The Hershey Bears will induct their Hall of Fame Class of 2024 on March 30 this year, a class of four legends in Hershey. The Bears face the Utica Comets that night, and the induction will take place before the 5 PM puck drop.

The inductees include Lou Franceschetti, Michel Harvey, Mike Stothers and Mark French.

Lou Franceschetti

Franceschetti spent portions of five different season in Hershey, from the 1978-79 season until 1983-84. He helped the Bears to their sixth Calder Cup title in 1979-80, his first AHL season. In a 4-2 series with the New Haven Nighthawks, Franceschetti scored two game-winning goals. He also scored six goals and nine assists in the playoff run to the Calder Cup. In his five seasons with Hershey, he accounted for at least 50 points in each season, including 75 (31 goals, 44 assists) in 1982-83. He also led Hershey in regular season games played (347), assists (176) and points (314) during his five-year period. He went on to a 10-year NHL career with the Washington Capitals, Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres. He finished his NHL career with 59 goals and 81 assists.

Michel Harvey

Harvey played seven seasons for Hershey and ranks 15th all-time in points with 394. He earned AHL First All-Star team honors in the Bears’ 1969 Calder Cup championship team. In that season, he scored 41 goals and 52 assists for 93 points. He did this in only 74 games, finishing second in league scoring. In 11 playoff games to the ’69 title, he scored 2 goals and 4 assists in 11 playoff games. Harvey scored 50 or more points in four of his seven seasons, totaling 394 overall points in seven seasons in the Chocolate and White. Harvey finished his hockey career in 1974, then coached two seasons for the Maine Nordiques. Harvey passed in 2017.

Mike Stothers

Stothers played 487 games for the Hershey Bears, ranking 15th in the team history. He is remembered by the team as a “fearless competitor who never back down from the toughest players in the AHL.” He is the team’s all-time leader in penalty minutes with 1,519 minutes. He scored 26 points off of 8 goals and 16 assists in the 1984-85 season, his best offensive year. He also recorded 142 penalty minutes in 59 games that season. He appeared in five playoff runs for Hershey, playing 40 postseason games. He then served as a player/assistant coach in 1991-92, before beginning a full-time coaching career. That led him back to Hershey as an assistant from 1994 to 1996. He has since coached in the OHL, AHL and NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks. He’s currently coaching his fifth season as an assistant coach with the Anaheim Ducks and living with his wife, Judi, in Irvine, California.

Mark French

French was an assistant coach for parts of two seasons in Hershey, including a 2009 Calder Cup championship season. He then took over as head coach in 2009-10 and led Chocolatetown to the East division title and regular season champions with a 60-17-3 record. The 2009-10 then entered the playoffs and beat Bridgeport, Albany, Manchester and Texas en route to Hershey’s 11th Calder Cup title. That team set AHL records for wins, home wins, consecutive home wins and playoff overtime wins. The team also set a Hershey Bears record consecutive wins with 12. French finished his tenure as Bears head coach in 2013, but not before becoming the fastest Bears coach to 100 wins, doing so in just 147 games. He finished with a 180-100-10-23 record as Bears head coach, ranking fifth in wins in Hershey history. He also won 22 playoff games, sixth in team history. In June 2013, he became the head coach for the Medveščak Zagreb in the Kontinental Hockey League. He then went to Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League in June 2014. His latest stop was the Wheeling Nailers, ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins, resigning in April 2021 to reunite with family in Prince Edward Island.