Heidelberg Athletics Hall of Fame
Demont Sponseller enters the Hall of Fame as a two-sport athlete at Heidelberg. Sponseller was a four year letter-winner in both baseball and basketball.
As a sophomore, he led The 'Berg in scoring on the final team coached by Paul Hoernemann. The Student Princes finished with an 11-8 record that season. In his senior year, Sponseller was named team captain and team MVP under head coach Marvin Frye.
A four-year shortstop, Sponseller was runner-up for the OAC batting crown as a sophomore with a .445 batting average. As a senior he served as team captain under head coach John "Nubs" McKenna.
A 1953 graduate of Sulphur Springs High School, Sponseller earned 11 varsity letters competing in baseball, basketball and track and field.
Upon graduation from Heidelberg in 1957 with a bachelor's degree in education, Sponseller became a teacher and baseball coach at Midview and Mount Zion school. At Mount Zion, his team captured the Crawford County Championship.
In 1963 Sponseller earned his master's degree in education from Bowling Green State University and moved to Sacramento, California, to continue teaching and coaching.
He later became chairman for the Boys Physical Education Department in Sacramento. Sponseller coached baseball, winning the city championship three years in a row from
1967-1969.
A player on his 1969 team, Fernando Arroyo, would eventually play for the Detroit Tigers. While in California, Sponseller played shortstop on a semi-pro team in Marysville.
Today, Sponseller is a production control supervisor at Clarke American Lincoln, a manufacturer of industrial cleaning equipment in Bowling Green, Ohio, where he has been employed for the past 20 years.
(This profile appeared in the 2003 Hall of Fame Banquet program.)
