KHSAA 2013 hall of fame class announced
Nine former athletes, coaches and officials will make up the 2013 class for the Dawahares/KHSAA Hall of Fame, the KHSAA announced today.
The group includes several readily recognizable names, including Olympic track and field star Tyson Gay. The inductees:
- Pascal Benson — Three-sport star at Henderson in the 1950s.
- Julie Ditty — Three-time state tennis champion in girls singles at Lexington Christian and Russell.
- Tyson Gay — Three-time state track and field champion at Lafayette. Later became a three-time world champion and an Olympian and for a time had the title of fastest man in the world.
- Burney Jenkins — Longtime football, basketball and baseball official who has called 14 championship games in the three sports.
- Roger Klein — Coached tennis at Bellevue for 32 years. His perseverance led to the establishment of the first KHSAA state tennis tournament in 1945.
- Frank Miklavcic — Longtime track and field coach at Paintsville and Frankfort. Currently serves as an official and as executive director of the Kentucky Track and Cross Country Coaches Association.
- Ron Myers — Coached baseball for 31 years at Elizabethtown, winning 727 games and two state championships.
- Jamie Walz Richey — Kentucky’s all-time leading scorer in girls basketball with 4,948 points. Won Miss Basketball and Parade Magazine National Player of the Year awards in 1996.
- John Dee Wilson — Boys basketball coach at Cawood, Webster County and Red Bird. Breathed new life into the program at Red Bird after retiring from public schools.
No one in this group has Advocate-area ties that I’m aware of, so I’ll reach for a couple of connections, both from the track:
- Gay had a terrific sprint duel with former Lincoln County star Maurice Napier at the 1999 state championships, when Gay was a sophomore and Napier was a senior. Gay won the first of his three straight championships in the 100, running a 10.81 to beat Napier by .15 seconds. The two finished with the same time of 21.73 seconds in the 200, but Napier was declared the winner in a photo finish.
- Miklavcic, who was probably watching that race, has been a familiar face at area track and field and cross country meets for many years, first as Frankfort’s coach and now either as an official or manning the computer that manages the meet results.
The class will be inducted in April 2013. The nine honorees bring the total list of KHSAA hall honorees to 412. Previous inductees are listed on this KHSAA document. Further details on the inductees can be found in this KHSAA press release. (both are .pdf files.)
