Hope College men's basketball coach Glenn Van Wieren will be honored by the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame with the organization's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Hope College men's basketball coach Glenn Van Wieren will be honored by the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame with the organization's Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame honors athletes, owners, and coaches from West Michigan who have achieved prominence in their sports on a local, state, or national level.

Originally founded by the Grand Rapids City Commission in 1972, the Sports Hall of Fame was reestablished in 1995 and is now housed on the upper deck of the Van Andel Arena.

Each year, a new group of inductees is selected by the Board of Trustees and honored at the GRSHOF Induction Ceremony. To date, there have been 81 inductees to the Hall of Fame, including former United States President Gerald R. Ford.  This year's induction ceremony will be held Thursday, Aug. 24.

The award to be presented to coach Van Wieren honors the memory of Warren Reynolds, longtime sports director of WOOD-TV who died in 2001.  The award goes beyond recognizing athletic achievement and is a tribute to the recipient's community service.

Van Wieren has guided the fortunes of Hope men's basketball for 29 seasons.  He is among the winningest coaches in NCAA Division III (564-194) and the most successful in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association history with 15 championships.  Four of his teams have advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA championships with the 1996 and 1998 squads placing as national runner-up.

"What is moving to me is to be the recipient of the Warren Reynolds award," said Van Wieren in a Grand Rapids Press interview. "Warren was an idol to me.  He was a professional at everything he did.  He was big in the community, a man of faith and family.  Those are all things that have been very, very important to me."