Two coaches were inducted into the Hall of Fame during the Kingsland Athletic Booster Club (KABC) banquet on April 6, at the Five Wynds Event Centre in Spring Valley. Live and silent auctions, and a raffle, were also held to help raise funds for the booster club’s various donations to the school and community.
Brent Kohn was inducted into the Hall of Fame for his many years coaching golf. His wife, Sarah, read a letter from a former athlete, stating, “I’d like to say that Brent was hands-down the best coach I ever had during my time at Kingsland. He was always very fair… whoever put in the effort and was the most qualified got the starting spots… He truly wanted us to be the best that we could be. He taught me the value of being a student-athlete, where student comes before athlete… he wasn’t just teaching me how to be a good golfer, he was teaching me how to be a good man.”
Sarah Kohn also joked about the time commitment that Brent’s coaching entailed, telling how she looked forward to the end of golf season so the family could return to normal. In his acceptance speech, Brent told of moving back to this area as a child, and said, “I started golfing when I was 10 years old, on Sundays mornings” at Root River Country Club with his family. His lifetime love of golf has clearly been a family affair, and led him to a coaching career, and many accolades along the way.
Cindy Herr was also inducted into the Hall for her pioneering coaching career of girls sports. When asked about her career, she said, “I coached everything…volleyball, basketball, track. I helped with softball for one year. There was nothing for girls athletics when I started. We started it and went through the growing pains, as they say. It was an adventure.”
Asked what has meant the most to her, Cindy replied, “Extremely talented athletes and really good people. The thing I’m most pleased with is how good they turned out to be as people. I didn’t have anybody who was a glory-seeker. They all understood it was a team effort. We were like one big family, really.”
Cindy’s coaching career statistics include numerous conference and district champion teams, as well as several coach-of-the-year awards. She added, “I’m just really honored to be here. I hope there will be more of the female athletes getting inducted as time goes by, because we had many terrific athletes.”
Stacey Rath, CEO of the booster club, explained that the KABC has an induction ceremony event every other year since 2003, and there are now 18 honorees in the Hall of Fame. She also shared that the KABC does significant fundraising, including bingo, pull tabs, and the auctions at the Hall of Fame banquet event.
Stacey said the KABC gives not only to athletic teams, but to other school programs, and even to the community. She said that each head coach is asked to submit a “wish list” annually, for the KABC to attempt to help fulfill. Besides the usual sporting equipment that KABC contributes toward, she shared a list of some highlighted donations from the KABC, including scholarships to graduating seniors, defibrillators for local ambulances, the new gym sound system, a trap shooting simulator, ALICE alert system for sheriff’s department, and band instruments for the music department.
Stacey said the Hall of Fame banquet usually raises between $8,000 and $16,000, and she noted that all of the auctioned items are donated by local businesses and individuals. This year’s event had an estimated attendance of 150, and a meal catered by Ody’s Country Meats, desserts by Some Like it Hot, and a cash bar by Rack’s Bar & Grill.
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