JEFFERSON TWP — The South Butler School District has created a Knoch Sports Hall of Fame and will induct its inaugural class prior to the Knights' Sept. 11 home football game.

Jim Simons, Joyce Fennell, Scot Thompson, Jennifer Crouch Kopac and Jefferson Dickson will all be honored on the field at 6:40 p.m., before Knoch battles Greensburg Salem.

“I'm not sure how many people were considered (for induction), but these first five were a slam-dunk,” Knoch athletic director Mike King said.”They were pretty obvious choices.”

King serves as an advisor for the nine-member Hall of Fame committee, but is not actually on the committee itself.

“We're excited about the formation of this Hall of Fame,” he said. “It's something (former athletic director) Josh Shoop, myself and others have been kicking around for a while.

“Knoch's location can get lost on people sometimes. We're not part of Allegheny County, we're not in the Alle-Kiski area ... It's nice to form a Hall of Fame that honors our own.”

Simons died in 2005 at the age of 55, but was a three-time winner on the PGA Tour and led the 1971 U.S. Open as an amateur by two strokes over Jack Nicklaus and three over Lee Trevino entering the final round. He wound up finishing fifth.

He also made the cut at the U.S. Open as an 18-year-old. Simons was a 1966 state golf champion and went on to become a two-time All-American at Wake Forest.

He is a 1968 Knoch graduate.

Fennell graduated from Knoch in 1974 and was the first girls basketball player in school history to score 1,000 points. She notched 1,247 career points.

Also a 1974 Knoch grad, Thompson went on to play major league baseball from 1978-85 with the Cubs, Giants and Montreal Expos. He had a career batting average of .262.

Thompson hit .289 with the Cubs in 1979 and .306 with the Giants in 1984.

Crouch Kopac was a three-time state champion and three-time WPIAL champion in the javelin for the Knights. She set the school record of 43 feet, 7 inches in the shot put. She is a 1989 Knoch graduate.

Crouch Kopac also was Knoch team MVP in volleyball and became an all-section performer.

Dickson, a 1993 Knoch graduate, was a two-time WPIAL champion and two-time state champion in golf. He competed on the Knights' 1990 WPIAL championship golf team.

He won the Pa. Boys Golf Association Championship in 1993 and was a golf course designer from 2000-09.

The Hall of Fame plaques will be displayed on a wall outside of the high school gym.

“It's important that our current students and athletes get a chance to look at the accomplishments of others who came before them,” King said.

Knoch becomes the fifth Butler County high school to institute its own Hall of Fame, joining Butler, Mars, Seneca Valley and Slippery Rock.