BUTLER TWP— There was a definite Butler flavor to the 43rd annual Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame Banquet Saturday night at the Days Inn.

Six of the inductees — swimmer Bert Fillhart, gymnasts Chuck Moses and Jim Sacco, girls basketball player Wendy Brink-Jilson, football-baseball standouts Eric Werner and Rick Snodgrass — attended Butler High School.

The other inductee — local auto racing legend Harry Hein — lives in Butler and made his original mark at the old Butler Speedway.

Saturday's inductions swelled the Hall's membership to 313.

"We've got just about every sport covered," Butler Area Sports HOFpresident Don Cavalero said. "All we're missing is curling ... We'll keep a close eye on this year's Olympics."

Paul Uram, Art Bernardi and Fay Steving were among numerous former Butler coaches lauded by Saturday's inductees.

"Coach Uram had a low voice and had a way of convincing us we could do it,"Moses said of the longtime Golden Tornado gymnastics coach. "He'd take an average guy and make him good, a good guy and make him great."

Moses also played on the offensive and defensive lines for the 1957 Butler football team that went undefeated at 5-0-3.

"That was an outstanding bunch of guys,"Moses said. "The Asian flu hit our country that year and a lot of guys were sick and played through it. Four of our players walked on and played college football for four years."

Sacco received a full scholarship to compete in gymnastics at the University of Pittsburgh and was captain of the Panthers' 1967 squad.

"If not for Coach Uram, I never would have gone on to college," he said. "He taught me how to win with grace, humility and dignity. I've carried that lesson all through my life.

"My mom is my real hero. Nobody on this earth supported me like she had. She's had the greatest impact on me getting here tonight. This plaque is for you. I'm going to put it on your wall."

Werner credited his coaches for "teaching me sportsmanship, making me a better athlete and a better person."

He lauded Bernardi for the influence the longtime Butler football coach had on his life.

"Coach Bernardi, you instilled pride, respect, honor and tradition in me and those are things that stick with you for a lifetime,"Werner said. "It was truly an honor to play for you."

Snodgrass was a record-setting placekicker at Butler and wound up getting tryouts with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Colts in football, the Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles in baseball.

"I remember the first time I wore a pro uniform, trying to unseat my mentor, Roy Gerela, in preseason with the Steelers,"Snodgrass said. "We were in Buffalo, in front of 80,000 fans ... I would have loved to have played, but I had a real good seat for the game."

Snodgrass said he wished he played with the intensity of Dick Hartung, as hard as Tim McCune and was as humble as Paul Lumley, all previous Butler Area Sports HOFinductees.

"If I had that type of work ethic when I tried out for the Reds and Orioles, things might have been different," he said. "Then again, no one might have ever heard of Cal Ripken Jr., so I guess things worked out the way they were supposed to."

Brink-Jilson scored 1,619 points in her basketball career at Butler — second all-time to teammate Leatha Dudek Baker's 1,630 — and thanked Steving "for giving me the opportunity to develop a true passion for the greatest game in sports.

"Now I'm a wife, businesswoman, mother of three wonderful boys and I'm an AAUcoach ... This is the chapter of my life I'm most proud of."

Her voice cracked as she thanked Baker for the impact she's had on her life.

"She's been my best friend since I was 5,"Brink-Jilson said. "She's supported me in everything I've ever tried to do and we're so different, it's scary.

"When we were kids, we talked about becoming truck drivers and owning a horse farm. Obviously, we didn't go that way."

Katherine Fillhart accepted the induction of her late husband.

"His love for swimming inspired our children to get involved,"she said. "Swimming has helped provide us with good health and happiness.

"Bert left a note before he passed away, saying 'I'm only a smile away.' He's smiling down on us tonight."