FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 2001


Football great Emmitt Smith, six others selected to FHSAA Hall of Fame

GAINESVILLE – Dallas Cowboys' running back Emmitt Smith, the leading rusher in Florida high school history, is one of seven individuals selected for induction into the 2001 class of the Florida High School Activities Association Hall of Fame. Smith is the first individual to be inducted into the FHSAA Hall of Fame solely on the basis of his contributions as a student-athlete.

Also selected for induction this year are the late Frederick William "Fritz" Buchholz, a founding father of the Florida High School Activities Association; Roger Sprague Gilmore, former sports editor of the DeLand Sun News; I. Brent Hall, who coached Forest High School of Ocala to back-to-back state football championships in 1974 and 1975; Kelly Wayne Kilpatrick, who chaired the FHSAA's first public liaison advisory committee that was influential in saving the Association from dissolution in 1997; Terence Miller "Terry" Oestreich, a long-time contest official in six sports; and William Henry "Bill" Wilson, who coached Vero Beach High School to back-to-back state boys track & field championships in 1979 and 1980.

These seven individuals comprise the 11th group to be inducted into the FHSAA Hall of Fame, which was founded in 1991 to recognize and preserve the heritage of high school activities in Florida. The FHSAA Hall of Fame is the official high school sports hall of fame in Florida. This year's class brings to 55 the number of individuals who have been enshrined.

The 2001 FHSAA Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Awards Banquet will be held at 7 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 14 at the Wyndham Westshore Hotel in Tampa. Tickets are $30 and must be ordered in advance through the FHSAA Office.

Smith, 31, who played at Escambia High School in Pensacola from 1983 through 1986, ended his high school career with an all-time state best 8,804 yards on 1,144 carries – good for fifth on the national all-time rushing list. He continues to hold the national record for most 100-yard games with 45. His 28 consecutive 100-yard game performances are good for third on the all-time national list. In his 1,144 career rushing attempts, Smith fumbled just six times. He helped lead Escambia High School to back-to-back state championships in 1984 and 1985. Smith was a consensus All-American and was named the National High School Player of the Year by both Parade Magazine and USA Today his senior year. In 1986, he represented the nation's high school football players at The White House as part of the "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign.

At the University of Florida, Smith was an All-America and three-time All-SEC selection. He established 58 school records in three seasons, including the career rushing mark of 3,928 yards. Smith surpassed the 1,000-yard mark in his seventh game, faster than anyone else in college football history. He earned Freshman of the Year honors and finished in the top 10 in Heisman Trophy balloting.

In 10 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, Smith has rushed for 13,963 yards – good for third on the all-time NFL list behind Walter Payton (16,726) and Barry Sanders (15,269). He has won four NFL rushing titles, three Super Bowl titles and a league (1993) and Super Bowl (XXVIII) MVP award. Smith is the NFL's career rushing touchdown leader with 136, and is second only to Jerry Rice in total touchdowns scored.

Off the field, Smith is the founder of Emmitt Smith Charities, whose mission is to provide educational scholarships to under-served youth in Pensacola. Smith also works with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Salvation Army, The American Lung Association, the Battered and Abused Children's Foundation and B.A.D. (Boxers Against Drugs). His annual holiday food drive supports more than 3,000 families in the Dallas/Fort Worth and Pensacola areas.

Smith received his degree in public recreation from the University of Florida in 1996.

• Frederick William "Fritz" Buchholz. Buchholz, who died in 1965 at the age of 80, was instrumental in the founding of the Florida High School Athletic Association, forerunner to the Florida High School Activities Association, in 1920.

During his long career of public service, Buchholz was a teacher, coach, principal, author and member of the Florida House of Representatives, where he sponsored school-related legislation. Buchholz coached Gainesville High School's first football team in 1914, where he also served as principal from 1917 until 1951. He served the FHSAA as vice president from 1920 through 1923, again from 1925 through 1929, as president from 1929 through 1933, and as executive secretary – a precursor to the position of Commissioner – from 1933 through 1936. Buchholz High School in Gainesville is named after him.

Born in Hillsborough County in 1885, Buchholz attended Florida State University and graduated from the University of Florida in 1905. He was the state of Florida's first Rhodes Scholar.

• Roger Sprague Gilmore. Gilmore, 71, has devoted the past 41 years of his life to providing media coverage of high school athletics in the western Volusia County communities of DeLand and Pierson.

For 31 years, Gilmore was sports editor of the DeLand Sun News, covering DeLand High School, Taylor High School in Pierson and the former Euclid and Southwestern high schools. He currently is sports editor of the DeLand Beacon. Gilmore has never missed a DeLand High School football game – home or away – covering as a reporter or photographer 436 varsity games since 1959. In addition to his professional occupation as a sports journalist, Gilmore has been a volunteer coach in various youth leagues and an active member of numerous local civic groups. In 1997, the City of DeLand dedicated a new Little League baseball field as the "Roger S. Gilmore Field."

Born in Chicago, Gilmore started his journalism career as a boy delivering papers for the Burlington Free Press in Middleburg, Vt. He was sports editor of the Green Cove Springs Naval Station newspaper and worked for the The Gainesville Sun, covering Gainesville area high schools while attending the University of Florida, from which he graduated in 1959.

• I. Brent Hall. Hall, 62, compiled a record of 149 wins, 98 losses and 2 ties in 22 years as a head football coach at Jefferson County (Monticello), Forest (Ocala), Suwannee (Live Oak), Spruce Creek (Port Orange) and Belleview high schools. He coach three state championship teams – Jefferson County High School in 1966 and the back-to-back championship teams at Forest High School in 1974 and 1975. University of Florida and Los Angeles Rams' linebacker great Jack Youngblood, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August, played for Hall on the 1966 Jefferson County state championship team.

Hall came out of retirement in 1994 to accept the head football coaching position at newly opened Belleview High School. In just seven years, he built the program into a state contender that reached the Class 4A State Semifinal Game this past December. Hall was named the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 1966, 1974, 1975 and 2001. He has been named the head coach of the Florida All-Star Team for the 2001 Florida-Georgia All-Star Game to be played in June.

Hall, who announced his second retirement from coaching in February, was born in Morgan County, Ohio. He graduated from Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio, in 1960.

• Kelly Wayne Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick, 61, retired in January after serving for more than 30 years as principal of Jefferson County High School in Monticello.

Kilpatrick served as a member of the FHSAA Board of Directors for 14 years. During the 1996-97 school year, when the Association fell into disfavor with the Florida Legislature, Kilpatrick was appointed to serve as chair of the Association's newly established Public Liaison Advisory Committee. This committee, under Kilpatrick's leadership, proposed the reorganization of the FHSAA governance structure that was accepted as a compromise by the Legislature and brought the Association back from the brink of dissolution. Kilpatrick also has served as president of both the Florida Association of Secondary School Principals and the Florida Association of School Administrators.

Kilpatrick was born in Fort Meade, Fla. He graduated from Florida State University in 1968 and received a Master's Degree in Educational Administration from Florida State University in 1970.

• Terence Miller Oestreich. A high school official since 1968, Oestreich, has worked contests in six different sports – baseball, basketball, football, soccer, fast-pitch softball, slow-pitch softball and volleyball. During his career, Oestreich has officiated more than 1,750 varsity contests, including 950 basketball games, 400 football games and 200 baseball games. These contests have involved schools in more than 60 of the state's 67 counties.

Oestreich, 58, has officiated FHSAA Florida Finals state series contests in baseball, basketball, football and softball. He has been selected to work 10 FHSAA State Baseball Series contests, including three Florida Finals games; 36 FHSAA State Basketball Series contests, including seven Florida Finals games; and 27 FHSAA State Football Series contests, including four Florida Finals games. A charter member of the National Federation Officials Association (NFOA), Oestreich has served as the NFOA baseball representative from Florida and participated in the 1986 filming of the National Federation baseball rules film, "Baseball The Right Way," in Avon Park, Fla.

Oestreich was born in Fulton, Mo. He graduated from Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., in 1964 and received a Doctorate Degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Florida in 1973. He remains active as an official in five sports.

• William Henry Wilson. In 29 years as head track & field coach at Vero Beach High School, Wilson, 62, led his teams to 19 consecutive district championships, seven regional championships and back-to-back state championships in 1989 and 1990. He also served as offensive backfield coach for the Indians' 1981 state championship football team.

Wilson began his long coaching career in 1962 at Carter-Parramore High School in Quincy. In 1966, he moved to Gifford High School in Vero Beach where he coached until 1968 when the school was integrated with Vero Beach High School. A total of 44 student-athletes who played for him received athletic scholarships to college. He retired as an educator in 1997, but remains active as an assistant football coach and head girls track & field coach at Sebastian River High School. The "Bill Wilson Relays," hosted by Sebastian River High School, annually commemorates his accomplishments and contributions to track & field in the state of Florida.

Born in Tallahassee, Fla., Wilson graduated from Florida A&M University in 1961 and received his Master's Degree in Physical Education from there in 1967. He played halfback on the Rattlers' undefeated national championship team in 1961, where he started ahead of future Olympic 100-meter champion and Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Bob Hayes. Wilson signed with the Houston Oilers of the American Football League, but a knee injury ended his career in his second season.

The seven inductees were chosen by a 16-member selection committee comprised of high school administrators, coaches, contest officials, media representatives and one student-athlete.

Past inductees into the FHSAA Hall of Fame are as follows:

Class of 1991 (Charter Year) – Gene C. Cox, Carlos Edison Deason, Charles Oliver Hines, Floyd E. Lay, Sam W. Mitchell, Fred E. Rozelle, Joseph Lawrence Slay, John Clarence Smith, Howard McGehee Whittington, Roger Augustus Williams.

Class of 1992 – Dorothy W. Brunson, Nicholas Cavallaro, Lafayette Golden, R.L. Landers, Wheeler B. Leath, Richard Pace, Carlos "Skip" Sasse.

Class of 1993 – Samuel F. "Sam" Budnyk.

Class of 1994 – Alex M. Bromir, Robert Collins, Joseph A. "Joe" Tatol, James A. "Jim" Thompson, Jr., Don Wallen, Jack L. Wilson, Johnnie Williams.

Class of 1995 – Raymond F. "Ray" Boetel, William S. Lawrence, Don T. Reynolds, Lacy R. "Bill" Humphrey, Boyce W. "Bud" Padgett, Morris H. Rogers.

Class of 1996 – Wilts C. Alexander, Jr., Kathleen R. "Kathy" Boatwright, Clarence "Doc" Noe.

Class of 1997 – No inductees.

Class of 1998 – Barry D. "Bill" Buchalter, Louise A. Crocco, A.F. "Bud" Holt, Jr., George W. Loper, Jr.

Class of 1999 – J.C. Green, C.A. "Chuck" Holland, C. Doyle McCall, Bill Munsey, Ed Repulski, Wayne F. Taylor.

Class of 2000 – Robby Pruitt, Phillip Rountree, Earl "Bud" Sappenfield, Wayne Williamson.

The Florida High School Activities Association is the governing body for interscholastic athletic competition in Florida. It has a membership of more than 640 middle, junior and senior high schools.

Contact:
Jack Watford
Director of Communications, FHSAA
(352) 372-9551 ext. 170
jwatford@fhsaa.org