BUTLER TWP - Take me out to the ballgame? Forget that.

Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame inductees Bill Bauder, Jeff Messer, Dave Florie and Curt Schnur have been running the ballgame for years.

The four have combined for 81 years of coaching either high school, college or Eagle County League baseball. They spent years beyond that playing the game.

Longtime girls basketball coach Martha Altmire, Butler basketball standout Bob Quigley and Golden Tornado three-sport standout Troy Nunes also were inducted at the 44th annual banquet Saturday night at the Days Inn.

The Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame now has 318 members.

"Bill helped get the Eagle County League together," said Pine-Richland football coach Clair Altemus, who played for Bauder's Middle Lancaster team. "It was a tremendous league, filled with ex-major leaguers, collegiate players and great American Legion players.

"Some of the things Bill showed me as an 18-year-old baseball player, I use today while coaching at Pine-Richland."

The late Bauder was a player, coach and/or Eagle County League official from 1947-75.

"Bill had 25 major league scouts who knew him on a first-name basis," Altemus said. "The talent in the league was that good. Bill paid for the league's umpires, paid for baseballs everything. He once got old Boston Red Sox uniforms donated to the league.

"He was a special character who loved baseball. Young men playing baseball around here today owe a lot to Bill Bauder."

Florie, Messer and Schnur are still coaching today.

"My dad was a true baseball nut," Florie said. "He was the guy who invented the term 'tough love.' He coached a very disciplined, tough style of baseball. ... He would never be able to coach in this era.

"Baseball was the entire life in our house. My mom was a baseball widow, but she was a happy widow, going to all of our games."

Florie won 220 games and a state title in 16 years of coaching at Seneca Valley. He is in his fourth year of coaching at Butler.

"As a coach, you can only ride the horse as far as it will let you go. I rode a lot of good horses," Florie said.

Messer won his 750th game at Slippery Rock University this season. He began his coaching career at Westfield (Mass.) College in 1983 before winding up at The Rock.

"Dave Jauss made $500 a year coaching at Westfield and I made $250," Messer said. "He's now bench coach of the Baltimore Orioles now and I'm at Slippery Rock.

"Massachusetts was my home and I have a lot of fond memories there. But Slippery Rock is my home now and I've had a great ride here. We've had opportunities to move on before, but we've never pulled that string.

"I still get that feeling in my gut every day when it's game day. I get excited. I want to coach," Messer added.

Schnur was a stellar pitcher at Butler High, the University of Delaware and remains a standout for Saxonburg of the Eagle County League.

He is in his 10th year as Knoch's varsity baseball coach.

"The time and dedication coaches put in is often unnoticed and unappreciated," Schnur said. "I've learned to appreciate the time coaches gave me and things they taught me.

"From my grandfather George Schnur, to Little League coach Bob Schnur, Harry Leyland at Butler Catholic, Ron Zawrotuk at Butler, my Delaware coaches, Dan Cunningham at Saxonburg I thank all of them.

"The best coach I've ever had, in baseball and in life, is my father Dess Schnur. He's coached me from the time I was born and he's still coaching me now," Schnur added.

Nunes, a standout high school quarterback who went on to play at Syracuse University, earned 10 varsity letters as a football, basketball and track athlete with the Golden Tornado.

"Everything I did in sports was because someone else was making a sacrifice," Nunes said. "Phil McCarren, Sam Albert, George Abraham, Mark Farabee, Joe Savannah all were big parts of my life.

"I always looked up to my father (Tim Nunes). He taught me football, basketball and baseball at such a young age. I'm as proud to be his son as he is to be my father."

Tim Nunes was inducted into the Hall in 1994.

A Moniteau graduate, Altmire won 484 games as the first girls basketball coach at Olean (N.Y.) High School.

"I'm grateful for the love, honor and support I've received from my family and the dedicated work from my assistant coaches," she said. "Then there are the athletes I coached.

"I'm here today because of their commitment of pride, tradition, dedication and hard work. That was the foundation of our program and the core of values I learned growing up in Butler County."

Quigley scored 898 points as a Butler boys basketball player, a record that stood for 27 years. His uncle, former Philadelphia 76er Billy Kummer, was inducted into the Hall in 1968.

Quigley's brother, Bill, was inducted in 1998.

"I broke Bill Saul's scoring record in basketball and played against Joe Namath in football and basketball," Quigley said. "But this I'll cherish this experience for years to come."