Bohlke, Celeste (McConihe)

 

Celeste (McConihe) Bohlke – (2001)

 

A new chapter in the history of the Lorain Sports Hall of Fame is being added tonight. When Celeste McConihe Bohlke is enshrined, it will mark the first time three generations of one family have been inducted in the Hall’s 32 years of existence. She joins her grandfather, former Lorain High basketball coach Al McConihe (1971); and her father, Tom McConihe (1995), both deceased.

Celeste’s path to her enshrinement began as a pre-teen tennis player and continued through brilliant careers at Lorain High School, the University of Akron, in Lorain County and City Tennis Tournaments and ultimately the national level. She and partner Bruce Thomas, of Solon, were Northeastern Ohio regional champions in the 1987 Association Mixed Doubles national tournament, advancing them to Hilton Head, South Carolina. Victories at Hilton Head advanced them to Indian Wells, California, where they were one of 16 teams to reach the USTA finals.

Before graduating from LHS in 1982, under the guidance of Coach Thurm Riddle, Celeste racked up an astounding 75 victories over her three-year varsity career (a teachers’ strike cut short her sophomore season). In her senior year, she was team captain and Most Valuable Player and was awarded a full tennis scholarship to the University of Akron where she piled up additional laurels as a four-year varsity player for the Zips. She amassed a sensational 29-5 record in her freshman year and was named co-captain and was chosen MVP in her sophomore year. She remained captain in her junior and senior seasons, and was Akron’s No. 1 player in both singles and doubles.

Her local amateur tennis honors included teaming with Bill Morris to win the Advanced Mixed Doubles championship at Oak Hills Country Club in 1979 and the Lorain County Mixed Doubles title in 1981. She then paired with 1987 LSHOF enshrinee Gloria Holtwick to take the ’81 Women’s Advanced Mixed Doubles crown. Celeste and Tanya DiFilippo won the 1982 City Girls 18 Doubles title, then in 1983 they took the Ladies Doubles championship. Additionally, Celeste won the 1983 Lorain County and Lorain City Women’s Advanced Singles crowns.

Celeste, now 37, resides in Mayfield Heights with her 3-year-old son Brad. She is an account manager at Health Data Services in Highland Heights.