Established in 1982, the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame is the oldest, longest running county hall of fame in the State of Ohio.
The newest members are Matt Arminio, Carlos Brooks, Tim Burns, John Conner, Keri Connor Sennett, Megan McKnight Mahle, Jared Miller, Brady Nori, Darin Rieman, Ron Sutton and Dean Wright.
Below are the bios of each of the new members:
Matt Arminio (Fairfield) — Matt Arminio played fast-pitch softball for 20 years beginning in 1979 with the Hundley Hawks of Hamilton. His career included playing in 16 A.S.A. state tournaments, four regional tournaments, three national qualifiers and 18 national tournaments. He was a two-time state Most Valuable Player, a regional MVP and a three-time national qualifier MVP. He also played in five I.S.C. state tournaments and nine I.S.C. world tournaments and was a two-time I.S.C. state Player of the Year. He also was the MVP of 19 other A.S.A. tournaments. Arminio also was a reserve and varsity softball coach at Hamilton. . He is a member of several other halls of fame, including the Fairfield Athletic Hall of Fame (Class of 2010), the Butler County Fast-pitch Softball Hall of Fame and Hall of Honor (2010) and the Ohio A.S.A. Fast-pitch Softball Hall of Fame (2004).
Carlos Brooks (Middletown) — Carlos Brooks was a two-sport standout at Middletown High School playing football and basketball. The 1989 graduate was a three-year letterman in football where he was named a team captain his senior year and led the Greater Miami Conference in interceptions that year as well as in his junior season. He earned first team recognition his senior year in the GMC, the Southwest District and in the state. He also was named the Street and Smith Magazine Defensive Back of the Year as a senior. On the basketball court, Carlos was a member of the Middies’ GMC championship team his senior year. He went on to play football at Bowling Green State University, where he is the Falcons all-time leader in interceptions with 12, including one for a touchdown.
Tim Burns (Ross) — Tim Burns was a key member of the 1980 boys basketball state championship team at Ross. He led the Rams with 26 points in a state semifinal victory and received multiple accolades his senior year, including being named to the state’s all-tournament team. In addition, he was selected to the District 15 All-Stars, the Cincinnati Post All-Stars as a senior and he was a All-Butler County and All-League selection in both his junior and senior seasons. Burns also played football and baseball at Ross. He was the starting quarterback all four years and helped lead the team to a league title as a senior. He earned All-League honors as a junior and a senior. He was named the league Player of the Year his senior season and also was selected All-Butler County his senior season. He started for the baseball team for three years. Burns played basketball for two years at Eastern Wyoming College.
John Conner (Lakota West) — John Conner is a 2005 Lakota West graduate who spent six season playing fullback in the National Football League. In 2010, he was drafted 139th overall in the fifth round by the New York Jets, where he played from until 2012. He also played with the Bengals, Giants and Bills. At Lakota West, John played two years and had a senior season with 1,098 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was named to the Greater Miami Conference first team as a senior and also was an honorable mention player for the Southwest District team. Conner played collegiately the University of Kentucky, where he played in 54 career games rushing for 247 yards and four touchdowns. He also caught 25 passes for 193 yards and four touchdowns. In 2009, Conner was named to the College Football All-America team. In his NFL career, John played in 62 games.
Keri Connor Sennett (Middletown) — A 1987 graduate of Middletown, Keri Connor Sennett was a multi-sport athlete participating in golf, swimming and diving. In her senior season, she broke all of Middletown’s diving records and was named to the GMC first team and finished as runner-up at the state meet. She also was selected to the Cincinnati All-Metro squad and was named a high school All-American as a senior. Connor Sennett compete in college at the University of Kentucky. She has been a diving coach for many years, including stints at Wildwood (1986-92 and 2000-05), Hy-Crest (2006-18) swim clubs, as well as the high school level at Middletown(2007-18), Princeton (2011-14), Talawanda (2014-18), Badin (2018) and Ross (2018).
Megan McKnight Mahle (Badin) — Megan McKnight Mahle has been part of multiple championships in basketball and soccer at Badin High School and the University of Dayton. On the basketball court, Megan helped lead the Rams to three straight Girls Greater Catholic League titles from 1996 to 1998, culminating in a Division II state championship in 1998. She was named the GGCL Player of the Year in 1998. One the soccer field, McKnight Mahle was a four-year starter for Badin and a member of the three-time state runner-up teams in 1995, ‘96 and ‘97. She continued her soccer career at UD where she helped the Flyers win four straight Atlantic 10 conference championships. McKnight Mahle joined the Badin Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008 and the University of Dayton Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.
Credit: john boyle
Credit: john boyle
Jared Miller (Lakota East) — In 2006 as a junior, Jared Miller became the first-ever state champion in swimming for the Lakota School District when he won the Division I 200-yard individual medley event. He also placed fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke, third with his teammates in the 200-yard medley relay and seventh in the 400-yard free relay. Lakota East finished third as a team that year, its highest finish to date. As a senior, Jared placed third at state in both the 200 IM and the 100 breast. Miller swam collegiately at the University of Michigan where he helped the Wolverines win three Big Ten championships. He also qualified for and competed in the NCAA Championships his junior year. Jared qualified and competed in the Olympic Trials in 2008 and 2012.
Brady Nori (Middletown) — Brady Nori was a four-year starter for the Middletown baseball team from 1994-97 leading the team by batting over .400 all four years. He was a three-time All-Greater Miami Conference selection and was twice named the team’s Most Valuable Player. Brady was a pre-season All-American selection his senior year and led the Middies with a .458 batting average and 37 stolen bases. Nori played at Miami University where he’d batted over .300 his last three seasons, including .374 his senior season. He was twice selected as the RedHawk Award winner by his teammates. Nori hit safely in 44 of 57 games his junior year. He also collected 96 hits his senior year which is still a school record for most hits in a single season.
Darin Rieman (Badin) — Darin Rieman was a four-year varsity starter for the Badin baseball team from 1983-87, helping lead the Rams to a state runner-up finish in 1984. His senior year Darin batted .568 which led all of Cincinnati and he was named All-City. Rieman also played football for three years at Badin, earning All-Golden Triangle selections all three years. He also was a second team All-Ohio linebacker his senior season. Darin went onto play baseball at the University of Kentucky where he was named to the All-SEC Tournament team in 1988. In 1990 he was named to the All-SEC second team, UK team captain, UK Defender of the Year and to the SEC Academic honor roll. Darin is a member of the Badin Athletics Hall of Fame.
Ron Sutton (Hamilton) — When Ron Sutton graduated from Garfield in 1966, he was the all-time leading scorer with 969 points and rebounder with 832 rebounds. He also graduated with the highest single-season average of 18.7 points per game. He was a three-year starter for the Griffins. His teams went 55-13 in his three seasons and won three Greater Ohio League championships. Sutton was a first team GOL selection as a junior and a senior. He also played football for three years being selected to the first team GOL, the first team Southwest Ohio and honorable mention All-Ohio his senior year. He was team captain in both football and basketball his senior year. He played three years of basketball at Tennessee Tech University. Sutton joined the Hamilton Hall of Fame in 2003.
Dean Wright (Badin) — Dean Wright played football for Hamilton Catholic High School and also played in college for Defiance College, but it was as a coach where he made his biggest impact. Wright played for legendary coach Terry Malone at Hamilton Catholic and was co-captain for the 1964 team which was the first of three straight undefeated teams. At Defiance, Wright was a four-year letter winner and was on the 1966 undefeated and nationally ranked team, which was the winningest in school history. Wright then joined the coaching staff at Badin and coached for more than 50 years, including being as assistant on the 1990 state championship team. He is still active today with punters and place-kickers. He was inducted into the Badin Hall of Fame in 2003.
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