BAY CITY, MI – Their legacies will be preserved for all-time.

But not just yet.

The Bay County Sports Hall of Fame announced Thursday that its induction banquet for the Class of 2020 is being postponed for one year due to the coronavirus threat. The eight individuals and two teams scheduled to be honored in November now form the Class of 2021.

“It goes with the times right now, it’s very disappointing,” said Jennifer Thunberg, president of the Hall of Fame. “But the good thing about it is we still get an opportunity to honor these people. With many cancellations right now, there are things you can never get back. We can still do this right for our inductees.”

The banquet is now set for Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021 at the DoubleTree hotel and conference center in downtown Bay City.

The annual induction banquet traditionally brings more than 300 people together to celebrate each year’s class. With COVID-19 guidelines, there are limits on the number of people who can gather, with indoor venues particularly susceptible to small capacities.

“We could not guarantee we’d be allowed to have large crowds together at that point,” Thunberg said of the banquet that was originally scheduled for Nov. 8 of this year. “We want our inductees to celebrate with their family and friends, and right now that might not be possible.”

The induction class includes Rebecca Bach Simmons, Jody Gifford Markwart, Tracy Morin, Melissa Petty David, Gene Rademacher, Dan Revette, Terry Smith and Adam Vrable. The 1974 Essexville Garber football team and 1975 Bay City Handy baseball team are also being honored along with President’s Award winner Charlie Beaver.

There will be no Hall of Fame election next year, a first since the Hall of Fame was launched in 1990. Instead, the group elected in 2020 will serve as the 2021 class.

“It’s disappointing that we’ll go a whole year without (an induction class),” Thunberg said. “But we want to correctly recognize this group, and to add another class along with them next year would take away from the ceremony. For starters, you’d be talking about double the size of the crowd. So that just isn’t feasible.”

The Hall of Fame also awards $750 scholarship to one student-athlete from each of Bay County’s six sports-playing high schools. Thunberg said the Hall of Fame plans to select six scholarship winners this year and six new recipients in 2021.

“We feel very strongly about honoring our seniors each year,” she said. “They lost the end of their senior year, and many of the things that came with that, they won’t get back. This is something we can keep in place. Because of our fundraising efforts, we are able to do that. We can honor this year’s winners and also honor the upcoming class.”

The Hall of Fame scholarship fund comes from the sales of Lifetime Memberships. For a one-time cost of $50, anyone can become a Life Member and cast a ballot on each year’s Hall of Fame nominees.