A meet-and-greet at Gipper’s Sports Grill is fun, but it’s not formal.

An etched plaque, an elaborate presentation and a gathering of dozens of friends, family members, fellow athletes and community leaders?

That makes things real. And timeless.

Five athletes received the area’s highest athletic honor Sunday as the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame inducted its 29th class.

Fred Hall, David Higgins, Gene Higgins, Louis Talarico III and John Tewhey received their official awards Sunday at Lost Valley Ski and Banquet Resort, finalizing the process that brings the hall’s official number of permanently-inducted members to 129.

“One of the things we worry about as a committee is running out of qualified athletes,” A-L Hall of Fame Chairman Bob Stone said. “But they just keep coming, and they just keep getting better.”

The hall of fame, an arm of the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce, also awarded 19 President’s Awards to area coaches and high school and college athletes, based on their achievements at their respective levels of expertise. Five coaches — Anita Murphy, Ron Chicoine and Lynette Morency of Lewiston and Bob Blackman and Kevin Cullen of St. Dom’s — received awards for leading state championship clubs in the past 12 months. Three graduating college seniors — Kasey Boucher of Lewiston (Boston University), Ben Landry of Lewiston (Husson University) and John Squires (Bates College) — also received honors for their achievements in their respective sports. Among the high school athletes so honored were: Abby Blaisdell, Shae Godbout, Mekae Hyde, Jesse Leeman and Rudy Pandora of Lewiston, Frankie Lally, Michael Lucas, Jaclyn Masters and Melissa Paione of Edward Little and Danny Nadeau and Cody Rodrigue of St. Dom’s.

Inductee Fred Hall, honored for a lifetime of sporting achievement, but particularly his prowess in baseball and football, delivered part of his message upon his induction directly to the younger athletes in the crowd.

“This group, everyone here, including the younger athletes, we’re all part of a family now, and I’m going to talk like a father,” Hall said. “Not too long from now, you’ll be done competing. You’ll hopefully all go on, and first and foremost get a job. Then maybe get married, maybe start a family. You’re being recognized for outstanding athletic achievements, you’re the cream of the crop and you don’t have to prove anything to anybody in this room. You’re there. But there’s a reason why you’re there, and it isn’t just talent. It’s what you do with that talent in your life to come. Don’t forget what you’ve got. Your opponent won’t be another team or another individual, your opponent will be adversity in life … Use what got you here: Discipline and commitment, loyalty and respect. That’s how you’ll handle life.”

Hall’s list of accomplishments included a solid playing career in four sports at Lewiston High School and two at Bowdoin College, as well as a successful stint with the Auburn Asas baseball team. Hall has also excelled in tennis, golf and racquetball, among other ventures.

Hall was the first of the five permanent inductees to speak, followed by Gene Higgins, who enters the A-L Hall of Fame with his brother David, who passed away in 2006. Gene and Dave join a third brother, Bill, who was inducted in 2007.

Dave Higgins was a standout athlete at Edward Little High School and at Bates College, and he, too continued to contribute to the Maine sports landscape after college, most notably in his affiliation with Val Halla Golf Club in Cumberland, which he helped conceive and construct, and in the Maine harness racing scene.

Gene Higgins, meanwhile, was hailed as perhaps “the best linebacker ever to don the pads at Edward Little High School.” But it was a touchdown he scored that he remembered fondly Sunday.

“We were playing Lewiston, and Coach (Steve) Grenda had come up with a trick play,” Higgins said. “We had all the back and the linemen line up to the right of the ball, making me the left end. I snapped the ball to the quarterback, and he gave it right back to me. I tucked the ball away and, I couldn’t run very fast anyway, so I was just walking down the field and into the end zone. That was very cool, and we had a lot of fun.”

Talarico spoke with fondness of his teammates and coaches, and the relation the core values he learned as a player to his current endeavors as an investor and as a husband and father.

“I’m very fortunate as to the timing of this honor,” Talarico said. “I’ve had a chance to reflect on the opportunities and the lessons that sports has taught me over the years, and I get to share that now with my family.”

Tewhey, meanwhile, is now only the fourth interior lineman among the 129 members of the A-L Hall of Fame. He made a name for himself blocking for several of Lewiston’s top backs in the late 1950s, as well as kicking the team’s extra points, for which he earned the nickname, “The Toe.”

He credited the work ethic he developed in what he called a hotbed of athletic talent that was Lewiston for his development.

“Three of my high school coaches have been inducted into the hall of fame,” Tewhey said. “Two other coaches who showed up at most practices to give advice to those coaches are also members of the hall of fame. We were well represented.”

The hall of fame also handed out three special awards. The Flashback to Fame team award remembered the 1972 state championship football team from Edward Little. The A-L Sports Hall of Fame Pioneer Award honored Arthur Allison “Allie” Wills Jr., a Bates College athlete in track and field in the 1920s, and the Hon. Thomas E. Delehanty II received the Earl B. Austin Jr. Award for his contributions to the A-L Hall of Fame from its inception.