Impact
Records
Bill Stamper
Oak Ridge High School
Impact Statement
“He was a great coach for me, and a lot of other athletes who ran under him can say the same thing. He meant so much for Oak Ridge.” -Odeika Bent, Oak Ridge Coach
Biography
Stamper, 54, has coached the girls’ track and field team at Oak Ridge since 1979, and the girls’ cross country team since 1986. He also coached the boys’ cross country team from 1979-1996. Stamper’s girls’ track and field teams have won nine state championships, including three straight in Class 3A from 2006-08, and are five-time state runners-up.
This year’s team finished 10th. He has coached 19 All-American athletes, 20 state champion athletes, and 115 regional champions. Forty of his athletes have received college scholarships. He served as the Florida Athletic Coaches Association (FACA) district track & field chair for 13 years and was a member of the FHSAA Track and Field Advisory Committee.
He is a member of the FACA and Florida Track and Field Halls of Fame and is a three-time finalist for NHSACA National Coach of the Year. Stamper will be inducted into the Florida High School Athletic Hall of Fame this year.
Stamper retired from coaching in 2010.
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Records
Professional Achievements
Warren Central High School
“Coach Mac truly has a big heart and has formed a special bond with his coaches and student athletes over the years. -Marques Clayton, WCHS’ Athletic Dicrector
“Coach Mac truly has a big heart and has formed a special bond with his coaches and student athletes over the years. -Marques Clayton, WCHS’ Athletic Dicrector
Dennis McNulty
Warren Central High School
Impact Statement
“Coach Mac truly has a big heart and has formed a special bond with his coaches and student athletes over the years. -Marques Clayton, WCHS’ Athletic Dicrector
Biography
McNulty has been coaching for 33 years and he is completing his 23rd season at Warren Central.
His teams have been back-to-back state champions twice – in 1995 and 1996 and 2006 and 2007. He added a state runner-up finish in 2005 and a third-place finish in 2008, and his teams have finished in the state’s top 10 10 times. His teams also were regional and sectional champions in 1995, 1996, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Nine of his athletes have won state titles and six have recorded runner-up finishes. McNulty has also coached five relay teams to state titles. An 11-time Indiana Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches (IATCCC) Coach of the Year nominee, McNulty earned Coach of the Year honors in all four of his championship seasons.
He was inducted into the IATCCC Hall of Fame in 2006. The National Federation named him its District 4 Coach of the Year both years and its national Coach of the Year in 2008. McNulty also was a finalist for National High School Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year honors in 2008.
Following the 2012 season McNutly hung up his coaching sneakers. He leaves a legacy behind at Warren Central.
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Articles
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Professional Achievements
Haddonfield Memorial High School
“We try to get them to enjoy the sport. One of our goals is to get them involved as life-long tennis players.”
-Jeff Holman
“We try to get them to enjoy the sport. One of our goals is to get them involved as life-long tennis players.”
-Jeff Holman
Jeff Holman
Haddonfield Memorial High School
Impact Statement
“We try to get them to enjoy the sport. One of our goals is to get them involved as life-long tennis players.”
-Jeff Holman
Biography
In 33 seasons as Haddonfield’s girls’ tennis coach and 31 at the helm of the boys’ team, Holman has coached more than 2,000 matches and has won a national-record 1,730 of them. That includes a record of 871-120 as girls’ coach. His program regularly attracts about 120 boys and girls players each year. Holman’s traveling team, made up of varsity and JV players, includes 27 girls, along with another 30 or so involved in the program’s intramural league, which meets up to three times per week and often sends girls to varsity and junior varsity matches.
Last fall Haddonfield finished 30-3 and won the Colonial Conference, Group 2 South Jersey and Group 2 state championships, advancing to the Tournament of Champions semifinals. His team won the inaugural Tournament of Champions crown in 1980. Holman, whose teams have won 30 conference titles, 27 sectional crowns and 14 state group championships, was named the state’s Girls’ Tennis Coach of the Year this season by the Newark Star-Ledger. He was inducted into the Camden County Sports Hall of Fame this year.
Since being honored, Holman has continued to lead Haddonfield to success on and off the tennis courts. In 2014 Holman hit win 1,000 for his boy’s teams. Through 2019 Holman boasts 1,169 Girls’ wins and 1,146 Boys’ victories. Collectively, Holman’s teams have won 30 NJISAA State Championships. Both teams have won 41 Colonial Conference titles.
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Articles
Records
Professional Achievements
Personal Honors
Greenwich High School
“I absolutely love coaching,” -Connie Jones
“I absolutely love coaching,” -Connie Jones
Connie Jones
Greenwich High School
Impact Statement
“I absolutely love coaching,” -Connie Jones
Biography
In 1997, Jones’ first year at Greenwich, the Cardinals were undefeated and won the state and Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC) championships. Thus began a dynasty. Jones has taken a program that included approximately 35 players in her first season to 76 this season on four levels.
Greenwich now has won nine FCIAC titles, including seven in a row, and six Class LL state crowns, including the last five straight. The Cardinals (16-1, 13-0 this season) are 142-9 since 2002 and 235-34 overall under Jones. She was named Boys’ Tennis Coach of the Year by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association last season.
A letterwinner in field hockey, basketball, tennis and lacrosse as a high school athlete, Jones has won nine United States Tennis Association doubles titles and has captured 11 American Platform Tennis Association national titles. She is a tennis pro at Sound Shore Indoor Tennis Club in Port Chester, N.Y. and a platform tennis pro at Roxbury Swim and Tennis Club in Stamford.
Over the course of her career her teams won 10 Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference championships. Her teams also won seven Class LL titles.
In 2018 Jones won her 16th APTA,( American Platform Tennis Association), national title. This is her fourth straight title.
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Articles
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Professional Achievements
Personal Honors
The Woodlands High School
“That’s what I was put here on this earth to do — to help as many people as I can through the sport of swimming.” -Kent Kirchner
“That’s what I was put here on this earth to do — to help as many people as I can through the sport of swimming.” -Kent Kirchner
Kent Kirchner
The Woodlands High School
Impact Statement
“That’s what I was put here on this earth to do — to help as many people as I can through the sport of swimming.” -Kent Kirchner
Biography
Kirchner has been a Coach of the Year award winner both at the high school and college levels. His boys’ and girls’ teams at The Woodlands have combined to win four Class 5A state team titles. This year his girls team swept the district, regional and state championships, set a state record in the 200-yard freestyle relay, and set school records in eight of 12 events during the season.
The Texas Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (TISCA) voted him back-to-back Girls’ Coach of the Year in 2008 and 2009, and he is a three-time TISCA Coach of the Year. Kirchner also was the Summit League Coach of the Year at Southwest Missouri State University in 1982-83. His boys’ and girls’ teams finished No. 1 in the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (NISCA) dual meet national rankings, and 112 of his swimmers have become NISCA All-Americans.
He holds the American Swimming Coaches Associations Level V Coaches Rating, which less than 5 per cent of U.S. swimming coaches attain. A member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team, Kirchner, a 1975 Cleveland State University graduate, was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1997.
Since being honored, Kirchner coached The Woodlands’ swim team until his retirement in 2017. Kirchner retired on a high note after the girls’ team won another State Championship.
Kirchner could only stay away from the pool for so long. As of January of 2019 he is back involved with SwimLabs, a swim school for all levels of swimmers.
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Videos
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Professional Achievements
Personal Honors
Zeeland West High School
“The fact that I was able to hang in there for 40 years and have that chance to make a difference in kids lives was what was really important.” -Mike Torrey
“The fact that I was able to hang in there for 40 years and have that chance to make a difference in kids lives was what was really important.” -Mike Torrey
Mike Torrey
Zeeland West High School
Impact Statement
“The fact that I was able to hang in there for 40 years and have that chance to make a difference in kids lives was what was really important.” -Mike Torrey
Biography
Torrey just completed his 30th season as coach of Zeeland’s boys’ and girls’ swimming teams (the teams remained combined after a second high school was added six years ago).
This year his boys’ team posted a perfect 9-0 record and won the Division 2 state championship, the first for the boys’ team since they took back-to-back Class B-C-D titles in 1990 and 1991. His boys’ and girls’ teams swept the state meet in both seasons. Competing in large-school Division 1, his boys’ teams were state runners-up in 2005 and 2007.
Torrey’s girls’ teams dominated the Class B-C-D meet from 1987-94, winning six state titles during that span, and also have posted six state runner-up finishes.
In 1992 Torrey was the recipient of the Matt Mann Award, the highest award given by the Michigan Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (MISCA) for continued leadership, contributions, and service to Michigan high school swimming. He was voted the Girls Coach of the Year by MISCA in 2003 and the Zone 5 Boys Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2008.
Since being honored in 2009, Torrey continued to coach his Dux until his retirement after the 2013 season. His teams claimed a staggering 39 conference championships over his 40 years. He retires with a career dual meet record of 651-190-4. The girls’ teams won six state titles and were the runner up six times. The boys’ teams also claimed three championships and 3 second place finishes.
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Records
Professional Achievements
Personal Honors
Waubonsie Valley High School
Bergstrom has led Waubonsie Valley to three ILHS State Championships and holds over 300 career wins over her 20 year career.
Bergstrom has led Waubonsie Valley to three ILHS State Championships and holds over 300 career wins over her 20 year career.
Julie Bergstrom
Waubonsie Valley High School
Impact Statement
Bergstrom has led Waubonsie Valley to three ILHS State Championships and holds over 300 career wins over her 20 year career.
Biography
Prior to 2007 only three teams in the history of Illinois high school girls’ soccer had completed a season undefeated. Under Bergstrom’s direction, Waubonsie Valley accomplished the feat in back-to-back seasons. The Warriors finished the 2007 spring season with a 30-0-1 record and won their first state championship, earning the No. 1 ranking in the final 2007 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas spring national poll. The 30 victories matched the state single-season record and Bergstrom was voted the NSCAA/adidas National Coach of the Year in Girls Division 1.
Last spring the Warriors finished 26-0-1 while repeating as state and spring national champions. This spring, despite the graduation of eight starters from a year ago, the loss of its best player to a knee injury and the end of a 59-match streak without a loss, Waubonsie Valley was 13-3 at press time and ranked No. 1 among Chicago-area teams by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Now in her ninth season, Bergstrom’s career record heading into the postseason stands at 163-42-14. A standout goalkeeper at Northern Illinois University, she still owns a share of the school record for shutouts, posting eight in 1997.
Since being honored, Bergstrom continues to lead Waubonsie Valley. She is now in her 20th year at the helm. In addition, she is the assistant coach for the boys’ team. She has a career record of 332-89-35.
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Videos
Records
St. Thomas Aquinas High School
“You’ve got to be a little bit lucky because soccer itself, you talk about one sport where you can lose when you might be the better team.” -Craig Ewing
“You’ve got to be a little bit lucky because soccer itself, you talk about one sport where you can lose when you might be the better team.” -Craig Ewing
Craig Ewing
St. Thomas Aquinas High School
Impact Statement
“You’ve got to be a little bit lucky because soccer itself, you talk about one sport where you can lose when you might be the better team.” -Craig Ewing
Biography
Ewing wasn’t introduced to the sport until serving in Guatemala with the Peace Corps at the age of 23, but he has become an institution as coach of St. Thomas Aquinas’ boys and girls soccer teams since the school opened its doors in 1988.
A third-place finish by his boys’ team in 1991 started a run that would see his teams win 12 state titles, including the last six in succession. His teams have won titles in Class 5A the past two years after four straight titles in big-school Class 6A. He was named NFHS Boys Soccer Coach of the Year in 2000.
Ewing also has been honored for his girls’ soccer teams, having been recognized as National High School Private/Parochial Coach of the Year by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America in 2005. His girls’ teams have won nine state titles, including four in a row from 1993-96 and three straight from 2005-07. This year’s team finished third in state. His girls’ teams have an all-time record of 574-166-33, and his boys’ teams also have over 500 wins.
Since being honored in 2009, Ewing continues to lead both the boys’ and girls’ teams with much success.
His boys’ team won another two titles in 2010 and 2013. The girls’ team won seven consecutive championships from 2010 until 2016. He boasts over 900 career wins between the two teams.
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Professional Achievements
Caledonia High School
Van Den Boom led Caledonia to 7 state team titles over his 35 year career.
Van Den Boom led Caledonia to 7 state team titles over his 35 year career.
Ken Van Den Boom
Caledonia High School
Impact Statement
Van Den Boom led Caledonia to 7 state team titles over his 35 year career.
Biography
When Van Den Boom began teaching at Caledonia in 1968 there was no interscholastic competition for girls. When he became a junior high boys’ golf coach four years later he encouraged some girls to try the sport as well. Five years later, Minnesota held its first girls’ golf state tournament – and the Caledonia/Spring Grove High co-op team has been an integral part of the sport ever since.
Through the 2005 season his career record stood at 941-66. That season Van Den Boom coached Caledonia/Spring Grove to its sixth state title, the second most in the history of Minnesota girls’ golf. He also has coached five runner-up teams and five third place teams and his teams have competed in the state tournament 22 times. Caledonia also has won 29 conference titles.
This year’s team owns an 8-0 record, with the wins coming by an average of 37 strokes. Van Den Boom has been named Section 1A Coach of the Year 16 times, and the Minnesota Golf Coaches Association (MGCA) named him the state’s Coach of the Year in 1995. He was inducted into the MGCA Hall of Fame in 2005.
Van Den Boom retired after the 2009 season after 35 years. His teams has reached the state tournament 23 times over the duration of his career with 7 winning the state tournament. He had another five second place finishes and five third place finishes.
Photos
Community Service
In 2017, Ken Van Den Boom restored portions of old tennis courts in Caledonia to bring a new sport called pickle ball.
Records
Professional Achievements
Groose Ile High School
“I really enjoy being with the kids. And they listen well and they pay attention and to see them improve is a great feeling.” -Jim Bennett
“I really enjoy being with the kids. And they listen well and they pay attention and to see them improve is a great feeling.” -Jim Bennett
Jim Bennett
Groose Ile High School
Impact Statement
“I really enjoy being with the kids. And they listen well and they pay attention and to see them improve is a great feeling.” -Jim Bennett
Biography
Bennett retired following the 2004 season after 30 seasons as the boys’ golf coach at Grosse Ile. That year his team finished sixth in the Division 3 state tournament and he coached an individual state champion. That followed on the heels of an incredible six-year run that saw the Red Devils win five state titles in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003 – and a second-place finish in 2001.
In 2007 Bennett returned to coaching as head coach of Grosse Ile’s girls’ team, for which he had served as an assistant coach for seven seasons, and led the Red Devils to a 12th-place finish in the state tournament that year.
A past president of the Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association (MIGCA), Bennett was the organization’s Division 3 Coach of the Year in 1998 and its Region 3 Coach of the Year in 2003, and was inducted into the MICGA Hall of Fame in 2005. He is a finalist for the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year this year.
In 2016 Bennett was inducted to the National High School Athletic Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame.
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Professional Achievements
Dutch Fork High School
“Winning at this level is all about team performance, not individual finishes.” -Catherine Lempesis on performing at the State Championships
“Winning at this level is all about team performance, not individual finishes.” -Catherine Lempesis on performing at the State Championships
Cathrine Lempesis
Dutch Fork High School
Impact Statement
“Winning at this level is all about team performance, not individual finishes.” -Catherine Lempesis on performing at the State Championships
Biography
Lempesis ended an eight-year retirement from coaching when she came to Dutch Fork in 2005, with her 2008 team winning a regional championship in cross country. From 1978 to 1997 Lempesis became a cross country and track and field coaching legend at three Columbia high schools – Richland Northeast High, Spring Valley High and Ridge View High.
Her Richland Northeast cross country teams were state runners-up three straight years. Her teams at Spring Valley won a record nine consecutive state track and field championships (1986-94) and six straight cross country titles over that span. Her Ridge View teams won the 1997 state cross country and the 1997 and 1998 state track and field titles.
In the early 1990s Lempesis coached Monique Hennagan, a gold medalist at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. She was been inducted into the Road Runners Hall of Fame and the South Carolina Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame in 1993, and will be inducted into the NFHS Hall of Fame this year.
After being honored in 2009, Lempesis move to Lexington High School. Her cross country team finished second in 2011. Lexington came back the following year and claimed the AAAA South Carolina State Championships. Lempesis retired at the end of the 2012 season as a true South Carolina coaching legend.
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Professional Achievements
Lawrence Central High School
Holman has produced success in both the high school stage and college over the course of his storied career.
Holman has produced success in both the high school stage and college over the course of his storied career.
Mike Holman
Lawrence Central High School
Impact Statement
Holman has produced success in both the high school stage and college over the course of his storied career.
Biography
Holman has coached boys’ and girls’ cross country for 28 seasons and boys’ track and field for 30 seasons and is completing his 20th season at Lawrence Central. He is the only coach in Indiana history to have coached an individual state cross country champion at two different schools – Matt Grady at Muncie Northside High in 1982 and Nick Middleton at Lawrence Central in 1991.
Two of his teams have been state runners-up – Muncie Northside in 1979 and Lawrence Central in 2006. His girls’ team finished third in state and his boys’ team finished sixth this year. His boys’ track and field teams won state titles in 1998 and 2005, and the 1998 title was the school’s first in any sport in its 70-year history. His 2007 team finished third in state and last year’s team seventh. The Indiana Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches (IATCCC) has named him its Coach of the Year three times, and he was inducted into the IATCCC Hall of Fame in 2006.
After being honored, Holman continued to lead Lawrence Central for another six years. Holman coached two state championship teams and four teams finishing as state runners-up. Overall, his teams won 20 conference championships in track and three in cross country.
Holman moved on to coach for the 2011-2012 season at the University of Indianapolis. At the conclusion of the stint Holman was hired as the Head Coach of the Men’s and Women’s Cross Country team, as well as the Men’s and Women’s Track & Field teams at Marian University in Indianapolis in July of 2012.
In his seven seasons, Holman’s teams have broken school records and continued his success at a new level. In 2016 Holman was named the NAIA Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year. His men’s cross country and track programs were named the second-best program in the country by the USTFCCCA.
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Professional Achievements
Sacred Heart Cathedral High School
Harrigan has coached his teams to 4 CIF State Championships and complied over 700 wins throughout his career.
Harrigan has coached his teams to 4 CIF State Championships and complied over 700 wins throughout his career.
Brian Harrigan
Sacred Heart Cathedral High School
Impact Statement
Harrigan has coached his teams to 4 CIF State Championships and complied over 700 wins throughout his career.
Biography
Harrigan has been coaching for 28 years, the last 19 at Sacred Heart Cathedral. He guided the Irish to three consecutive California state championships, one in Division 4 and two in Division 3 from 2006-08. His 2008 team finished with a 33-0 record and the No. 1 spot in the final USA Today Super 25 girls’ basketball rankings. During that run the Irish compiled a 61-game winning streak that lasted parts of three seasons.
Last year’s performance earned Harrigan a pair of national awards. He was named Coach of the Year by USA Today, and the Atlanta Tipoff Club named him the recipient of the inaugural Naismith Award as high school Coach of the Year. Harrigan shared that award with Bob Hurley of Jersey City (N.J.) St. Anthony High, the NHSCA National Boys Basketball Coach of the Year in 2007.
This year’s Sacred Heart team lost on a buzzer-beater in the North Region finals but still finished 28-2 and No. 24 in the USA Today Super 25. He owns a career record of 607-174.
Since being honored, Harrigan led his team until he stepped down in 2009. In 2011 Harrigan resumed coaching at Mountain View St. Francis and remained there until 2017.
He boasts a career record of 703-241. He is currently the assistant coach at San Francisco University High School.
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Professional Achievements
Personal Honors
Archbishop Molloy High school
“I like working with kids this age. You have more effect on them than you do at other ages.”
-Jack Curran
“I like working with kids this age. You have more effect on them than you do at other ages.”
-Jack Curran
Jack Curran
Archbishop Molloy High school
Impact Statement
“I like working with kids this age. You have more effect on them than you do at other ages.”
-Jack Curran
Biography
Curran, 78, just finished his 51st year at Archbishop Molloy where he established Hall of Fame coaching credentials in two sports, boys’ basketball and baseball. After succeeding Lou Carnesecca, who went on to cement his own Hall of Fame career as head coach at St. John’s University, as head coach in 1958, Curran became New York’s all-time leading winner with more than 900 victories. His teams captured five Catholic League city titles. Eight of his players became collegiate All-Americans, five played professionally and over 500 received college scholarships. His baseball teams have won over 1,600 games and 17 city titles.
In 1966 Curran coached Molloy baseball to 68 consecutive victories, a national record that stood for 39 years. Curran is the only coach to be named National Coach of the Year in two different sports: baseball (1988) and boys’ basketball (1990).
The Catholic High School Athletic Association Coach of the Year 22 times in basketball and 25 times in baseball, Curran has been inducted into nine Halls of Fame. In 2007 Curran was the inaugural recipient of the Morgan Wootten Award for basketball coaching excellence.
Curran continued to coach both basketball and baseball until the end of his career. Curran passed away March 14, 2013 as a basketball and baseball legend.
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Articles
Videos
Records
Professional Achievements
Personal Honors
Central Dauphin High School
“You just have to wrestle with some heart tonight and let the chips fall where they may.”
-Jeff Sweigard’s philosophy
“You just have to wrestle with some heart tonight and let the chips fall where they may.”
-Jeff Sweigard’s philosophy
Jeff Sweigard
Central Dauphin High School
Impact Statement
“You just have to wrestle with some heart tonight and let the chips fall where they may.”
-Jeff Sweigard’s philosophy
Biography
Sweigard coached 11 years in the Susquehanna Township school district, earning District 3 Coach of the Year honors in 1989. He has been Central Dauphin’s head coach the past 15 seasons. His teams have won 10 Mid-Penn Conference titles, seven District 3 titles and eight sectional titles. Central Dauphin won state titles in AAA, perhaps the nation’s toughest wrestling class, the past three seasons.
The Rams took the individual team championship in 2007, then doubled up by winning both dual and individual state team titles in 2008 and 2009. Sweigard has coached 58 sectional champions, 22 district champions, 55 state qualifiers, 39 state placewinners and six state champions.
A five-time District 3 Coach of the Year, including each of the past three seasons, Sweigard also was selected as the Pennsylvania Coach of the Year in 2008 and 2009 and also was named National High School Coach of the Year by the National Wrestling Coaches Association this season.
Sweigard is still at the helm of Central Dauphin since being honored in 2009. His teams have made 15 appearances at the Dual State Championships from 1999 until 2020. His teams won another two titles in 2010 and 2011. The Rams came in second place in 2013. In addition, Swiegard coached five individual State Champions from 2009 until 2019.
Sweigard captured win number 500 on January 2, 2020 with a shutout, 75-0, over Central Dauphin East.
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Professional Achievements
Wyoming Seminary Upper School
“When you reach a milestone, it’s really because of your kids. It really doesn’t have a whole lot to do with you.”
-Karen Klassner
“When you reach a milestone, it’s really because of your kids. It really doesn’t have a whole lot to do with you.”
-Karen Klassner
Karen Klassner
Wyoming Seminary Upper School
Impact Statement
“When you reach a milestone, it’s really because of your kids. It really doesn’t have a whole lot to do with you.”
-Karen Klassner
Biography
Klassner became Wyoming Seminary’s head coach in 1972. Her team posted a 23-1 record and won its third Class 2A state championship last fall. She also has guided the Knights to five district titles, eight league titles and 22 district playoff appearances since the school joined the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association in 1985.
Her career record 503-129-42 and she is a seven-time Coach of the Year. The school’s field hockey field is named Klassner Field in her honor. Klassner chaired for the National Field Hockey Coaches Association High School All-America selection committee from 1998-2002 and is president of the state coaches association and chair of its All-State selection committee. Named the Developmental Coach of the Year by the U.S. Field Hockey Association in 2006, Klassner also has coached swimming, basketball and softball at Wyoming Seminary.
Klassner has continued to lead the Wyoming Seminary powerhouse field hockey team. Her teams have won an additional five state championships from 2010 until 2019, bringing her teams up to eight PIAA Titles. Seminary also finished second in 2017.
In October of 2019 the Blue Knights won the program’s first-ever District 2 Class A three-peat by knocking off Oley Valley, 2-0. In addition, it was a very special game for Klassner who notched her 700th career victory. Her Blue Knights’ continued to win the duration of the season and secured another PIAA A State Championship.
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Articles
Videos
Records
Professional Achievements
West Henderson High School
“It wasn’t just volleyball to me, it was teaching life lessons and seeing how the girls turned out.“
-Jan Stanley
“It wasn’t just volleyball to me, it was teaching life lessons and seeing how the girls turned out.“
-Jan Stanley
Jan Stanley
West Henderson High School
Impact Statement
“It wasn’t just volleyball to me, it was teaching life lessons and seeing how the girls turned out.“
-Jan Stanley
Biography
Stanley started the school’s volleyball program in 1975. This year she led a Falcons team with just one senior on the roster to a 26-0 record, losing just three sets all season, and her fifth Class 2A state championship. During the season she became the state’s all-time winningest coach and her career record is 671-114. She has led the Falcons to eight title-match appearances,previously winning state titles in 1989, 1990, 2003 and 2004.
Stanley, who was named co-National Coach of the Year this year by PrepVolleyball.com, actually owns state titles in two sports. She coached the Falcons to more than 250 victories overall and the 1991 girls’ basketball state championship. Stanley also has coached track and field, tennis and softball at the school. Stanley was inducted into the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2008.
Stanley lead West Henderson until her retirement in January 21, 2010. Her coaching career highlighted 30 conference titles and five State Championships. Her career record was 698-116. Stanley ranks second overall for most victories in North Carolina.
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Professional Achievements
Jefferson High School
“Coaching was easy for me.”
-Larry Niemeyer
Niemeyer boasts a 2,089-429 career record.
“Coaching was easy for me.”
-Larry Niemeyer
Niemeyer boasts a 2,089-429 career record.
Larry Niemeyer
Jefferson High School
Impact Statement
“Coaching was easy for me.”
-Larry Niemeyer
Niemeyer boasts a 2,089-429 career record.
Biography
In 49 years at two Iowa high schools – Adel High and Jefferson – Niemeyer, who turns 72 in September, has won over 2,500 games as a softball and girls’ basketball coach. His career softball record – 1,651-338 – makes him the nation’s all-time leader by more than 600 wins over his nearest competition. That total does not include 332 wins in fall softball in his early days at Adel, where he led the school to a fall state title in an open-class system. After winning 17 straight conference titles at Adel, Niemeyer took over a Jefferson team that had won just 25 games in its previous five seasons.
Five years later Jefferson won the first of three state softball championships under his direction. His basketball team won the 1993 state championship with a 29-0 record and advanced to four state title games. His teams have a 843-294 record, No. 2 on Iowa’s all-time victory list. His state titles in cross country and indoor track make him Iowa’s only coach to win titles in four different sports.
The National High School Athletic Coaches Association (NHSACA) named him its national Coach of the Year in softball in 1989 and girls basketball in 1996, and he was inducted into the NHSCA Hall of Fame in 2002. He also has been inducted into the Iowa Girls Coaches Association Hall of Fame in both sports.
Niemeyer continued to coach his teams to victory. When he retired in 2015, he finished his career with a 2,089-429. He is also currently third overall in basketball wins in Iowa, with an 871-352 record.
In September of 2016 Niemeyer threw the first pitch at Wrigley Field prior to the Chicago Cubs game.
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Professional Achievements
Cordova High School
“Baseball is a special game to me.”
-Guy Anderson
45 years of coaching & over 900 wins, is special.
“Baseball is a special game to me.”
-Guy Anderson
45 years of coaching & over 900 wins, is special.
Guy Anderson
Cordova High School
Impact Statement
“Baseball is a special game to me.”
-Guy Anderson
45 years of coaching & over 900 wins, is special.
Biography
Now in his 40th season at Cordova, Anderson, 76, has seen his teams post an overall record of 834-422-21, with this year’s team owning a 12-7 record at press time. His 834 victories rank him No. 2 on the state’s career victory list.
Competing in a sport whose state championship series extended only to the section level, Anderson’s teams won 17 league championships and five championships in the state’s competitive Sac-Joaquin Section, and 12 of his players have gone on to major league careers.
He has been inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association and California Baseball Coaches Association Halls of Fame, and will be inducted into the NFHS Hall of Fame this year. Anderson, who retired as assistant principal and athletic director in 2000, served on Cordova’s parks and recreation board for over two decades.
Since being honored, Anderson continued to lead Cordova until he stepped down after 45 years. In 2015 Anderson left his position at Cordova but didn’t stay away long. He was named the assistant coach at Capital Christian High School in 2016. In 2019 Capital Christian won the league championships with Anderson as the first base coach.
He finished his head coaching career boasting a state record of 927 victories. In addition, Anderson still plays middle infield for the Sacramento Golden Seniors softball league.
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Summerville High School
“Football relates so much to life — you get knocked down and you got to get up.” -John McKissick
“Football relates so much to life — you get knocked down and you got to get up.” -John McKissick
John McKissick
Summerville High School
Impact Statement
“Football relates so much to life — you get knocked down and you got to get up.” -John McKissick
Biography
McKissick, who will turn 83 in September, is the dean of high school football coaches. He has coached 57 seasons at Summerville and his list of awards is almost as long as his list of victories. He is the nation’s all-time leading winner, with a career record of 565-133-13. He became No. 1 on the all-time victory list in 1993 and won his 500th game in 2004.
His teams have won 10 state championships, winning state crowns in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. They came within an eyelash of making it six championship decades by reaching the Class 4A Division 1 state title game in 2007. Last year’s team finished 9-2 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
Named National High School Coach of the Year three times, McKissick was the recipient of the Power of Influence award from the American Football Coaches Association in 2003. Inducted into the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Hall of Fame in 1990, he was South Carolina’s “Coach of the Three-Quarter Century” honoree by Coach and Athletic Director magazine in 2007.
Since being honored in 2009, McKissick continued to lead Summerville to victory. As of October 26, 2012, McKissick became the winningest coach in football history with win number 600 with a 37-21 victory over Ashley Ridge.
McKissick retired from coaching just before the 2015 season after 63 years at the helm.
A true football legend, McKissick passed away November 28, 2019.
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Lumen Christi High School
“My most cherished memories are the relationships I have formed with athletes, parents, students and coworkers.” -Mike Woolsey
“My most cherished memories are the relationships I have formed with athletes, parents, students and coworkers.” -Mike Woolsey
Mike Woolsey
Lumen Christi High School
Impact Statement
“My most cherished memories are the relationships I have formed with athletes, parents, students and coworkers.” -Mike Woolsey
Biography
Since taking over the program in 1979 Woolsey has taken 24 teams to the state tournament. His teams won state titles in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990 and 1991 and have finished second four times, most recently last fall, an accomplishment which earned him state Coach of the Year honors. He has overcome adversity in his own life, finishing fourth in the state tournament as a Lumen Christi High senior in 1973 less than three months after sustaining life-threatening injuries in an automobile accident.
The NFHS named him its National Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2004, and he is a finalist for the National High School Athletic Coaches Association’s National Girls Cross Country Coach of the Year.
Since being honored in 2005 Woolsey continues to coach at Lumen Christi High School. His team won additional state titles in 2006, 2007 and 2012. He continues to lead the girls’ cross country team.
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