Revere announces 2022 Athletic Hall of Fame inductees

Five Revere alumni, in addition to the 1975 girls basketball team, were inducted into the Revere Athletic Hall of Fame at the school’s first home football game this season.

The hall of fame honors Revere High School graduates, coaches and contributors who helped to create and continue an excellent athletic tradition at Revere. A hall of fame selection committee chooses the recipients from a number of nominations.

Josh Sabo ’11 was a member of the cross-country and track and field team. In cross-country, he was a four-time All-Suburban League, won the individual league title once, was a three-time state qualifier and holds the school record running time of 15:09. As a track and field runner, Sabo was the MVP in 2010 and 2011 and still holds the record for the 1600m, 800m, 400m, 4x400m, 4x800m, 4x1600m, and distance medley relay. He was a four-year letter winner in both sports. He continued running at The Ohio State University, where he was a four-time academic All-Big Ten award winner.

D.J. Bettinger ’11 was a four-year letter winner, four year starter, two-time captain and All-League performer on the basketball team. As point guard, he led his team to back-to-back championships and was named All-District, All-Ohio and finished his career at Revere as the leading three-point percentage leader in school history. At Indiana Wesleyan University, he was a four-year letter winner and his team won the league championship three times.

Renee Bettinger ’08 was a track and field runner who was a four-year letter winner, OHSAA DI District and Regional qualifier her junior and senior years, and holds the school record in the 100m dash with a time of 12.18. During her time at Wheaton College, she earned NCAA DIII All-American honors and was named the CoSIDA Academic All-American team in 2012.

Karl Smesko ’89 was a Revere football and basketball player. While studying at Kent State University, he started coaching at Revere. He later became the head women’s basketball coach at Walsh University. The 1998 Walsh Cavaliers won the NAIA Division II national title and Smesko was named the Mid-Ohio Conference and NAIA Coach of the Year at 27 years old. In 2001, he took a position as the head coach at Florida Gulf Coast University.

In 19 seasons at FGCU, he led the program to either the NCAA Tournament or WNIT berth in all 14 of the program’s Division I seasons. He has won two regular season ASUN championships, nine tournament titles and was named ASUN Coach of the Year 12 times. His career record of 610-128 ranks him as the third-winningest active Division I head coach.

Al Smesko, Karl’s father, was inducted into the Revere Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014. This year, the district named the press box at Joseph F. Pappano Stadium after him. Al was a teacher at Revere for 35 years and was the head basketball coach for 14 years, during which time the program won three Suburban League Championships. He held several other coaching titles in different sports for 26 total seasons. He was inducted into the Greater Akron Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Revere Alumni Association’s Distinguished Educator Hall of Fame. His three sons are Revere graduates and has been a volunteer for the Bath Fire Department since 1964.

Dr. Frederick Fritsch ’71 is a two-time Olympic athlete, two-time national champion and All American in two different sports. While at Revere, he lettered in football, wrestling and track. He was a part of the four-man bobsled at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and the 1979-80 national champion four-man bobsled competing at Lake Placid, New York, after which he was named All-American in the bobsled. Fritsch was the driver of a two-man bobsled in the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.

In addition to bobsled, he participated in karate and was the 1979 National Champion, leading to him be named All-American. After earning his Doctor of Chiropractic, he became the Guatemalan team chiropractor for three Olympic games in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

The 1975 girls basketball team won three consecutive Suburban League championships (21-0) beginning with the 1972-73 season, which was the first year girls sports were added to the Suburban League. Bath and Richfield girls had previously created a Revere team associated with the YMCA. The 1975 team was led by Coach Carmen Haydu, with a core group of players including Cindy Nero, who averaged 29 points per game, and Diane DuCharme, who averaged 9 rebounds a game. ∞

Featured Photo: The Revere Athletic Hall of fame inductees pose at Rever’s first home football game of the season. Photo submitted.