Editor’s Note: This is the last in a two-part series on the Limestone County Sports Hall of Fame banquet Saturday night at the Limestone County Event Center.

There were varying degrees of emotion as each of the Limestone County Sports Hall of Fame inductees gave their acceptance speeches.

Some inductees shed tears while others kept the audience laughing with stories and anecdotes from their playing days. The overall emotion was a deep sense of appreciation for their induction and the people who helped them along the way.

Michael Boley

Michael Boley teared up with talking about his brother, K.J., who he said helped him get into football.

“If it wasn’t for this dude right there, I wouldn’t be up here in front of y’all,” Boley said, speaking to his brother. “You’ve always been my rock, and anytime I needed any help, you helped me. I can’t say thank you enough for everything. You’ve always had my back, and I’ve always had yours.”

Candace Byrd

Candace Byrd told how her relationship with her older sister strengthened through playing basketball.

“When I started playing basketball in the seventh grade, they wanted me to play on the varsity,” Byrd said. “My oldest sister, Kendra, was a senior, and a senior playing with her seventh-grade sister was unheard of. When I went to practice she asked me, ‘Why are you here?’ It seemed like every drill I was paired up with her, I had the worst practice of my life. Every ball she passed me was so hard, and she would get on to me. But during the games, I realized if I got fouled or pushed around, she was always there for me. I knew my sister always had my back. Thank you for being there for me.”

Billy Hargrove

Billy Hargrove, whose father was killed in a car accident when Billy was 11 years old, gave credit to the fathers of his friends, who treated him like a son during his youth.

“Me not having a father in the house, I naturally gravitated toward those men, fathers of my friends,” Hargrove said. “They were special and uniquely different. They took the time out of their lives to include me. Those men were my real life heroes.”

Manion Coffman

Manion Coffman gave credit to his high school coach, Marvin Young, who helped lead Elkmont back to respectability. Coffman’s senior season of 1968 was Elkmont’s first winning season since 1936.

“What a guy he is,” Coffman said. “We didn’t have a lot of people out in the program but he stuck with us. We worked and worked and, all of a sudden, we won a game. Then it wasn’t long before we won another one. Finally, my senior year, we turned it around to 7-3. The greatest joy that I had was being part of the team that brought Elkmont back to respectability. If I had one memory and one thing about all the sports that I played, that’s it.”

Keith Schrimsher

Keith Schrimsher kept the audience laughing with stories and anecdotes from his playing days, but ended his speech with a tribute to his father, Morris Schrimsher, a Limestone County Sports Hall of Fame inductee who is battling cancer.

Schrimsher said he started boxing as a way to honor the fight his father and mother displayed father’s cancer battle.

“When I saw my dad and mom go through all this this past summer, I thought if they can go through that with guts and courage, then I could get back into boxing and fight for them,” Schrimsher said. “When I hit a bag or an opponent, I see the word cancer. My dad is a fighter and a champion. Please pray for him.”

Blane Bolton

Blane Bolton thanked the committee for inducting his father, the late Carl Wayne Bolton, and said it proved what he had been told all his life about his dad.

“The whole time I was growing up, I would meet people who played with my dad, and what they said was, ‘He’s the best I’ve ever seen,’” Bolton said. “As an 18-year-old smart aleck, I thought, ‘Well, you haven’t seen a lot of football players then. But as I went through my 20s, 30s, and 40s, I kept hearing that. And now tonight, that’s how he was introduced. Now he gets to join a lot of his teammates who are in here. On behalf of my dad, my mom, and my sister, I say thank you.”

John Hannah

John Hannah, accepting on behalf of his father Herb Hannah, said his father was a great athlete, but an even better man.

“Of all the people I have known, I’ve never met a man with more integrity,” Hannah said. “When he said something, he meant it, and that’s the way it was going to be. He was a tough man, but he believed in giving everybody a chance. I love the man and owe my life to him. He’s the most positive influence anybody could have ever had. I wish I could just be half of who he was.”