Harrier Hall of Fame 2016
Gwen Bohman
Gwen came to Miami Hamilton in 2006 from McAuley High School and participated in Harrier Athletics for four years: four as a volleyball player and three as a basketball player. In her Harrier volleyball career, she was ORCC All-Tournament Team all four years at Miami Hamilton, as well as Miami Hamilton’s Most Valuable Player in 2008, 2009, and 2010. She was ORCC's second-team All-conference in 2007, and first-team all-conference for the next three years. She was named Most Valuable Player in the ORCC in 2010. That same year, Gwen led the United States Collegiate Athletic Association in Kills with a 4.5 average kills per set played and was second in the country in hitting percentage (.371). She had an incredible impact on the Harrier Volleyball program during her career.
While at Miami Hamilton, Gwen majored in Work and Family Studies, was a member of the Athletic Club, and also found time to work at Campus Kids, our on-campus childcare center, with her coach, Traci Anderson. Gwen continues to enjoy volleyball after leaving Miami, this time both as a coach and a player. She enjoys coaching for Arsenal Club Volleyball, at the 15 National level. She now plays the game that she loves, on the sand. Gwen tells us that she just played in her first EVP tournament. She also enjoys golf and basically anything outdoors, especially the beach. She is currently a Real Estate Agent with Hoeting Realtors and lives in Cleves, Ohio.
Glen Smith
Glen grew up in Hamilton, graduating from Garfield in 1968, and left the area to attend college in Tennessee and Mississippi, having the opportunity to play basketball at several institutions while going to school. He returned home to Hamilton after several years to complete his degree and was grateful to once again continue to play basketball at the college level. He attended Miami Hamilton between 1971 and 1973 while graduating from Miami in 1974 with a degree in Education. Glen was a member of the Miami-Hamilton basketball team for two seasons. In the 1971-72 season, he averaged 26.6 points per game and led the team in steals with 53 and in assists with 101. He was named the Ponderosa Player of the Year at the end of that season. At the end of his second season, he left with a career average of 20.1 points per game and was the school’s leading scorer at that time.
After graduation, Glen began his teaching and very successful coaching career, spending three years at Lakota and 29 years at Fairfield. He coached 7th-grade football for three years from 1981-84 with a 20-0-1 record, and his players on these teams eventually won a state championship in 1986. Glen also coached basketball for 18 years, which culminated with coaching the junior varsity team at Fairfield, setting the record for the most wins in a season in 1996. Glen retired in 2010 to spend more time with his two sons, Patrick (currently a student at Ohio State University) and Parker (currently a junior at Lebanon High School). He lives in Lebanon and is also known to enjoy playing golf in retirement and spending time with friends. Glen tells us that he is grateful to Miami University, for allowing him to have a wonderful 32-year career as an educator and a coach.
Adam Grissom
Adam L. Grissom began his career at Miami University in 2001 and graduated with his degree in Secondary Social Studies Education in 2006. He was a member of the Harriers Baseball team from 2002 to 2004. During his career, he achieved an impressive .368 batting average, with 90 runs scored, 109 hits, 17 home runs, and 21 doubles. Adam was named team Co- MVP in 2003 & 2004, 1st Team All-League in 2003 & 2004, and Top Offensive Award in 2003 & 2004. He set individual records set during his playing career for home runs (17) and walks (77). 2008 was his best year as he achieved career highs in Batting Average (.426), Triples (13), RBI (54), and Slugging Percentage (.801). His Harrier teams won or shared league tournament titles during his playing career.
After graduation, Adam continued to be involved in baseball as a coach, serving as Head Coach at Northwest High School from 2009 to 2014 and as an Assistant Coach for the Hamilton Joes Collegiate Baseball Club from 2010 to 2012. He was then promoted to Head Coach for the Hamilton Joes, a role he continues to play. As a Coach, Adam is proud of the fact that he played a part in helping two current Joe's players reach the Major Leagues, along with facilitating over 20 professional signed contracts over five years with the Hamilton Joe's organization. Adam also served as a Harriers Assistant Baseball Coach from 2004 to 2009. Adam is currently employed by Fairfield City School District at Fairfield Senior High School as an Intervention Specialist and is changing placement in the 2016-17 school year to teach Social Studies at the High School as well. Adam is married to his wife Carrie and has two daughters (Kara & Avery).
Richard Wells
Dick Wells began coaching golf at MUH in 1992 and that year, one of his players, Ryan Green, won the individual championship at the Ohio Regional Campus State Tournament. Green said of Coach Wells, “He made golf fun again. After playing such a demanding, highly competitive schedule prior to college with our high school team and junior tournaments in the summer, coming to Miami Hamilton was refreshing. Coach Wells made playing golf enjoyable instead of all the pressure that I was accustomed to.”
In 1994, he convinced future Miami Hamilton Athletic Hall of Famer, Randy Russell, to come out for the team. The team proceeded to win the ORCC championship in 1994 and 1997 with Randy as their top player. Randy was first-team all-conference from 1995-97, culminating in conference player of the year honors in 1997. When asked about Coach Wells, Russell said, “I really didn’t have any intention of playing golf in college, but Coach Wells sold me on the idea of just trying it out to see if I liked it. Obviously, I did, 4 years later and many accolades along the way, it was probably my favorite memory from college.”
Dick Wells helped Miami Hamilton win many tournament championships during his 22 years as coach. One of the most shining accomplishments was winning the Ohio Regional Campus Conference Championship as well as State Tournament Championship in back-to-back years in 2005 and 2006. Not many schools at the conference can say that.
Coach Wells also taught the golf class on campus for many of his 22 years. This is one of the few Physical Education classes that filled up every time it was offered. Word must have gotten out that he knew a "little something" about golf because a lot of the students signing up for the class came down from Miami’s illustrious Farmer School of Business in Oxford. They knew a lot of business was conducted on the golf course, and Coach Wells would be able to get them the requisite skills to hold their own out on the links.
The coach also helped to foster a great relationship with the Hamilton Elks Golf Course. In exchange for letting the team use their tremendous course one day a year for their tournament in the spring (which included around 70 golfers) for free, Coach Wells and his athletes would host and run the annual Elks Hoop Shoot in the Miami Hamilton gym. Although the Hoop Shoot no longer takes place on our campus, our tremendous relationship with the Elks continues to this day as we still host our annual tournament out there…in large part due to the relationship Coach Wells fostered over his lengthy career.
In addition to his career at Miami Hamilton, he coached for 29 years at Eaton High School, where he coached one individual state champion (Jimmy Caplinger), and three of his teams qualified for state competition. He is a member of the Ohio High School Golf Coaches Hall of Fame, inducted in 1988, and the Preble County High School Hall of Fame. In 2012 Coach Wells decided to finally retire from coaching here at Miami Hamilton, but his legacy will live on for many years to come.