Three to be inducted into LHS Hall of Fame

Staff report

London High School will induct three new members into its Athletic Hall of Fame during festivities Friday night during the London-West Jefferson football game.
The following are nominations for the three inductees:

Bill Blazer
His work as an administrator, head coach and most importantly athletic director at Urbana University and Ohio Dominican University the past 20 years has been noteworthy.
Blazer did play football and baseball for four years at London High School, where he earned four varsity letters. In 1972 he was co-captain of the baseball team and was selected to the Mid-Eight League first team. In that same year, he was selected to the LHS National Honor Society.
His community service began as president of the London Area Boys Football League for 11 years and president of the London Sideliners for three years. He was a member of the Kiwanis Club, where he coordinated the Kiwanis Punt-Throw-Kick Competition for London area boys and girls.
In 2004, Blazer became the athletic director at Ohio Dominican University (ODU). He was active in the facility expansion and addition of seven new sports to a very successful line-up of seven other sports on campus. During his tenure, the expansion of football, cross county, tennis and golf helped ODU to be recognized nationally in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), making 12 national appearances while winning 14 conference championships. In 2007 football had its first undefeated regular season (11-0) and finished ranked fourth in the nation.
In 2008, Blazer was recognized by the American Mideast Conference as Athletic Director of the Year, which lead to being selected to the NAIA Region IX Athletic Director-of-the-Year.
In 2009, he became the Athletic Director of the Year for the NAIA Northeast Region 4 of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).
In 1990, Blazer became a faculty member at Urbana University, where he became head coach of men’s golf (1994) and athletic director (1996). He was chairman of the Mid-States Football Association twice and he chaired AMC Men’s Golf for 10 years.
In the summer of 2011, he joined the Ohio Public Golf Association (OPGA) Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Blazer received his bachelors in business administration at Bowling Green State University and his masters in business education at Wright State University.

Bill Conley
In 1972, Bill Conley began his football career at London High School as an assistant coach under legendary London High School and Ohio Football Hall of Fame head coach Jim Bowlus.
Two years later, he stepped in for retiring coach Bowlus and became the head coach at LHS. In the next four seasons, his overall record was 30-8-2 and in 1975 he led the Red Raiders to an undefeated
10-0 season, which ranked the Red Raiders No. 2 in the state of Ohio.
He also spent time as a head coach at Groveport, Middletown and Dublin Coffman high schools.
In 1984, Conley began his collegiate football career at The Ohio State University under head coach Earle Bruce. In 1992, he again joined the Buckeyes as an OSU assistant coach and recruiting coordinator under coaches John Cooper and Jim Tressel.
During his 17 seasons as an assistant coach for the Buckeyes, Conley was consistently recognized as one of America’s top recruiters. His recruiting classes were constantly ranked among the top ten in the nation. During his time at OSU, he was selected by The Sporting News as one of the top five college recruiters in the country, and was honored by ESPN as the No. 1 football college recruiter.
After retiring from Ohio State in the spring of 2004, Conley served as a national recruiting analyst at ESPN for Columbus-area print and broadcast media.
His book, “Buckeye Bumper Crops,” chronicles his exploits as a student-athlete, assistant coach and recruiter for Ohio State, which also mentions his coaching roots began at London.
Conley has more than 30 years coaching high school and collegiate football.
In 2010, he began his first collegiate head coaching opportunity at NCAA Division II Ohio Dominican University (ODU), where he is the second head coach in ODU’s football history.
He received his bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University and his master’s degree from Wright State University.

BJ Laney
BJ Laney won 10 varsity letters while at London playing football, basketball and baseball
Laney holds school records for most rushing yards, most yards per carry and most touchdowns in a career.
He graduated fifth in his high school class; was a member of the National Honor Society; served as student council vice president; and was a Buckeye Boys State delegate. Laney is a West Point graduate and currently serves as a squadron operations officer. He is now involved in combined security with the Iraqi Army, police, fire, UN polling teams and Iraqi election officials; ultimately resulting in zero incidents.
He planned, coordinated, supervised and facilitated the execution of major projects and training affecting two brigade-sized elements (approximately 10,000 solders) for the U.S. Army Armor School.
As a platoon leader of a 22-member light cavalry scout platoon, Laney was responsible for the combat readiness, training, mentoring and leadership of two scout sections to ensure they were fully prepared for all contingencies. He was also responsible for the maintenance and accountability of assets with a valuation greater than $10 million.
Laney planned and led various combat, security, and humanitarian operations while deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
He also led more than 550 combat patrols, both mounted and dismounted, throughout Baghdad, Iraq and its surrounding towns/villages; absent from zero combat missions.
Special honors and recognition:
• Awarded the Bronze Star Medal
• Combat Action Badge
• Four Army Commendation Medals
• Three Army Achievement Medals
• Draper Armor Leadership Award Finalist
• National Defense Service Medal
• Iraq Campaign Medal
• Global War on Terrorism Medal (Service)
• Unit Meritorious Service Ribbon
• Army Service Ribbon
• Army Overseas Service Ribbon

Posted by Staff Reports on Sep 8 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.