‘”I think it’s pretty cool,” said Greg Merkle, the president of the Greater Buffalo Hall. “I think Ryan is really looking forward to it. At the press conference we had (to announce the class in June), I sat next to him and RiverWorks wasn’t even a thought when he played here and you could tell how he recognized how the area has changed. He was excited to stay here for longer than a day and a half and show his family where he lived off of Elmwood and take them to Niagara Falls. He’s a pretty cool guy, pretty down to earth, quiet guy. It does mean a lot to us. Our board saw all that come out about the other awards and we thought that was pretty cool.”‘