Nashua’s Fourth of July celebration is about more than independence and fireworks. It’s also a chance to shine the spotlight on the newest inductees to the Holman Stadium Sports Legends Hall of Fame.

Capping the pre-fireworks program, the Lions Club’s Holman Stadium Sports Legends Hall of Fame induction of Ed, Adolph (Butch), Jim, Vito and John Kissell; the late Ray Oban, a former Boston Red Sox scout and the first baseball and pitching coach at Bishop Guertin; and broadcaster Ed Lecius, who joins his father, Edward F. Lecius, who was an inaugural inductee into the Hall.

The 8 p.m. Hall of Fame ceremony will be followed by an American Citizenship Ceremony at 8:15, a performance by the Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps at 8:30 and fireworks at dusk.

If there was a professional football family hall of fame, the Kissell brothers would certainly be among the inductees. All but Ed played football for the Nashua Royal Blue, because, Ed was too small to play high school football back in the 1940s.

Despite the pleas of their mother, Tekla, the five brothers were all drafted into the ranks of professional football. Of the five boys, John was the most successful – drafted by the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams in 1947 he was considered a top-notch defender. In 1948, he joined the All-America Football Conference with Buffalo and when they folded he was sold to the Cleveland Browns. Meanwhile, Ed was drafted in 1952 by the Pittsburg Steelers, whileAdolph went to the Chicago Bears in 1942, Vito went to the Baltimore Colts in 1949 and Jim ended up with the New York football Giants.

Oban was one of the first baseball players from Nashua High School to play in the new Holman Stadium, the year it was completed. And from that point forward he was a familiar face at the stadium, no matter what age level was playing there.

The Army veteran was one of the city’s first Little League coaches, coached the James E. Coffey Post American Legion team, Daniel Webster College, was the first baseball coach at Bishop Guertin. Nashua Babe Ruth’s Minor League program is named after Oban.

Since 1946, the mere mention of the name Ed Lecius immediately makes one think of Nashua area youth and high school sports. Mentored by his father, Ed Sr., an inaugural inductee into the Holman in 2009 for his 30 years of broadcasting, the younger Lecius worked side-by-side with his dad at WSMN until his senior’s passing in 1976. The younger Lecius was chair of the Park-Rec Advisory Commission that helped spearhead a long over-due renovation of Holman Stadium and worked closely with then-Mayor Maurice Arel to bring professional baseball back to the city via the Nashua Angels. Lecius still dabbles in radio these days, broadcasting all of the Nashua North-South Turkey Bowls.

Since the Nashua Lions took over the program, the recipients include:

2015 – Bill Neville, Al Neville and Frank Stawasz.

2014 – Dick Belanger and Fred Lajoie.

2013 – Joe Andruskevich and Greg Andruskevich.

2012 – Frank Teas and Paul Bellavance.

2011 – Ken Parady and Mike Shalhoup.

2010 – Greg Landry, Steve Norris and Dick Piwowarski.

Note: The Hall of Fame was started by the American Defenders of the Can-Am League. The inaugural inductees were George "Birdie" Tebbetts, Buzz Harvey, Tony Marandos, Fran Tate and Edward Lecius Sr.