Bill Reith failed to letter as a gymnast at Butler High School.

No problem. He just switched sports in college.

Now the 1964 Butler graduate is headed to the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame for a legendary fencing career that continues today.

Reith will be inducted during the annual Hall of Fame dinner April 24 at the Butler Days Inn.

Reith attended Fenn (Ohio) College, which became Cleveland State the following year, and noticed the school had a fencing team.

"I wanted to try it out," he said. "I had an itch to try something different."

Reith became one of 12 members of the Cleveland State fencing team. During his junior year, he was named the squad's outstanding fencer and was also named Cleveland State University Athlete of the Year.

"I was shocked when they called by name for that," he said of the latter award. "I sort of stood out because our traditional sports at the school did lousy that year."

Reith was anything but lousy, finishing 14th in the NCAA Championships.

Once he left college, Reith went to work as a research chemist for General Electric. Still, he had the yearning to compete.

He did some traveling in the United States and Canada, competing in various fencing events, but he wasn't satisfied.

At age 25, he quit work and went to Europe to train.

"I had to see how far fencing could take me," Reith said. "Training-wise and competitively, we lacked the intensity of fencing overseas."

So Reith spent four years competing in Italy, France, Germany, Hungary, England, The Netherlands and Belgium.

"Competing and training at a higher level made a big difference," he said. "When I came back, I could walk through my opponents in the United States like butter.

"That would last for only a few weeks, until my training level went down," he added.

Reith had to teach fencing to support himself while he competed. That developed into another successful career.

He wound up coaching U.S. Olympic fencers Steve Trevor and Jon Normile, along with numerous world junior and national junior champions.

Reith coached the U.S. fencing team to the gold medal at the Pan-American Games in 1975.

"We went through an extensive aerobic training program because the altitude in Mexico City was 8,000 feet," he said.

Reith went on to become the fencing coach at Cleveland State for six years. He was elected to the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, as were many of his former students.

Today, Reith operates the Alcazar Fencing Club in Shaker Heights, Ohio. He formed the organization 27 years ago and it now has more than 100 members.

When he turned 50, Reith began competing in pentathlons - a combination of running, swimming, fencing, equestrian jumping and pistol shooting. He won the Great Lakes Pentathlon in 2001 at age 54.

"I've always wanted to do pentathlons because it's the most grueling of all sports," Reith said. "I developed a love for horses through that as well. I own horses now.

"I'm delighted to be going into the Butler Hall of Fame. It's nice to see other minor sports included. I'm glad they're showing that kind of diversity," he added.