OTTAWA LAKE – Longtime Whiteford basketball coach John Rice will be inducted into the Knox County, Ohio, Sports Hall of Fame in August.

Rice, who is from Knox County, is part of the sixth group of inductees into the hall of fame, bringing the total number to 45. Those previously inducted include professional football and basketball player Cookie Cunningham, former NFL player Rob Kelly and former New York Yankees baseball manager Harry Wolverton.

“This is a great honor to be included among professional athletes, All-Americans, record-breakers, champions and high school/college hall of famers,” said Hall of Fame chairman John Lambert.

The ceremony will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. Aug. 29 at the Knox County Historical Museum, 875 Harcourt Rd., Mount Vernon, Ohio.

Rice coached the Bobcats from 1973-74 to 2002-03 and again from 2015-16 through the 2017-18 season, winning 457 games in 33 seasons. During his tenure, the Bobcats won eight Tri-County Conference titles and seven District championships, reaching the regional finals in 1986. He was an assistant coach when the Bobcat girls basketball team reached the state finals in 1984.

He also coached at Danville, Ohio; Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard, Flat Rock and Toledo Bowsher and served as an assistant at four other schools from Michigan, Ohio and Florida. During his coaching career he also coached football, JV girls basketball, varsity girls basketball and was head coach of the Whiteford baseball team.

In 40 seasons overall as a varsity boys basketball coach, he went 509-353. He is the winningest coach in Tri-County Conference history and second winningest-coach in Monroe County history.