GCHS Athletics Hall of Fame Committee Announces Inductees
USD 457
Michael (Drew) Thon, GCHS Director of Athletics /Chairman, GCHS Athletics Hall of Fame Committee, has announced that eight individuals, two legendary coaches and two state championship teams are among the inaugural class of inductees into the newly-formed Garden City High School Athletics Hall of Fame. The first induction ceremony will take place on New Year’s Eve, Tuesday, December, 31, 2019, at the Buffalo Ball gala at The Golf Club at Southwind.
Formed in the fall of 2018, the GCHS Athletics Hall of Fame Committee evaluated more than 100 former GCHS student-athletes, coaches and teams before narrowing the final ballot to approximately 30 nominees in the three major categories – student-athlete, coach, team.
The inductees cover a wide-range of athletic teams and time periods at Garden City High School – football, basketball (boys and girls), wrestling, soccer, softball, and swimming.
Inductees include student-athletes Brandy Perryman (boys basketball), Stewart Nelson (boys basketball), DeAnn Craft (girls basketball), Jim Moore (football/boys basketball), Mike Bryan (football), Mike Johnson (football), Brian Post (boys swimming), Cindy Benitez (girls soccer), Katie Ford (softball), Jon Bigler (wrestling); coaches include Rocky Welton (wrestling) and Dave Meadows (football) while the two teams are the 1966 Class AA state championship boys basketball and the 1999 Class 6A state championship football squads.
“Garden City High School has a rich history of students, staff, and teams performing at high levels while representing their school and our community”, said Dr. Steve Karlin, Superintendent of Schools. “This outstanding inaugural class for the Garden City High School Athletics Hall of fame establishes another way in which exceptional members of the Garden City High School family are recognized for their accomplishments. Congratulations to all of the inductees!”
Thon was especially pleased with the professionalism demonstrated by the Committee in its extensive work on evaluating nominees and the voting process itself. Committee members who were nominated were not able to cast a vote for themselves, and it took a minimum of six votes of the nine-member committee to be elected.
“I think the Committee did an outstanding job over several months of evaluation in the final voting. This first class is representative of the outstanding student-athletes, coaches and teams we’ve seen at GCHS for many years,” Thon said in announcing the class. “We couldn’t be happier with this group and we think we still have many, many deserving people who will be considered for induction in the coming years.”
In addition to Thon, the Committee was comprised of long-time teacher and retired softball coach John Ford, retired Garden City Telegram Sports Editor Brett Marshall, and former GCHS student-athletes Dan Fankhauser, DeAnn Craft, Stewart Nelson, Sadie (Ochs) Giedd, Michael Collins and Gaye (Stones) Beasley.
For more information, contact Drew Thon at mthon@gckschools.com
