Accomplishments of 2023 Hall of Fame Class Extend Far Beyond Field, Court and Stage
Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff, NFHS Chief Executive Officer
When the 40th class of the NFHS National High School Hall of Fame is inducted July 1 at the NFHS Summer Meeting in Seattle, Washington, it will be yet another opportunity to celebrate the largest organized group of amateur athletes and activities participants in the world, along with the hundreds of thousands of people serving as coaches, officials and administrators.
While some of the other halls of fame that honor college and professional players and coaches may have more notoriety, the individuals chosen for the National High School Hall of Fame may be in an even more exclusive group.
Since its beginning in 1982, only 185 (of the 518 overall in the Hall of Fame) high school athletes have been selected for this coveted honor – from among the millions, actually hundreds of millions, who have played high school sports in the past 40 years.
Heading the newest group of athletes is Tamika Catchings, one of the top female basketball players at every level of play in our nation’s history. Catchings’ high school career was split between Illinois and Texas, and she won Miss Basketball honors and state championships at both Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, and Duncanville High School in Texas.
Catchings later won an NCAA championship at the University of Tennessee, four gold medals at the Olympics and a WNBA title with the Indiana Fever. But like many athletes before her, success on the court or field in high school was only a part of the reason she was selected for the National High School Hall of Fame.
More than 20 years ago, Catchings started her Catch the Stars Foundation designed to empower Indianapolis-area youth to reach their dreams.
“The thing I’m most proud of is the impact we’ve made through the Foundation,” Catchings said. “Winning championships and medals is nice, but at the end of the day, my face is who I am. To whom much is given, much is expected. Through the Foundation we’ve been able to bless kids, impact lives and help put thousands of kids on the right path. The impact we’re making is far beyond anything I did on the basketball court.”
Another athlete in this year’s class has been a trailblazer for girls wrestling her entire life. Clarissa Chun was the first wrestler to win a girls wrestling state title at Roosevelt High School in Honolulu when she claimed the 98-pound title at the 1998 Hawaii High School Athletic Association state championship.
Today, she continues to blaze the trail for female wrestlers as the first women’s wrestling coach at the University of Iowa – the first school from a Power Five conference to sponsor the sport for women.
Carlos Boozer led Juneau-Douglas High School to two Alaska School Activities Association state basketball championships before winning an NCAA title at Duke University and a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics, and playing in the NBA for 14 years. Despite his accomplishments, Boozer has made time to return to Alaska on several occasions to run youth basketball camps and make an impact on the lives of others.
The other athlete in this year’s class – Maranda Brownson of Oregon – was simply amazing during her four years at Yoncalla High School. From 1998 to 2001 at the Oregon School Activities Association Class 2A State Track Meet, Brownson won all 16 events (the maximum number) in which she competed. She still owns state meet records in the triple jump, 100-meter hurdles and long jump more than 20 years later.
A total of 177 coaches are now a part of the National High School Hall of Fame, and the five coaches in this year’s class have a collective 175 years of leading programs for high school athletes and have registered a whopping 81 state championships.
Heading that group is Sister Lynn Winsor of Xavier College Prep in Phoenix, Arizona. In 48 years as the girls golf coach at Xavier, Winsor has led her teams to 37 state titles and is still going strong at the age of 80.
Sue Butz-Stavin completed her 47th year as field hockey coach at Emmaus High School in Pennsylvania last year and is ranked No. 1 nationally with 1,041 victories, which includes 14 state titles.
Barbara Campbell retired two years ago as the winningest girls volleyball coach in Tennessee history after leading Brentwood High School to 1,765 victories and 16 Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association state titles.
Ted Ginn Sr., football and track coach at Glenville High School in Cleveland, Ohio, is one of the more remarkable coaches in the country. While he has had great success on the field with 240 victories in football and 17 state titles in track and field, his purpose in coaching is truly to change lives.
“My main purpose is not to win games,” Ginn said. “Sport is what we use to teach core values. It’s not magical dust. It’s fundamentals, core values of life . . . love, passion, understanding.”
The other coach in this year’s class is the late Allan Trimble, who won 13 state football titles in only 22 years at Jenks High School in Oklahoma before ALS took his life at the age of 56 in 2019. He spent his final years investing his energy in the Trimble Strong Foundation.
“When you take your last step off the field, you want to know that you’ve done it the right way,” Trimble said. “That you’ve helped others in the program and hopefully had a ripple effect on people in all walks of life.”
In addition to athletes and coaches, administrators and officials play key roles in high school activity programs, and two of the best from the Upper Midwest are a part of the 2023 class.
Dave Carlsrud was an official and administrator in North Dakota for more than 50 years. As chair of the NFHS Wrestling Rules Committee in the early 2000s, Carlsrud was instrumental in the passage of a weight-management rule that helped curb the unhealthy practice of weight-cutting in the sport.
Dave Stead was one of the key leaders in high school sports and activities at the state and national levels during his 30 years as executive director of the Minnesota State High School League. Under Stead’s leadership, the MSHSL became a national leader in starting new activity programs for high school students.
Individuals in the performing arts became eligible for induction in 2003, and Bill Webb of Minnesota is the 16th individual to be included in this area of the Hall of Fame. Webb was one of the most honored band directors in the nation during his 37 years in Minnesota. He retired in 2015 after an outstanding career that included 24 years at Edina High School, where 53 of his 54 bands received superior ratings in Large Band Group contests.
This year’s class of the National High School Hall of Fame will truly be a celebration of why the value of these programs extends far beyond the playing fields and performance halls.
Online link to article: https://www.nfhs.org/articles/accomplishments-of-2023-hall-of-fame-class-extend-far-beyond-field-court-and-stage/
Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff is in her fifth year as chief executive officer of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is the first female to head the national leadership organization for high school athletics and performing arts activities and the sixth full-time executive director of the NFHS. She previously was executive director of the Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference for seven years.
