FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 2002


Miami Southridge, Leto coaching greats headline FHSAA Hall of Fame’s 2002 induction class

GAINESVILLE – Miami Southridge High School wrestling coach James Husk and former Leto High School cross country coach Bobby Ennis, who between them won 14 state championships, head a list of seven individuals selected for induction this year into the Florida High School Activities Association Hall of Fame.

Joining Husk and Ennis in the Class of 2002 are Polk County Schools athletic director Don Bridges, Lakeland High School head football coach Bill Castle, former Oak Ridge High School head track & field coach John Hemmer, contest official Steve O’Neill, and Greater Miami Athletic Conference executive secretary Wayne Story.

Also to be inducted this year is Dallas Cowboy All-Pro running back Emmitt Smith, who at Escambia High School in Pensacola became Florida’s all-time leading rushing with 8,804 yards. Smith, the only individual to be selected for induction based solely on his accomplishments as a student-athlete, was chosen last year but requested his induction be deferred until this year so he could attend the ceremony.

This class is the 11th group to be inducted into the FHSAA Hall of Fame, the state’s high school athletic hall of fame. Founded during the 1990-91 school year to recognize and preserve the heritage of high school activities in Florida, the FHSAA Hall of Fame keeps alive the tradition and spirit of high school athletics, and honors each year those persons who through distinguished achievement have excelled in one or more high school programs sponsored by the Association and its member schools. This year’s eight inductees bring to 62 the number of deserving individuals who have been enshrined in the FHSAA Hall of Fame. They include student-athletes, coaches, administrators, contest officials and other contributors, such as sports writers, who have raised the level of awareness of high school activities through their efforst, achievements and dedication. The 2002 FHSAA Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Awards Banquet will be held June 13 at the Wyndham Westshore Hotel in Tampa.

Husk, 60, has built the Miami Southridge wrestling program into a perennial state championship contender. In his 26 years at the school, he has compiled a 402-37-3 record and has coached the Spartans to seven state championships. This year, Husk and the Spartans fell just one-half point shy of an eighth state title, claiming their fourth state runner-up finish. Husk began his coaching career in 1965 at Miami’s Archbishop Curley High School. He coached at Southwest Miami High School from 1969 until 1977 when he moved to Miami Southridge. Husk’s 38-year career record is 549-67-4. He leads the nation among active wrestling coaches with 127 career tournament victories.

Ennis, 49, established the “Long Red Row,” the self-appointed nickname for the boys cross country program at Tampa’s Leto High School. During his 21-year career at the Tampa school, the Falcons qualified for the state meet 20 times and won seven state titles, including back-to-back undefeated state championship seasons in 1988 and 1989. Ennis’ teams finished as state runners-up six other times. He also coached Leto’s 1979 boys decathlon state championship team. Ennis retired from coaching at the end of the 1997-98 school year, but remains active in high school athletics. This year, he served as meet director for the 2001 FHSAA Florida Cross Country Finals state championship meet in Tampa.

• Don Bridges. Bridges, 58, has coached, officiated and served as an athletic administrator on both the school and county levels in his 26 years in Florida. Bridges accepted the position of head baseball coach at Lake Wales High School in 1976. In eight years at Lake Wales, Bridges compiled a 161-102 record and took the Highlanders to the state tournament twice. He doubled as the school’s athletic director from 1977 through 1985. In 1993, Bridges was appointed to his current position of District Director of Athletics for Polk County Schools in which he supervises the athletic programs of the county’s 13 high schools. He has played an instrumental role in bringing to Polk County and managing FHSAA Florida Finals state championship events in girls & boys basketball, golf, softball, tennis, girls volleyball, boys weightlifting and wrestling. Bridges also has been a registered FHSAA contest official in baseball and basketball for more than 10 years. He umpired in the FHSAA Florida Baseball Finals state tournament in both 1990 and 2000.

• Bill Castle. The Lakeland High School Dreadnaughts football team has never had a losing season in the 26-year reign of Castle. Under his leadership, the Dreadnaughts have won 237 games and lost only 64 – a .787 winning percentage, capturing state championships in 1986, 1996 and 1999. From the 1995 through the 2001 seasons, Castle’s teams won a state record 60 consecutive regular-season games. Castle, 56, has been the Class 5A state coach of the year four times and received overall Coach of the Year honors in 1998.

• John Hemmer. Hemmer, 58, coached five state championship boys track & field teams at Orlando’s Oak Ridge High School. In his 29 years as head coach at the school, the Pioneers won 301 meets, including 159 major invitationals. Hemmer was an assistant manager on the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team that participated in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games. As such, he is one of only two high school coaches to have served on an Olympic track & field staff. Hemmer also was head manager of the U.S. men’s team that outscored 140 other nations and won seven gold medals in the 1999 IAFF World Track & Field Championships in Seville, Spain.

• Stephen O’Neill. O’Neill, 55, has officiated high school contests in Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee and Florida for 38 years. For the past 22 years, he has served as an FHSAA-registered contest official in the sports of baseball, basketball and football. O’Neill has officiated three FHSAA Florida Football Finals state championship games and twelve FHSAA Florida Finals state tournaments in girls & boys basketball.

• Wayne Story. Story, 65, has served as Executive Secretary of the Greater Miami Athletic Conference and its Commissioner of Officials since 1991, where he is responsible for the supervision of 36 public high schools and one private high school athletic program in the state’s largest school district. In 1977, Story served on the committee that organized the Florida Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (FIAAA), the state’s professional organization for athletic directors.

Two separate committees comprised of active and retired administrators, coaches, officials and news media representatives evaluated the nominations of the seven individuals selected for induction to the FHSAA Hall of Fame this year. A seven-member screening committee first reviewed all nominations received and determined which nominees were viable candidates for induction into the Hall of Fame. The nominations of those candidates then were forwarded to a 16-member selection committee, which rated the nomination of each candidate to determine the candidates who would be inducted.

The Florida High School Activities Association is the governing body for interscholastic athletic competition in Florida. It has a membership of 660 middle and senior high schools.

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