Bicentennial moments: Professional and Olympic athletes have called Adams County their home

QUINCY — Adams County has produced professional athletes across a wide array of sports. Here is a list of athletes who were born in Adams County, graduated from an Adams County high school or competed at a professional level or in the Olympics while living in Adams County.

Editor’s note: If you know of a name missing from the list, please contact Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman at mschuckman@muddyrivernews.com.

Major League Baseball

Al Demaree, Quincy

Pitched from 1912-19 for the New York Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Boston Braves. Finished his career with an 80-72 record in 232 appearances and a 2.77 ERA.

Bruce Edwards, Payson

Played from 1946-56 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Washington Nationals and Cincinnati Reds. Finished his career with 591 games played, a .256 batting average, 39 home runs and 241 RBIs.

Jim Finigan, Quincy

Played from 1954-59 with the Philadelphia Athletics, Kansas City Athletics, Detroit Tigers, San Francisco Giants and Baltimore Orioles. Finished his career with 512 games played, a .264 batting average, 19 home runs and 168 RBIs. Finished second in the Rookie of the Year balloting in 1954 behind Bob Grim of the New York Yankees. Twice named to the American League All-Star team.

Art Fromme, Quincy

Pitched from 1906-15 with the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants. Finished with an 80-90 record in 252 appearances with a 2.90 ERA.

Les Fusselman, Payson

Played from 1952-53 with the St. Louis Cardinals. Finished his career with 71 games played, a .169 batting average and one home run.

Dutch Kemner, Quincy

Pitched in 1929 for the Cincinnati Reds. Made nine appearances with no record and a 7.63 ERA.

Josh Kinney, Quincy

Pitched from 2006-12 with the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox and Seattle Mariners. Finished his career with a 1-3 record and one save in 93 appearances with a 4.73 ERA. 

Luke Lutenberg, Quincy

Played in 1984 for the Louisville Colonels. Finished his career with 70 games played, a .192 batting average and 23 RBIs.

Fritz Ostermueller, Quincy

Pitched from 1934-48 with the Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Browns, Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates. Finished his career with a 114-115 record and 15 saves in 390 appearances with a 3.99 ERA.

Josh Rabe, Mendon

Played from 2006-07 with the Minnesota Twins. Finished his career with 38 games played, a .250 batting average and three home runs.

Paul Reuschel, Camp Point

Pitched from 1975-79 with the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians. Finished his career with a 16-16 record and 13 saves in 198 appearances with a 4.51 ERA.

Rick Reuschel, Camp Point

Pitched from 1972-91 with the Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. Finished his career with a 214-191 record and five saves in 557 appearances with a 3.37 ERA and 2,015 strikeouts. Named to the National League All-Star team three times and won a Gold Glove in 1985.

Ike Samuels, Quincy

Played in 1895 for the St. Louis Browns. Finished his career with 24 games played and a .230 batting average.

El Tappe, Quincy

Played in six seasons from 1954-62 with the Chicago Cubs. Finished his career with 145 games played, a .207 batting average and 17 RBIs. Was a member of the Cubs’ College of Coaches during the 1961 and 1962 seasons.

Chester “Pinch” Thomas, Camp Point

Played from 1912-21 with the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians. Finished his career with 481 games played, a .237 batting average and 102 RBIs. 

Ralph Works, Payson

Pitched from 1909-13 with the Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds. Finished his career with a 24-24 record and four saves in 99 appearances and a 3.79 ERA.

National Basketball Association

Bruce Douglas, Quincy

Played in eight games for the Sacramento Kings during the 1986-87 season. Scored 14 points, dished out 17 assists and swiped nine steals. Also played in the Continental Basketball Association for the Rockford Lightning.

Gary Phillips, Quincy

Played from 1961-66 with the Boston Celtics and San Francisco Warriors. Played in 348 career games and scored 2,319 points and grabbed 903 rebounds. Won an NBA championship with the Celtics in 1962.

National Football League

Jack Cornell, Quincy

Played in one game for the Oakland Raiders during the 2013 season. Played on the Baltimore Ravens practice squad during the 2012 season, which ended with the Ravens winning the Super Bowl.

Herm Schneidman, Quincy

Played for the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Cardinals from 1935-40. Played in 40 career games and won two NFL championships with the Packers in 1936 and 1939. Scored two career touchdowns as a blocking back.

PGA Tour

Luke Guthrie

Held a PGA Tour card from 2013-2016 and currently plays on the Korn Ferry Tour. Has seven top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour and 14 on the Korn Ferry Tour. Has two professional victories on the Korn Ferry Tour.

D.A. Weibring

Played on the PGA Tour from 1977-2003 and joined the PGA Champions Tour thereafter. Won five championships on the PGA Tour with 69 top-10 finishes and has five Champions Tour victories with 65 top-10 finishes.

Professional basketball

Jordan Frericks Kvitle, Quincy

Played one season for Herner TC in Germany. Helped Herner TC win the DBBL Cup championship. Averaged 12.4 points and 7.1 rebounds during a 29-game season.

Michael Payne, Quincy

Drafted in the third round of the 1985 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets. Played for six seasons overseas in France, Italy, Germany, Australia and Greece.

Ali Schwagmeyer-Belger, Camp Point

Played from 2012-23 for multiple teams in Germany, Australia, Romania, Spain and Serbia. Helped the Lakeside Lightning win the SBL championship in Australia in 2018, earned three consecutive SBL Most Valuable Player awards and was a three-time All-Star.

Tanner Stuckman, Quincy

Has played professionally overseas in Finland, Portugal, Canada, Spain, Scotland and England since graduating from Quincy University. Will be playing in Hungary this season.

Professional football

John Sparrow, Quincy

Played two seasons in the Indoor Professional Football League. Played for the Lincoln Lightning in 1999 and the Bllings Thunderbolts in 2000.

Professional soccer

Kevin Koetters, Quincy

Played from 1990-2001 with the St. Louis Storm, Kansas City Attack, San Diego Sockers, Kansas City Wiz, Detroit Rockers, St. Louis Steamers and Kansas City Comets. Scored 309 goals and recorded 305 assists in 383 career games.

Jennie Nobis-Dancer, Quincy

Played in the U.S. and internationally from 2006-09 with the River Cities Futbol Club, Charlton Athletic L.F.C., Danmarks IF Uppsala, Umea Sodra FF, Boston Breakers and Pitea IF. Scored 26 goals in 51 career games.

John Prow, Quincy

Played from 1992-96 with the Harrisburg Heat and Sacramento Knights. Scored 19 goals and recorded 11 assists in 112 career games.

Dev Reeves, Quincy

Played from 1989-95 with the Cleveland Crunch, Illinois Thunder, St. Louis Ambush and Dallas Sidekicks. Scored 19 goals and recorded 30 assists in 154 career games.

Mark Thomas, Quincy

Played from 1991-2003 with the Kansas City Attack, Cleveland Crunch, Sacramento Knights, Cincinnati Silverbacks, Florida Thundercats, Baltimore Blast and St. Louis Steamers. Scored 407 goals and recorded 253 assists in 388 career games.

Olympians

Caren Kemner, Quincy

Played for the U.S. women’s volleyball national team from 1985-96 and played in three Olympic games — the 1988 Seoul Games, the 1992 Barcelona Games and the 1996 Atlanta Games. Helped the U.S. win the bronze medal at the 1992 Barcelona Games. Named the International Volleyball Federation female player of the year in 1991.

Nicole Kramer, Quincy

Swimmer who competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympics in the women’s 800-meter freestyle. Set an Olympic record during the preliminaries in 8:46.81 and finished fifth in the event final in 8:47.33.

Lambert Redd, Quincy

Competed in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics where he won the silver medal in the long jump.

F. Morgan Taylor, Quincy

Competed in three Olympics — the 1924 Paris Games, the 1928 Amsterdam Games and the 1932 Los Angeles Games — and won three medals in the 400-meter hurdles. Won the gold medal in 1924 and the bronze medal in 1928 and 1932.

Ray Watson, Quincy

Competed in three Olympics — the 1920 Antwerp Games, the 1924 Paris Games and the 1928 Amsterdam Games — and finished eighth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 1920, seventh in the 1,500 meters in 1924 and ninth in the 800 meters in 1928.