The Waterloo High School Athletic Hall of Fame will induct six new members and one team during a special ceremony planned during halftime of the varsity boys basketball game on Jan. 26.

Those being inducted are Vern Moehrs (Class of 1952), Al Studt (Class of 1965), Jennifer Berry (Class of 1985), Mitchell Gregson (Class of 2006) and Jennifer (Conway) Pickett (Class of 2009), along with coach Cyndi Kelly and the 2011 WHS baseball squad.

Vern Moehrs

A four-year baseball and three-year basketball player at WHS, Moehrs played on the 1952 basketball team that still holds the WHS record for 31 wins in a season and finished as sectional runner-up in a single class state tournament.

Moehrs is most known as a legendary baseball manager and player beyond high school, including more than 2,050 wins as the Waterloo Warriors, Waterloo Buds and Waterloo Millers amateur baseball team player/manager. 

As a player/manager, he batted .461 in 1961 to win the Mon-Clair league batting title.

Moehrs is a charter member of the Mon-Clair League Hall of Fame and also belongs to the National Semi-Pro Baseball Hall of Fame and St. Louis Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame. He is a Mon-Clair League Lifetime Achievement Award winner, and was presented the Waterloo Rotary Club Paul Harris Fellowship Award for many years of community service in the Waterloo area.

Al Studt

One of very few male athletes to earn 14 or more varsity letters, Studt played cross country, track, basketball and baseball at WHS. 

He was a catcher and outfielder for four years and the starting catcher for all games on the 1964-65 state tournament qualifying baseball team. He led the team in hitting down the stretch of the state tourney run.

Studt received a baseball scholarship to Evansville University and was their catcher for three years and team captain for two years. He earned all-conference honors all three years at Evansville.

Studt was inducted into the Illinois United States Specialty Sports Association Hall of Fame for slow-pitch softball following his collegiate years.

Jennifer Berry

Likely the highest female varsity letterholder of all-time at WHS with 12 total, Berry played softball, cross country and track.

Berry was an all-conference centerfielder on the 1985 Class A regional championship softball squad, hitting .439 with a .511 on base percentage and .959 fielding percentage with 26 stolen bases. 

In track, she was a key part of the 1983 and 1984 conference, regional and sectional championship teams. In 1983, she set school and sectional records in the discus. She placed first in three events at the 1984 sectional and qualified for state in the long jump, 100 meter run, 400 meter relay and shot put. In 1985, Berry qualified for state in the shot put and set the WHS record in that event of 34 feet, one inch.

Mitchell Gregson

The most decorated boys golfer in WHS history, Gregson was a four-year team MVP, first team all-Mississippi Valley Conference all four years, 2004 Class AA sectional co-medalist, 2005 regional champion, sectional co-medalist and Class AA state co-medalist after losing the championship match in a playoff to place second at state.  

Gregson also played basketball – selected as team MVP his junior and senior years and was a two-year varsity letterwinner in baseball. 

He went on to star in golf at Kansas State University, where he finished first in top five finishes (11), first in top 10 finishes (19), and had the third highest win total in addition to the lowest career stroke average per round (73.06).

Gregson then was a 2007 Missouri AMATEUR runner-up, a 2010 U.S. Amateur qualifier, won the 2011 Gateway Pro Tour Event in Phoenix, Ariz., was the Metropolitan St. Louis Open Champion in 2012 with a tournament record 13 under par, and played on the 2014 PGA Latin America Tour. 

Jennifer Conway

To date, Conway was the most dominant female basketball player in WHS history. 

In fact, she’s the second all-time leading scorer for males and females in WHS basketball history with 1,732 career points and likely the all-time (male and female) rebounding leader with 932.

Conway was a four-year varsity player in girls hoops and was team MVP three times. She’s the all-time female points, rebounds, and blocks leader at WHS and also the single-game leader for each of those statistics. 

She recorded 57 double-doubles (points and rebounds) and four triple-doubles throughout her WHS career and led the Mississippi Valley Conference in rebounding and blocked shots as a junior while being second in scoring at 21.7 points per game. 

As a senior, Conway led the MVC in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots.

She appeared in the Feb. 1, 2009 issue of Sports Illustrated as part of the “Faces in the Crowd” section.

Conway went on to play four years at Truman State University. 

2011 baseball team

The 2011 WHS baseball squad won regional, sectional and super-sectional championships and was ranked No. 1 in small schools by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The Bulldogs lost in the state quarterfinals to eventual state champion Maple Park (Kaneland).

Team members: Lucas Wetzler, Garrett Schlecht, Dan Voelker, DJ Dillenberger, Alex Hamilton, Mitch Brown, AJ Crutchfield, Cole Schaefer, Jake Schneider, Alex Wittenauer, Brian Schaab, Aron Aycock, Chase Guercio, Nick Steppig, Joey Campbell, Gabe Hopkins, Zach Klein, Eli Snodgrass, Ethan Ruff, Brad Dillenberger and Jonny Albers.

Coaches: Mark Vogel, Lon Fulte and Dave Dillenberger.

Cyndi Kelly

Credited as the sole reason girls had an opportunity to participate in sports at WHS before Title IX and without financial backing at the beginning, Kelly organized the schedules, created uniforms, and coordinated with other schools. 

While she did have success as a coach, more importantly, Kelly allowed girls to compete, connect, and feel empowered that they were worthy. 

On the court and field, Kelly coached girls varsity volleyball and compiled a 50-29 record. She also coached the girls archery team to a District title in 1978-79. 

As a student, Kelly, Cyndi played college softball at Southeast Missouri State University. She continued playing after college and has since been inducted into both the St. Louis Softball Hall of Fame and National Senior Softball Hall of Fame.

“The one thing that I am most proud of is to have been among the many P.E. teachers who developed girls interscholastic sports in our local area,” Kelly said. “From places like Cahokia, Dupo, Columbia, Valmeyer, Red Bud, Freeburg and a nun from Gibault, we got together and worked as a team to do whatever was necessary to make this happen. With absolutely no funding from our schools, we arranged transportation to and from sites; officiated each other’s games/matches; sewed numbers on tee-shirts to serve as our uniforms; shared equipment; etc. That first year (1972), our schools actually managed to compete against each other in speedball, tennis, archery, volleyball, bowling, track and field, and softball. There were numerous hurdles to overcome but we were stubbornly determined to get that ball rolling… and look at it now!”