Gaily Press correspondent John Vrancic speaks to those in attendance at the Gladstone High School Hall of Fame Ceramony on Oct. 11, 2025 at Terrace Bluff Country Club in Gladstone (Adam Hinch/Daily Press)

GLADSTONE — There were six new inductees into the Gladstone High School Hall of Fame Saturday night. There were four categories in which inductees were honored in the athletes category Becky Bartasz, Mackenzie Shepeck and Tom Theoret were inducted. Scott Valier was inducted in the coach category. In the team category the 2014 girls softball team was inducted and in the special community contributor category John Vrancic was inducted.

John Vrancic has covered Gladstone sports for over 40 years with the Escanaba Daily Press and covered a vast number of different sports ranging from the big ones everyone knows football, basketball, baseball, softball to the smaller ones like competitive cheer, golf, bowling, gymnastics and to the sports where he is most passionate cross country and track.

“It is very humbling to be inducted here,” Vrancic said. “I have to thank Denny Grall for hiring me at the Daily Press and to Don Howes for nominating me for this award.”

Vrancic’s passion extended beyond the door of the high school and on to the local Little League fields and of course the American Legion Baseball program throughout the Upper Peninsula.

“Everyone in this room here has probably helped me at some point and said if I named everyone who has helped me we would be here til tomorrow afternoon,” Vrancic said.

Vrancic stated that he is grateful to all the friends he has made and everyone who has helped him over the last four decades plus of sports reporting.

Vrancic has continued his love for local sports not for the money but for the friendships and showing off the talents of the youth in the community.

Before joining the Daily Press Vrancic worked for the Delta Country Road Commission shoveling blacktop which he said he learned a lot from that experience and made a lot of friends.

The first athlete inducted was Becky Bartoz. Bartoz was a graduate of the Class of 2004 at Gladstone High School. And was a three-sport athlete competing in Basketball, Volleyball and softball. Beckey was Most Valuable Player in softball in 2003 and won All-District honors her junior and senior years. She also was a member of the 2004 State Championship softball team and comprised a total of eight varsity letters during her career,

The second athlete honored was Mackenzie Shepeck. Shepeck accumulated nine varsity letters during her career and played volleyball and softball. Shepeck collected 100 wins as a pitcher and had 51 shutouts and 934 strikeouts and a career ERA of .027 in 747 innings pitched.

“I want to thank everyone for being here,” Shepeck said. “I wouldn’t be up here today without the support of my parents, teammates, coaches and everyone here tonight.”

Among her other honors she was Miss Softball Nominee for the state of Michigan. And in volleyball she was All-GNC second team her junior year and All-First Team during her senior year.

Tom Theoret was inducted as a three-sport athlete competing in track, cross country and wrestling. As a cross country athlete he received All-State honors three times and was All-State in wrestling. Tom collected 11 varsity letters over his career and has ran the Boston Marathon multiple times; the first time was at the age of 17 with a time of 2 hours and 50 minutes. He continued running well into his 40’s and was named a top ten Master’s runner in 1999 for the state of Michigan.

Scott Vallier was inducted for his role as a wrestling coach for Gladstone. He graduated from Gladstone High School in 1979. He was a UP State Champion wrestler at 178 pounds along with Great Northern Conference and other tournament titles during his playing career in Gladstone.

After graduation, Scott worked tirelessly with the GLadstone Youth Wrestling program where he was on the board and served as “Mat Boss” at the Annual Youth Tournament. In all Scott has 30 plus years of coaching at Gladstone and was instrumental in changing the lives of many athletes to hit the mat in Gladstone

The final inductee of the night was the 2014 girls softball team. The team went 30-2 and capped off the season with a State Championship in a 5-4 win over Coloma.

After beating Houghton 16-0 in a district tournament game the team battled for 11 innings with Negaunee and came out on top 5-0. The team was led by Mikayla Depuydt who had an impressive 1.15 ERA. Pitcher Christine Sharon threw two no-hitters that season for the Braves.

The next inductions will take place in the fall of 2027.