The Wayne State College Athletics Hall of Fame induction process is just around the corner, set to meet in the first week of April.

The Hall of Fame was started in 1978. A committee selects from a large pool of nominations those it deems the most qualified individuals for the award.

“The committee comprises of six Wayne State graduates, three males and three females who still follow Wayne State athletics and the other three people are basically more informative,” Sports Information Director Mike Grosz said. “I’m the secretary, there’s Athletic Director Mike Powicki and Laura Robinett from the Alumni office.”

Throughout the year former athletes are submitted for the Hall of Fame and the committee goes over who is best qualified to be nominated and inducted.

“We have a nomination deadline, usually at the end of March, then we meet April. You can induct up to three athletes, then there is a team section, an administrator/coach section and a contributor section,” Grosz said.

For athletes to be eligible for nomination, they have to have graduated from WSC at least five years ago.

For coaches to be eligible, they have to have coached at WSC for at least five years and have been finished coaching at WSC for five years.

An exception to the rule for coaches is if the committee has a majority vote for a coach who hasn’t met those requirements.

“You can induct up to five individuals and one team,” Grosz said.

After the committee decides who is to be inducted, it notifies the individuals selected in a prompt manner to make sure that they can make the Hall of Fame weekend, which is generally held in early October.

“After we track down the individuals that are going to be inducted through the Alumni office, we try to announce the names by early June,” Grosz said.

“Every year there is usually three athletes inducted but not every year is a team inducted,” Grosz said. “Normally every year we have a contributor. I would say one out of every three years we have a coach.”

Club teams such as rugby are not eligible for the Hall of Fame, as the nominee has to have filled a role on a varsity team.

It will be awhile before the inductees’ names are released to the public, with the list coming out after school is over.

“After we track down who is getting inducted, we will usually announce the inductees around Memorial Day,” Grosz said.