By now, we know COVID ruined a lot of things. Life, freedom in many ways, and events.

One of the events that were impacted by the pandemic was the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame ceremony.

Well, it's been impacted no more! It will take place this weekend, June 12th at 2 pm at the Amarillo Civic Center's Grand plaza room.

This year's ceremony will feature some big-time athletes from the panhandle being inducted, one who was even drafted by the Cleveland Browns to play in the NFL.

Inductees this year include Elmer Tarbox, Steve McFarland, Becky Boxwell McIlraith, and Wayne Kries.

Tarbox was a two-way football star from Higgins. He enrolled at Texas Tech in 1935 and became one of the most legendary Red Raider football players in school history. The wild thing about him is he had only ever played ONE organized football game in his life prior to that.

He was ultimately drafted 18th overall by the Cleveland Browns but opted not to continue his football career. He went on to be a pilot in the Army in World War II and served in Congress for 10 years after that.

McFarland got his start in gymnastics here in Amarillo. He began learning tumbling and trampoline and went to the University of Texas after graduating from Alamo Catholic in 1969. Unfortunately, the NCAA dropped trampoline as a sport so he transitioned into diving after transferring to the University of Miami.

He went on to win two AAU national championships in platform diving and transitioned to TV where he was an announcer for the sport for 17 years.

Boxwell McIlraith was a star volleyball player from Amarillo. She played college ball at Texas Tech and was the first Tech volleyball player to be named to the NCAA all-region team. In 2005, she was inducted into Texas Tech's Hall of Fame.

Kreis was a two-sport athlete in Pampa and excelled in basketball. He would go on to play hoops at TCU and was a starter there for three years. He averaged double-digit points in each one of those seasons.

He was named a first-team All-Southwest Conference player and was TCU's MVP his junior season.

Also being honored at this year's ceremony will be the area Coaches of the Year, Athletes of the Year along with several other awards. There is no admission fee to attend the ceremony and there will be a free catered reception afterward.

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