The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association, the (501c3) non-profit governing body of high school sports in the Silver State, and One Nevada Credit Union, the Association’s title partner for all events, will be inducting 15 Northern Nevadans to its NIAA / One Nevada Hall of Fame for 2020.
The individuals set to be inducted as the NIAA /One Nevada’s 28th class — Dan Anderson, Toni (Brown) Fairbanks, Art Collins, Pat Dolan, Rob Hastings, Rollie Hess, Martin “Skip” Houk, Jennifer Hucke, Michelle Palaroan, Richard Pitts, Dave Price, Ed Shepard, Paul Tremayne, Mike Whitemaine and Mitch Woods – have secured for themselves a special place in the history of Nevada high school athletics by the sheer magnitude of their contributions.
“The 15 individuals we are inducting have contributed greatly to high school athletics in the Silver State as an athletic administrator/director, athlete, coach, contributor and/or official,” said Mr. Bart Thompson, Executive Director of the NIAA. “They have made a positive impact on the young men and women of our state in some very important ways, and they have helped to make many of their dreams come true.”
The Class of 2020 features, generally, one athletic administrator/director, six athletes, four coaches, two contributors and two officials. Most inductees are, however, being honored in multiple categories. Chris Healy, a long-time Commissioner of Officials in baseball for the Northern Nevada Officials Association, will again serve as the NIAA / One Nevada Hall of Fame’s Master of Ceremonies.
ADMINISTRATOR/DIRECTOR
• Paul Tremayne (Austin & Battle Mountain / Coach at Austin & Battle Mountain).
ATHLETES
• Toni Brown-Fairbanks (Reed – volleyball / basketball / softball)
• Rollie Hess (Virginia City – basketball)
• Jennifer Hucke (Churchill County – volleyball/basketball)
• Michelle Palaroan (Reed – basketball / softball)
• Mike Whitemaine (Bishop Manogue – football /basketball /baseball)
• Mitch Woods (Lowry – football / basketball / baseball).
COACHES
• Dan Anderson (Eureka, Hug, Sparks & Reno / Official – Football)
• Art Collins (Reno / Contributor to NIAA)
• Rob Hastings (Wooster, Sparks, North Valleys & Galena)
• Ed Shepard (Reed, Hug & Damonte Ranch).
CONTRIBUTORS
• Pat Dolan (NIAA / Athlete at Lowry)
• Dave Price (Media – print).
OFFICIALS
• Richard Pitts (NNOA basketball & softball)
• Skip Houk (NNOA football & basketball, NIAA cross country & track and field).
Dan Anderson
Dan Anderson head coached or assisted at the high school level for 37 years.
He spent time at Eureka (1967), Sparks Middle (1968), Hug (1969-1972), Sparks High (1972-76), Hug (1976-1986) and Reno (1986-2006).
Dan worked with boys/girls basketball, boys/girls track and field, football, boys/girls skiing and girls cross country teams at a variety of grade levels. He returned the Sparks High football program into a perennial playoff contender, and he led the Hug and Reno girls track & field teams to seven zone and three state titles combined.
Anderson also officiated football for a total of 48 years, serving also for a time as the sport chapter’s Commissioner/President.
He worked numerous postseason championship games, and he represented the Western states on the National Federation of State High School Association’s Football Rules Committee.
Anderson graduated from Sparks High School in 1963 as a three-sport, conference award-winning letterman. He has been previously inducted to the Northern Nevada Track Coaches Association and Hug High School Hall of Fames.
Tonia Fairbanks
Tonia Fairbanks (then Toni Brown) was a record-setting, three-sport athlete at Reed High School from 1988 through 1992.
She was named to the all-State First Team at third base (softball) all four years, helping to lead the Raiders to the state championship in each of her first three seasons (and finally to a state runner-up finish as a senior).
Toni set school records in the categories of (offensive) hits, runs, runs batted in, batting average and (defensive) fielding percentage.
She set a state record by hitting safely in 59 consecutive games. She was a three-year varsity starter in basketball, helping to shoot Reed to state titles in her final two seasons, and a two-year starter in volleyball. Brown went on to play softball at Oklahoma State on a full scholarship, where she was a four-year starter and played on four Big 8 Conference championship teams.
She helped to lead the Cowboys to a pair of College World Series appearances. Brown’s name still shows prominently throughout the Nevada State High School Record Book’s softball pages.
Art Collins
Art Collins guided the Reno High School boys and girls skiing teams to unparalleled success.
He led the Huskies’ girls teams to 15 straight combined (slalom and giant slalom) team championships and the boys teams to 13 consecutive between 1980 and 1994.
No other sports program in the athletic-rich history of Reno High has captured more first place trophies.
Art coached first from 1978 through 1995 and finally from 1997 through 2003.
In April of 1989, the Nevada State Senate passed Resolution IX which recognized the Reno skiing teams for a decade’s worth of state titles.
Coach Collins and the Huskies were recognized nationally in January of 1993 by ESPN’s “Scholastic Sports America” television series when host Dan Debenham stated, “In the annals of United States sports history, the Reno High School ski team has won more consecutive championships than any other team.”
Collins also served as the NIAA’s region and state skiing championship meet director (and the Washoe County School District’s sport coordinator/ 4A Northern Region commissioner) for nearly two decades.
Pat Dolan
Pat Dolan was a standout athlete and innovative coach at Lowry High School before becoming the paramount legal counsel and appeals hearing officer for the NIAA.
Pat was a three-year starter at center and linebacker for the Humboldt County (Lowry) High School football team and at forward for the basketball team leading to his graduation in 1963.
He was named to the all-State football squads in 1961 and 1962, and to the all-Zone and all-State Tournament basketball teams in 1962 and 1963.
He was also an all-State Most Valuable Player and Prep All-American in football his senior season. Pat was inducted to the Winnemucca High School Hall of Fame (the name being a way to include Humboldt County High School and Lowry High School honorees in the same institution) in 1998.
Dolan served as the NIAA’s first Legal Counsel from 1979 through 1999, a role which included drafting and litigating many of the Handbook regulations that are in force today.
He served as the NIAA’s first Hearing Officer from 2003 through 2019, a role that empowered him to render final decisions on appeals by parties challenging what they felt were adverse interpretations and/or applications of those Nevada Administrative Codes.
Rob Hastings
Rob Hastings coached high school baseball and football for 36 and 30 seasons, respectfully.
On the diamond, he assisted at Wooster from 1977-1981, head coached for Sparks from 1982-2001, head coached for North Valleys from 2002-2006 and assisted at Galena from 2009-2014.
On the gridiron, he helped with Wooster from 1978-1980, assisted with Sparks from 1982-1988 and again from 1995-1999, led the Railroaders in between from 1989-1994, and helped at North Valleys from 2001-2009.
Rob compiled a combined 385 wins (to 360 losses) as a varsity head coach.
He still holds the baseball program record at Sparks and North Valleys for most victories as a varsity head coach (312 at Sparks and 73 at North Valleys, respectively).
Hastings, who served as President of the Northern Nevada and Nevada State Baseball Coaches Associations for a time in the mid-1980s, was a three-time Northern Nevada and one-time state Coach of the Year.
He saw 60 former players go on to play collegiately, 13 get drafted professionally, five play in the majors and 10 become coaches at the high school level or higher.
Rollie Hess
Rollie Hess was well known throughout the Silver State as one of the finest shooters of the basketball in Nevada prep history.
He played on three Virginia City state championship teams (1964-66, his only three years at V.C.) and was instrumental in leading the Muckers to separate 55- (into 1964) and 43-game (1964-66) winning streaks.
Rollie was named to multiple all-Conference, all-State and even all-American (as a senior) teams over the course of his high school career.
Hess went on to play four years at the University of Nevada and was a starter at guard from the beginning of his sophomore season.
— See HOF, Page 25 —
He embarked on a high school teaching and coaching career after college, first at Fernley (two years of junior varsity boys basketball) and then finally at Incline (eight years of varsity boys and girls basketball). He guided the Highlanders to two state titles for the boys (1974 and 1975) and one for the girls (1975) while compiling an overall head coaching record of 178-61. It is believed that Hess is the only Nevada prep basketball coach to win a boys and girls state title in the same year.
Skip Houk represented the Northern Nevada Football and Basketball Officials Associations for 50 years (1965-2019). He was assigned to a total of 16 NIAA state championship games beyond the countless other region and state tournament contests. He was honored by the National Federation Interscholastic Officials Association as the Silver State’s most outstanding football referee in 1995 and basketball referee in 1998. Skip served, at one time or another over the course of his illustrious career, as a chapter president, board member and crew chief. He was also a member of the National Association of Sports Officials and the Nevada State Officials Association. He was one of the founders of the NNFOA’s annual official training clinic in 1985. Houk, who graduated from Reno High School in 1959 and from the University of Nevada in 1965, also was a long-time starter for NIAA region and state cross country and track & field championship meets. He was inducted to the Nevada Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993 for his excellence as a conference champion cross country and track runner, and a national champion boxer.
Jennifer Hucke was a four-year letter-winner in volleyball and a two-year starter in basketball (as a freshman and sophomore before turning her focus to only volleyball for her last two years) at Churchill County High School. She helped to lead the Greenwave to volleyball state titles in 1999 and 2000 while serving as a team captain. Jennifer, widely regarded as the state’s top outside hitter during her junior and senior seasons, was a two-time First Team all-State honoree in volleyball (1999 and 2000). She was, additionally, selected the Gatorade Player of the Year after her senior campaign. She earned spots on USA youth and junior national volleyball teams in 1999, and was afforded a full scholarship to play at volleyball Pac-10 (now 12) powerhouse Stanford. Hucke, as an all-American, helped to pace the Cardinal to two NCAA Division I national championships. She was inducted to the Greenwave Hall of Fame in its inaugural year of 2017 as was her 1999 state winning team. (CCHS’s 2000 volleyball team was inducted in 2018.)
Michelle Palaroan was an all-State basketball player and a record-setting softball hitter during a series of glorious athletic years at Reed High School. Michelle helped to lead the Raiders to two state basketball championships (1991 and 1992) as the team’s leading scorer in each of those junior and senior seasons. She paced the Raiders to a 54-0 record during those back-to-back title seasons – while being named to the all-State First Team – which ultimately turned in to an 88-game winning streak for the program (extending into 1994). She went on to play two years at the University of Nevada, earning status on the Big West Conference’s All-Freshman Team for the 1992-93 season. Palaroan has school and state record book listings in softball for career, season and game marks. Her leading marks appear in the categories are home runs, hits and runs batted in. She was a three-time First Team all-State honoree as a centerfielder in softball. She helped to lead the Raiders to a state softball crown in 1990 and was selected three times to the all-State First-Team.
Richard Pitts officiated games across multiple generations of families through 45 years of service in the Nevada State Officials Association. He started with the Southern Nevada Officials Association in 1971 before moving North and joining the Northern Nevada Officials Association in 1973. He worked basketball games through 2013 and softball contests through 2016. Richard was assigned numerous postseason region and state championships in both basketball and softball over the course of his legendary career. He helped to train countless fellow officials through pre-season clinics and out-of-season camps. Pitts also served as an Umpire in Chief for other major youth and adult tournaments such as the All-World Softball for Ladies and the USSA Softball Nationals. Pitts was known for his outstanding professionalism and calm demeanor on the court/field. Pitts was previously afforded a NIAA Lifetime Pass for his legacy of service to Nevada high school athletics and activities.
Dave Price directly covered the athletic programs of 18 NIAA Northern Nevada high schools (and indirectly dealt with nearly every prep sports team throughout the upper half of the Silver State) throughout an illustrious 47-year career as a newspaper reporter. He began in 1971 as a stringer for the Tahoe Daily Tribune based out of South Lake Tahoe, Calif. He then moved into part-time sports writer (1972) and full-time Sports Editor (1974, at the early age of 20) positions. He served as the Sports Editor at The Record-Courier in Gardnerville from 1980 through 1996 and as a sports reporter for the Nevada Appeal in Carson City from 1996 through 2006. Dave moved to Grass Valley, Calif., and worked as the Sports Editor at The Union for a final few months in 2006. Price returned to the Appeal in 2007, helped to start up CarsonSports.com in 2009 and took on a part-time role with the Lahontan Valley News in Fallon in 2011. Price, fittingly, concluded his award-winning career at The Record-Courier as its Sports Editor from 2013 until his retirement on July 2, 2018. Price was recognized as one of two Outstanding Journalists by the Nevada Press Association in 2018 for his contributions as a longtime newspaperman and sports reporter.
Ed Shepard – who in his own right was a high-level, three-sport varsity student-athlete – produced an exceptional coaching resume over a 40-year tenure. He started teaching and coaching at Sparks Middle School in 1978 before moving over to Reed High School in 1980. He helped to lead the Lady Raiders to 88 consecutive victories and three straight state championships on the hardwood. He assisted Dick Allen in 1991 and 1992 before heading the program himself in 1993 (the last of three consecutive state titles) and 1994. He coached (as an assistant to Dave Nolte) at least two individual event champions on the track in the sprint events (including the relays and hurdles) over several years within a perennial powerhouse program. Ed later became the Athletic Administrator at his alma mater, Hug. He took over the Hawks’ girls varsity basketball program in 2001 and had that program back in the region playoffs immediately. Shepard retired in 2006 while finishing up at Hug, but he went back out into the coaching world five years later for one last stint. He took over the girls basketball head coaching job at Damonte Ranch in 2011 and led the Mustangs to five playoff appearances in seven seasons. He guided Damonte Ranch to the region tournament semifinals – its furthest postseason advancement to date – in his final season in 2018.
More …
Paul Tremayne taught and coached in the Lander County School District for 34 years and served as an athletic director for 32 years. He coached, at one time or another, boys/girls track and field, boys basketball, girls basketball, volleyball and cross country in Austin from 1983 through 2003. He also served as the Broncos’ Athletic Director for 19 years and as the student council advisor for two years. Paul transferred to Battle Mountain High School in 2003 for his last 14 years of teaching and coaching. He worked as the Longhorns’ Athletic Director for the last 13 of those years. He directed numerous NIAA region championship tournaments in the sports of basketball, baseball, softball, and boys and girls golf. He also coached girls basketball (winning state championships in 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2010), boys golf, girls golf and junior varsity volleyball. Tremayne, a multi-sport Coach of the Year recipient over the course of his career and the Class 1A’s Athletic Director of the Year in 1994-95, helped to oversee the planning and construction of the Tim Knight/Silver Standard football and track complex.
Mike Whitemaine, who legendary coach Chris Ault called the best student-athlete in the city during his time coaching at the high school level, was an all-State selection multiple times in football, basketball and baseball as a Bishop Manogue Miner. Whitemaine, who went on to play at UNLV on a double full scholarship (football and baseball), graduated in 1972 with multiple Player of the Year honors, Northern Nevada records and postseason media accolades. He earned 10 varsity letters beginning as a varsity player in baseball as a freshman. He was named to the First Team all-State in football and baseball from his sophomore year on. He was selected to the all-State basketball team as a junior and senior. He was a two-time Defensive Player of the Year in football and a three-time Pitcher of the Year in baseball. Mike hurled numerous no-hitters over the course of his prep career on the diamond, including striking out 17 batters in a 1-0 state championship victory in his final high school game in 1972. Whitemaine, who was also an annual Honor Roll student, was named the Miners’ Most Inspirational student-athlete.
Mitch Woods was, in essence, a forefather to a handful of truly outstanding student-athletes to grace the school halls and athletic facilities at Lowry High School in the 1970s. He graduated in 1973 with 10 varsity letters total to his credit in football, basketball and baseball, but only 10 because he did not continue to play varsity football as a junior or senior. Mitch was selected First Team all-State in basketball as a sophomore, junior and senior, and he was named the state’s Most Valuable Player after the 1972-73 season. He also helped to lead the Buckaroos to the state title in his final year, being named the tournament’s MVP. He was an all-State honoree in baseball as a sophomore (Second Team) and senior (First Team), and an Honorable Mention all-State in football as a sophomore. Woods went on to play basketball on full scholarship for four seasons at the University of Nevada, being chosen the program’s Most Inspirational Player for the 1974-75 season. He later coached youth basketball through the Boys and Girls Club for more than three decades.
2020 NIAA/One Nevada Hall of Fame Inductees
• ADMINISTRATOR/DIRECTOR – Paul Tremayne (Austin & Battle Mountain/ Coach at Austin & Battle Mountain).
• ATHLETES – Toni Brown-Fairbanks (Reed – volleyball / basketball / softball); Rollie Hess (Virginia City – basketball); Jennifer Hucke (Churchill County – volleyball / basketball); Michelle Palaroan (Reed – basketball / softball); Mike Whitemaine (Bishop Manogue – football /basketball /baseball); and Mitch Woods (Lowry – football / basketball / baseball).
• COACHES – Dan Anderson (Eureka, Hug, Sparks & Reno / Official – Football); Art Collins (Reno / Contributor to NIAA); Rob Hastings (Wooster, Sparks, North Valleys & Galena); and Ed Shepard (Reed, Hug & Damonte Ranch).
• CONTRIBUTORS –Pat Dolan (NIAA / Athlete at Lowry); and Dave Price (Media – print).
• OFFICIALS – Richard Pitts (NNOA basketball & softball) and Skip Houk (NNOA football & basketball, NIAA cross country & track and field).