JULIE WONDERS

IRON MOUNTAIN — The 2020 induction class of Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame will be installed Sunday evening at the Island Resort and Casino in Harris. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 10 individuals that will be inducted, will have waited for over two years since their selection, which was in late July 2019.

Former Northern Michigan University basketball standout Julie (Heldt) Wonders of Iron Mountain is on of the 10 inductees that will be enshrined. The UPSHOF executive committee didn’t select a 2021 induction class.

Wonders, a native of Lawrence in the Lower Peninsula, came to Northern Michigan after two years at Lake Michigan College where she was All-Conference, All-State and All-Region both seasons and set single-season (649 points) and career (1,103 points) scoring records.

“I am so honored to be inducted into the U.P. Sports HOF. After playing two years of Jr. College basketball at Lake Michigan College I was looking for the right fit and a new challenge for my last two years,” Wonders said via email on Friday.

“From the moment I stepped off the plane on my recruiting visit, the U.P. felt right to me — I had other visits scheduled but never went, NMU was home. Once I got to Marquette in 1991, I never left the U.P. To be selected to the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame is a thrill because I am an incredibly proud Yooper.”

Also on Sunday evening, four recent high school graduates will also receive the first of their four $500 scholarships from the UPSHF. The recipients include Bryant Maki of Escanaba, Dante Basanese of Iron Mountain, Elise Besonen of Ewen-Trout Creek and Melanie Wenzel of Kingsford.