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Hancock inducts Ricci, Salani into Hall of Fame

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette At center, John “Topper” Ricci and Chris Salani celebrate their induction in the Hancock High School Athletic Hall of Fame Friday night with their respective nominators Jim “Zip” Parker, far left, and Gerry Parker, far right.

HANCOCK — In a ceremony Friday night during the Hancock High School alumni weekend, the school announced its two newest members of the school’s Hall of Fame. John “Topper” Ricci from the Class of 1955 and Chris Salani from the Class of 1992 both had their names etched in the history of the school as part of the event.

Ricci was a three-year letterwinner in football and a four-year letter winner in track and field.

“It’s fantastic,” said Ricci afterwards about earning the honor. “I never expected this. It comes as a surprise, and I’m very thrilled about it. I don’t know what else I can say. Because my brother’s already in here, I really appreciate this. He would have loved this.”

Ricci served as a co-captain for his junior and senior years, rushed for over 2,000 career yards and was second in scoring in the U.P. as a senior.

He was named All-Conference and All-U.P. for his efforts.

In track, he held U.P. records in the 100-yard dash, the 180-low hurdles and the long jump. He also held school records in all three and was part of a record 440 relay team.

Ricci thanked Jim Parker for nominating him for the honor.

“(They were) very good guys, and worked their hearts out, and made us as good as we could be,” Ricci said.

He was a WCHA, CCHA, and high school hockey official, covering over 600 NCAA games and 1,300 games in total. He worked the WCHA playoffs for 15 seasons.

He was also a prolific fastpitch softball player, clubbing 376 career home runs, a Copper Country record, while hitting .382.

Salani recently served as athletic director for the Bulldogs while his two sons, Colton and Austin, played on the hockey team.

He was a three-year letter winner in football, a four-year letter winner in hockey, one-year in golf, and two-year letter winning in track and field. He was also a four-year letter winner at Michigan State.

“Being part of the athletic programs, whether as a child with my father as a coach, on through to a student-athlete and now an administrator, being able to be recognized with guys like Topper and the other inductees of the Hall of Fame, whether it be male or female, is a tremendous honor,” he said about being honored. “Growing up here, being part of this community, having a large extended family being members of the athletics community of Hancock, just being able to represent them and do well by them, doing well by Bulldog pride and always promoting and demonstrating that every chance I get. It’s just a tremendous honor.”

Salani earned numerous accolades in football for the Bulldogs, including Team MVP in 1990 and 1991, All-State First Team Punter and Linebacker in 1991, All-U.P. Dream Team Punter and Linebacker in 1991.

In hockey, he was named co-MVP in 1990-91 before earning the honor again by himself in 1991-92. He was All-State First Team as a defenseman in 1990-91 and 1991-92.

In golf, he was a part of the 1991 U.P. state championship team. He also was the U.P. champ in discus in 1990.

Bulldog pride is something that is near and dear to me, and something that we are going to work very hard on reestablishing, because everybody in this room shares in that pride, from being an alumnus of Hancock Central High School, from the old school, to the current school.

“Bulldog pride is something that is near and dear to me, and something that we are going to work very hard on reestablishing, because everybody in this room shares in that pride, from being an alumnus of Hancock Central High School, from the old school, to the current school,” Salani said. “We are going to work every day to ensure that community excels, academically and hopefully athletically as well, and it’s going to take all of your support.

“Much like the support I was given from my father as coach; from my uncle, who was the coach prior to that; to Coach Parker, who was my hockey coach, to Coach Parker in football; to the countless number of alumni who are here that provided the mentorship that somebody like me growing up valued and understood to try to achieve took tremendous effort and work and something that we try to inspire and instill in our student-athletes every day.”

At Michigan State, Salani started 46 games, was named to the Academic All-Big Ten Team in 1993-94 and 1995-96. He also won the F. Ward “Potsey” Ross Senior Scholar-Athlete award.

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