Maier

This is the fifth in a series of articles profiling the 2007 honorees of the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame. The annual banquet is April 28 at the Butler Days Inn.Mark Maier is used to belonging to exclusive clubs.The 1988 Butler graduate is one of only four boys in Golden Tornado basketball history to score 1,000 points. He is one of only three Butler players to score 45 points in a game.Now, he's joining the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame as one of this year's seven inductees."No. 1, this is the highest (athletic) honor you can achieve at my level,"Maier said. "And I'm fairly young to be elected into something like this."If there's a downside, it's that usually an athlete is done accomplishing things when he's inducted into a Hall of Fame. But sports continue to motivate me and keep me goal-oriented."After a stellar high school and college basketball career, Maier has finished first or second in about 10 3-on-3 tournaments with fellow Butler graduates Scott DeFoggi and Jim Bowser.He has run the Cleveland Marathon each of the past three years, knocking his finishing time down on each occasion, and will compete in the Erie Marathon in September."My goal is to run in one marathon every year until I'm 50,"the 37-year-old Maier said.His reason for switching sports is simple."I'm married with two small children, and if I was out playing in basketball, leagues every night, I wouldn't be a part of their lives much," he said. "Much of my evenings now consist of reading books and giving baths."Early in the morning, I go out and run for 30 to 40 minutes a day. It's not taking time away from family and I feel good when I get home."A three-year starter as a guard for the Tornado, Maier averaged 12.1 points per game as a sophomore, 16.5 as a junior and 21.4 as a senior. He is second to Shawn Bellis on Butler's career boys basketball scoring list with 1,216 points.He was voted team MVPafter his junior and senior seasons, when Butler went 6-17 and 19-8, respectively."The 3-point line came to high school basketball in my senior year,"Maier said. "That was also the year Mark Jula became our coach. He made a big difference."We didn't make much use of the 3-point shot that first year. No teams did, really. It was a new thing. I wish I could have had another year or two with it."Maier sank the winning shot from the baseline as the Tornado defeated Mt. Lebanon, 63-62, in their first-round WPIALplayoff game after the Blue Devils missed the front end of a one-and-one with eight seconds left."We drew up a play where I'd get a pick and be open for the last shot,"Maier said. "No doubt, that was the highlight of my high school career."So was playing in the Hoyle Tournament at Sharon in 1988, when he made the all-tournament first team with Mark Gilbert, William Herndon, Jim McCoy and Keith Tower.Gilbert went on to play college basketball at Duquesne while Herndon and McCoy played at Massachusetts and Tower played at Notre Dame."I didn't get recruited by Division I schools, but it felt good knowing I played at a high level in a tournament filled with Division I recruits,"Maier said.Maier wound up playing at Indiana (Pa.)University, despite not being recruited by the school. Kurt Kanaskie was the Lock Haven University coach and was interested in Maier. When Kanaskie took the IUPjob, he contacted Maier and asked him to join the Indians' program.Maier served as team captain at IUPfor two years and ranks 16th on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,093 points. He drained 141 3-pointers, ranking third on the school's list in that category.