SLIPPERY ROCK — The seven latest inductees into the Slippery Rock University Athletic Hall of Fame will be honored Sept. 26.

The Rock's Class of 2009 includes Garry Benford, Roger Flynn, Laurel Heilman, Duane Kirklin, Bob Ogoreuc, Bill Rometo and Charles Vietmeier.

Induction ceremonies will be held before The Rock's 6 p.m. home football game against Indiana (Pa.) at N. Kerr Thompson Stadium.

A social hour begins at 2:30, followed by a 3:30 induction dinner. The inductees also will be honored at halftime.

Tickets for the event are $35 per person and are available by calling the SRU athletic office at 724-738-2021.

This year's inductees will swell the SRU Athletic Hall of Fame roster to 163 members.

Here are profiles of the Class of 2009:

Garry Benford

A winner of six National Masters 198-pound championships, two National Masters Bench Press titles and one World Masters crown, Benford was a member of the USA Powerlifting Team from 1995-2000.

Now the owner of seven Metro Fitness Centers in Columbus, Ohio, he earned All-America honors in powerlifting in 1978 and 1979 as a graduate student at SRU. He was inducted into the Powerlifting Hall of Fame in 1989 and bench-pressed a world-record 500 pounds at age 53 last year.

Benford graduated from The Rock with a degree in health and physical education in 1977, adding a master's degree in exercise science-sports medicine in 1979.

Roger Flynn

Flynn compiled a 531-201 record in 27 seasons as Grove City High girls basketball coach, winning 14 MCAC crowns and three District 10 titles. His teams earned four trips to the PIAA Western Finals.

He also served as an assistant boys basketball coach, baseball and football coach at Grove City and coached more than 80 total seasons. He was 7-1 in two seasons as a pitcher on the SRU baseball team, setting a school record with an 0.80 earned run average in 1968.

Flynn earned his degree from The Rock in 1968.

Laurel Heilman

Heilman is preparing for her 10th season as SRU women's basketball coach and ranks second on the program's all-time wins list. She previously coached nine seasons at Allegheny College and was two wins shy of the all-time victory record there when she returned to her alma mater.

As a Rock athlete, Heilman earned all-PSAC academic and athletic honors and led the women's basketball team to its only PSAC title during her senior year.

Heilman received her degree from SRU in 1986 and added a master's degree two years later.

Duane Kirklin

Kirklin was a three-sport athlete at The Rock, earning four letters each in football and outdoor track and field, as well as two letters in indoor track and field.

He was the SRU MVP in the 1963 state championship football game and shared team MVP honors that year with the late Jim McElhaney.

A chemistry teacher at Penn Hills and Lincoln in Ellwood City, Kirklin left the teaching and coaching fields to work full-time as a chemist.

He received his degree in education from SRU in 1964 and went on to win a U.S. Army Distinguished Service Award for research in biological and chemical weapons.

Bob Ogoreuc

Ogoreuc ranks second among Rock swimming coaches with 101 career victories. He was the only Rock coach to guide three teams to unbeaten records and he coached nine teams that suffered only one loss.

He tutored eight Rock swimmers to PSAC individual championships and seven to all-America status. His swimmers set 27 school records.

A 1989 graduate of Indiana (Pa.) University, Ogoreuc was the first swimmer inducted into the Indiana County Sports Hall of Fame. He received his master's degree from SRU in 1996.

Bill Rometo

Rometo played two seasons of football at Slippery Rock State College before an arm injury ended his career. He served as head baseball coach at Har-Brack High School in 1946 and eventually was head football and basketball coach at Plum.

He received his degree from Slippery Rock in 1946. Rometo died at age 91 in 2008. His son, William, resigned as Plum head football coach at the end of last year.

Chuck Vietmeier

A four-year letterman for The Rock's men's tennis team, Vietmeier advanced to the semifinal round of the PSAC postseason as a senior.

He has won numerous U.S. Tennis Association singles and doubles championships and was ranked second in USTA's Allegheny Mountain District in 1994 and 1995 in men's 35-and-over singles.

Vietmeier received his degree from SRU in 1982.