s led by a guest emcee and features inspirational speeches from the Guests of Honor and the Outstanding Male and Female Athletes of the Year.
The private portion of the program this year begins at 4 p.m., followed by the general program at 4:30 and the dinner and awards ceremony at 5:30.
This year’s Outstanding Male and Female Athletes of the Year are both seniors at Bradford High School, Keany Parks and Nevaeh Thomas. They will each receive the Alan Ameche Award and the Turco/DeSimone Scholarship, given annually to the Outstanding Male and Female Athletes of the Year.
For more on the accomplishments of Parks and Thomas, visit THIS LINK.
Guests of Honor
This year’s Guests of Honor are Chucky Hepburn, Otis Wilson and Travis Beckum.
Hepburn is the starting sophomore point guard for the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team. The 2020 Gatorade Nebraska Player of the Year, Hepburn started all 33 games as a freshman for the Badgers last season and this season is averaging a team-leading 12.9 points per game.
Wilson was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the first round of the 1980 NFL Draft and became a starting outside linebacker for one of the most dominating defenses in NFL history, the Super Bowl XX champion 1985 Bears. Wilson now runs a non-profit organization, the Otis Wilson Charitable Association, which provides an all-inclusive health and fitness program to at-risk youth.
Beckum, meanwhile, played high school football just up the road at Oak Creek before a standout college career at Wisconsin as a tight end, in which he was named a semifinalist for the Walter Camp Award and a second-team All-American. Beckum was then selected in the third round of the 2009 NFL Draft by the New York Giants and was a member of the 2011 Giants team that won Super Bowl XLVI. Beckum currently works as a Business Development Manager for Badger Sports Properties-Learfield.
For the second year in a row, the Sports Night program will be emceed by popular radio personality Greg Matzek of 620 WTMJ and 94.5 ESPN. Matzek, who resides in Menomonee Falls with his wife and two daughters, hosts Green Bay GameDay on the Tundra Trio Radio Network during football season.
Other honorees
In addition to honoring the Outstanding Male and Female Athletes of the Year, this year’s Sports Night awards ceremony will also honor some other county sports notables.
Lennie Boresch Jr., a 1980 Tremper High School graduate and the most accomplished bowler in Kenosha history, and John Matera, the longtime Tremper baseball coach and also the school’s athletic director, will be recognized during the ceremony.
Boresch has won 34 PBA regional titles and five PBA50 national titles, including two majors, the 2018 PBA50 National Championship and the 2022 PBA50 U.S. Open. Boresch has also won a record 10 Kenosha.com Match Game Bowling Tournament Men’s Division titles and is a member of the Kenosha Bowling Hall of Fame, the Racine Bowling Hall of Fame, the Wisconsin State Bowling Hall of Fame and the U.S. Bowling Congress Hall of Fame. In June, Boresch was named the Kenosha.com Kenoshan of the Week.
Matera, meanwhile, was inducted into the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Feb. 11, making him one of three active coaches inducted that day. Matera has compiled a record of 304-146 in 20 seasons as Tremper’s head baseball coach, leading the Trojans to 10 WIAA regional titles and five Southeast Conference championships.
Additionally, the Sports Night awards ceremony will honor the Westosha Central girls golf team that won the WIAA Division 1 state team championship this fall, its second straight, as well as St. Joseph wrestler Co’ji Campbell, who as a freshman last season won an undefeated WIAA Division 3 state title at 113 pounds.
To order tickets or for more information, visit the Holy Rosary Sports Night website at hrsportsnight.com.
