BUTLER TWP - The Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame's resume is becoming as impressive as its membership.

The organization held its 39th annual induction banquet Saturday night at the Butler Days Inn as its membership swelled to 276.

"I attended that first banquet when (major league umpire) Eddie Vargo was inducted," said Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame president Don Cavalero. "Little did we know that was the beginning of an event like this."

Chester "Bud" Jordan, Bill May, Ed Codi, William Reith, Mark Smith, Pete Steenbergen and the late Jim McKinney joined the Hall Saturday.

McKinney's wife, Shirley, accepted her husband's induction.

"Our family takes comfort in the fact Jim died doing something he loved," she said.

McKinney suffered a stroke while preparing Pullman Park for a game last baseball season. A longtime baseball player and coach, he also bowled in 15 American Bowling Congress Tournaments and has a 300 game to his credit.

"Baseball, youth and the Butler area were his passion," said Jim Lokhaiser, the banquet's master of ceremonies. "Jim worked so hard for the youth of this community."

"Jim would be very touched and appreciative of this," Shirley McKinney said. "He was a humble man. That's how he was able to treat everyone with respect and dignity."

Jordan spent 65 years in baseball as a player and coach. A 1934 East Brady graduate, he played on his father's adult baseball team at age 12.

May was a successful swimmer at Butler High School and Grove City College who wound up as a longtime coach in the sport.

"I have to credit (former Butler swim coach) John Mixer for asking me to come out for the team," May said. "I'm glad he did because swimming has dominated my life."

Codi was a successful football player, coach and remains a broadcaster of Butler football and basketball.

He played on a Butler football team that was 33-3 from 1962-65, then helped coach a Butler squad that was 38-5-1 from 1975-78.

"I'm the 10th member of that 1963 team to be inducted into the Hall and I'm very proud of that," Codi said.

Codi recalled a football game between undefeated Aliquippa and Butler at Pullman Park that attracted nearly 10,000 fans to a facility that had a capacity of 4,500.

"We won that game, 21-13, and you'd have thought we won the national championship," he said. "We gave away our chinstraps after the game.

Reith is a Butler graduate who went on to an outstanding fencing career at Cleveland State. He competed and coached in world competitions and later got involved in pentathlons.

"There's an athlete in all of us," Reith said. "It comes in many different forms, different sizes. Life is about dreams and passions. It's about living those dreams."

Smith graduated from Butler in 1979 as one of the best basketball players in the school's history. He went on to lead Grove City College to a 21-4 record - the best single-season mark in the program's history.

Smith broke down at the podium when talking about former Butler teammate Eddie Hartman, a fellow Hall of Famer killed years ago in an automobile accident.

"Eddie was a good person and a good friend," Smith said. "I'm proud to have played with him.

"My coaches taught me the fundamentals to play basketball and I loved the game - I still do. It warms my heart that our kids have developed an interest in playing it."

Smith is married to Jodi Imbrie Smith, a former Butler basketball star who joined Hartman as part of the 1989 Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame induction class.

Steenbergen was 50-0 in regular-season tennis singles play at Butler and went on to an outstanding collegiate career at Haverford College.

Like his brothers Charles and John before him, Steenbergen became a physician. All were great tennis players.

"I always competed with my brothers, but I love them dearly," Steenbergen said. "And (former Butler tennis coach and Hall of Famer) Dave Barnes was a great teacher and motivator."