By MATT?ENTRUP

East Oregonian

The Ione Cardinals closed out the 1970s as the premier 8-man football team in the state of Oregon with back-to-back state championships under the guidance of head coach Gordon Meyers and assistant Del LaRue.

Their coaching and playing days far over, the men will lead their former players once more as they head up the list of nominees for induction to the Ione Booster Club Hall of Fame, released this week.

The list of this years nominees featured players, coaches, managers and statisticians from both the championship teams as well as four individuals looking to make up the 2012 class and getting this far in the process makes them very likely to do so.

The classes that weve inducted in the past, I?dont know that weve ever not accepted a nominee,?said Ione Athletic Director and booster club member Ryan Rudolf.

The 1978 Cardinals defeated Powder Valley 56-36 in the Class B state semifinals and then beat MacLaren 30-28 in front of the home crowd for the state championship, which was contested in Ione.

The next season the Cardinals again ran into Powder Valley in the semifinals, beating them 28-8, and then travelled to Prospect for the championship.

The Cardinals quieted the Prospect crowd quickly with a 72-6 thrashing for their second straight title.

Also up for induction this year for their contributions to the Ione community on and off the field are Edith Ely Matthews (1925-29), Katherine Lindstrom (1935-39), Bill E. Akers (1959-63) and Dick Snider (1961-73).

Some of the people that weve had in besides athletics and academics are people that have contributed greatly to Ione school,?Rudolf said.

Nominees are accepted by the Cardinal Booster Club Board of Directors from January through March each year, then are voted on by a five-person screening committee.

Those that pass that stage are then voted on by the board of directors with a two-thirds majority required for induction to the hall of fame in the fall.

The list of inductees will be finalized at a meeting later this month.

A?reception will be held at the Ione Legion Hall at 4 p.m. on Sept. 7 and the 2012 class will be introduced at that nights football game when the Cardinals take on Dayville at 7 p.m.

It will be the third class in the hall of fame, which entered its first class in 2009 and did not have a class in 2011.