Nearly 150 former standout prep athletes from across Southwest Washington were honored for their athletic exploits with induction on the Lower Columbia Area All-Century Team during a ceremony Sunday at the Cowlitz County Expo Center.

The ceremony, which was attended by more than 400 inductees and their families, honored living male standouts in football, basketball, baseball, track, swimming and softball between 1923-1999 from area high schools, including R.A. Long, Mark Morris, Kelso, Woodland, Kalama, Toutle Lake, Castle Rock, Toledo, Winlock, Wahkiakum, Naselle and Ilwaco.

Of the more than 400 nominations received for induction for the All-Century Team, none included the names of former area women’s athletes. There has been some discussion about holding a similar event for women next summer.

The event was the brainchild of legendary basketball coach Joe Moses, Kelso barber Bill Ammons, and a committee that included Whitey Nelmark, Gary Earnest, Kirc Roland and Clyde Shadiow. Nominees were submitted for consideration and selected by the committee.

The awards ceremony was held in conjunction with the 95th birthday of Moses, and the 87th birthday of former longtime coach and official Francis “Primo” Brusco.

A Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Paul Laufman, a 1956 R.A. Long grad who also attended Lower Columbia Junior College and Washington State University.

After college, Laufman worked on intercontinental ballistic missiles, airborne and shipborne rockets, satellite launches and manned space flights. In 1995, he co-founded United Paradyne, makers of rocket fuels and life-support systems used in government space launches, including the Space Shuttle.

Laufman retired from day-to-day operations at United Paradyne in 2004, and his name was placed on Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Wall of Honor in 2003.

In addition, special awards were presented to Ammons and Shadiow. Ammons earned his award based on his years of local sports promotion, and Shadiow was honored for his years of archival work of area sports history at The Merk.

Living coaches honored with selection to the All-Century Team were Ed Laulainen (football), Lyle Patterson and Moses (basketball), Fred Kalal and Bob Freund (wrestling), and Joe Stewart (track and cross country).

Here’s a list of the honorees selected to the All-Century Team:

Jim Andrew

Rob Andrew

Don Armstrong

Jeff Bailey

Graham Barr

Tom Bate

Richard Beck

Ryan Bjornsgard

Bud Black

Bruce Blackstone

Gordon Bottenmiller

Don Bowen

Loren Bowen

Primo Brusco

Charles Byers

Hal Calbom

Tom Carmichael

Marv Chamberlain

Tom Chamberlain

Vern Chamberlain

Bill Cheatley

Ed Cheff

Brad Cooper

Vern Coulter

Dwight Cranston

Mike Cranston

Jerry Creasor

Pat Connors

Brian Davis

Bernard Donahue

Gary Earnest

Chris Erdman

Sonny Estes

Leroy Faling

Daniel Fernandez

Larry Fleckenstein

Pat Foley

Jim Forbes

Ty Fotheringill

Kyle Fowler

Matt Fowler

Casey Frandsen

Jim French

Eric Garner

Bob Giles

Ty Gorton

George Graham

Buck Grasser

Terry Gregg

Dexter Griffen

Dick Groce

Denny Grochow

Gary Grumbois

Gene Grumbois

Ken Hagdahl

Wayne Hall

Tom Hansen

Tim Hardie

Bob Harris

Tom Harris

Bruce Hartley

Bill Hedgers

Rob Hippi

Rodney Holland

Wally Holden

Dick Holliday

Mark Hulings

Murray Hyde

Steve Jay

Howard Jessen

Cory Johnson

Steve Johnson

Ross Jorgusen

Shawn Kaber

Tim Kalal

Roger Karnofski

Kenny Larson

Neal Larson

Bill Lehning

Joe Lowe

Andy Mason

Ron May

Dick Medlock

Scott Miller

Terry Miller

Bob Minium

Matt Minium

Bill Moore

Richard Moore

Jack Morehouse

Ed Moses

John Moses

Whitey Nelmark

Leroy Nelson

Jim Nichols

Arnie Nixon

Tim Norton

Dennis Oman

Dick Oxford

Keith Painter

Arnold Pearson

Alan Peterson

Mike Peterson

Mike Polis

Ed Pugel

Rich Reeves

David Ritchie

Lane Ronnebaum

Brian Roden

Steve Rooklidge

Ron Saltis

Ernie Schaffran

Jason Schmidt

Lee Schroeder

George Shermer

Kelly Smith

Jerry Spanner

Kenny Stone

Don Stewart

Dick Stumph

Ken Sugarman

Randy Sundberg

Rick Sweet

Don Taylor

Guy Tow

Joe Trembly

Dewey VanDinter

Jeff Walker

Rally Wallace

Joe Wenaweser

Dan Wheatley

Barry White

Dan White

Vern Whitney

Jack Wicker

Fred Wilson

Chris Wirkkala

Gary Wright

Rod Wright