Donnie Keener

 

Five individuals will be inducted into the Wheeler Hall of Fame next weekend, including a former Wildcat state champion golfer who played professionally on the PGA Tour and in Europe.

The inductees will be honored between games of Wheeler’s varsity basketball home doubleheader against East Coweta next Saturday, Jan. 27, and the official ceremony takes place at 3:45 p.m. in the school orchestra room.

The following information and photos were supplied by Wheeler:

Bill Bergin, Class of 1977

Bergin played on Wheeler’s 1976 state championship team and starred at Auburn University. He played on the PGA and European pro tours, and competed in three U.S. Opens and two British Opens, in the latter finishing in a tie for 14th in 1984 at St. Andrews. Bergin runs Bergin Golf Designs in Atlanta and last year was selected as one of the Top 10 Most Innovative People in Golf by Golf Inc.

She was a four-year swimming and diving letterwinner at Wheeler, finishing third in the Georgia state high school diving meet in 1988 and and second in 1989. She competed in college at Florida and the University of Georgia, and earned an interior design degree from Georgia State. She is an interior designer and YMCA personal trainer and lives in Kansas City, Mo., with her husband Greg Burns, also a Wheeler graduate, and their four children.

Margarita was on the Wheeler swimming and diving team and was first in the Georgia high school diving meet in 1983 and 1984. She earned an athletic scholarship at the University of Georgia finishing second in the one-meter springboard event at the SEC championships and third in the three-meter event in 1988. She is married to Wheeler alumnus Jeff Nickell and they have two children. She taught at Tritt Elementary School and currently teaches at Mill Creek Elementary in Woodstock.

Donnie Keener, Class of 1975

At Wheeler, Keener played basketball and baseball, hitting .418 with seven home runs, 22 RBIs and 10 doubles in his senior season in 1975, when the Wildcats won the state championship. He played baseball at Georgia Tech and Chipola Junior College, then transferred and played baseball at UGA. He was drafted by the Seattle Mariners and was invited to spring by the St. Louis Cardinals. Keener owns a landscape construction company and he and his wife have five adult children.

Gordon Pritz, Wrestling Coach

Pritz was Wheeler’s wrestling coach from 1980 to 1985 before going to McEachern, and also was a football assistant coach for the Wildcats. Thirteen of his Wheeler wrestlers placed in the top four at the state meet, and four became state champions. Pritz also coached Wheeler’s only state wrestling title team in 1985. He was 192-32 in his overall coaching career before becoming a school administrator in Cobb County, Marietta and Paulding County. Pritz is a retired superintendent of schools in Douglas County and with his wife has four grown sons.

The Wheeler Hall of Fame was created in 2008, and inductees include Corky Kell (football coach), Shareef Abdur-Rahim (NBA player and executive), Robby Ginepri (pro tennis), Randy Edwards (Alabama football and NFL Seattle Seahawks), Theresa Gernatt (Georgia Tech basketball), David McDonald (baseball coach), Jeremy Hermida (Major League Baseball), Byron Capers (FSU football, NFL, CFL) and Krista Kilburn (basketball coach).

Here’s more about the other inductees in the Wheeler Hall of Fame.