Sentinel Staff Report
Juneau-Douglas High School athletic director Chad Bentz, who made 40 Major League Baseball appearances despite being born with only one fully developed hand, was elected into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame class of 2019, announced Thursday. He will be honored at an induction ceremony next spring. Hall of Fame selections are based on the votes of a nine-member selection committee, a public vote and an inductee vote. Benz was one of two individuals selected this year, along with one event and one moment.
Bentz, a Juneau-Douglas High graduate, has made more Major League Baseball appearances than any other Alaskan — and he’s the only Alaskan with a base hit in the big leagues.
Born with a deformed right hand, Bentz is one of two one-handed pitchers to make it to the Major Leagues. The first, Jim Abbott, had a 10-year career that included a no-hitter in 1993.
Bentz, who tucked a left-handed glove under his non-pitching arm and slipped his pitching hand into it after delivering a pitch, made 36 relief appearances for the Montreal Expos in 2004 and four for the Florida Marlins in 2005. In 2004, he was 0-3 with a 5.86 earned-run average. He was also a .500 hitter — he had one single in two at-bats for the Expos. Bentz is the first baseball player honored, although Red Boucher was inducted for his role in creating the Alaska Baseball League and the Midnight Sun Game was honored in the events category.
After his baseball career ended, Bentz played one season of Division III college football at Castleton College in Vermont. He has since returned to Juneau, where he is the activities director at his alma mater.
Also earning induction was Corey Cogdell-Unrein, the winner of Olympic bronze medals in 2008 and 2016. Home-schooled in Eagle River, she learned to shoot a shotgun as a toddler in Chickaloon and pursued trapshooting at the Birchwood Recreation and Shooting Park after her family moved to Eagle River. A three-time Olympian who captured bronze medals in Beijing (2008) and Rio de Janiero (2016), she also won eight World Cup medals, including a gold this summer in mixed team trap, a new event that will make its Olympic debut in 2020. She has been featured in Cabela’s outdoor advertising and various outdoor recreation shows.
The moment selected for induction was Kodiak’s 55-52 upset victory over the powerhouse East T-birds in the 2001 Class 4A boys basketball championship game. Kodiak was the underdog and East was the perennial powerhouse that already owned 16 state titles. Kodiak’s lineup included only two players 6-foot or taller, although one of them was 7-foot senior center Nick Billings, who swatted away East’s attempt to tie the game with a 3-pointer at the buzzer. On the bench directing the Bears was Amy Rakers, the first woman to lead a boys team to an Alaska state basketball championship. Her team trailed by 10 points in the third quarter, and Kodiak’s comeback triggered bedlam at Anchorage’s Sullivan Arena.
One event was chosen for induction, the Alaska Run for Women, which has grown to become one of the biggest and most beloved footraces in the state while at the same raising money and awareness for the fight against breast cancer. The women’s-only race began in 1993 as a protest to the established Alaska Women’s Run, a popular event that angered runners when it raised entry fees and reduced amenities for the 1993 race, all while paying its race director a handsome salary. The inaugural event was pulled together quickly, drew more than 700 runners and put the old Women’s Run out of business. Established as a fundraiser for breast cancer charities, the Run for Women has raised more than $4 million in cash and donated mammograms. The charitable aspect of the race draws thousands of women dressed in pink, many running in memory of loved ones who died from breast cancer and many who are survivors of the disease. The race also showcases many of Alaska’s best runners. It is the third footrace to be honored, joining Mount Marathon and the Equinox Marathon.
