Mitch Domagala, who coached at Battle Mountain and Tonopah high schools and Lowry High School's Steve Clausen are part of the NIAA Hall of Fame Class of 2024.
The group features two athletic administrators/directors, five athletes, six coaches and one official.
A handful of individuals are being inducted for their excellence in a combination of categories (including as contributors).
The NIAA Hall of Fame’s 30th, Class of 2024, Inductees:
Mitch D. Domagala – Coach (wrestling, football), Battle Mountain High School; Steve V. Clausen – Athlete (basketball, baseball, football) Lowry High School (graduated in 1975); Artis Ruth Brandt – Coach (girls volleyball, track & field) Incline High School; Timi Lynnae Brown – Athlete (basketball, volleyball, softball) Carson High School (graduated in 1986); Ward William Coates – Coach (football, track & field) Wells High School (died in 2010); John K. Dibble – Coach (football, cross country, wrestling, track & field), Athletic Administrator, Contributor; Yerington High School, Rite of Passage, Nevada Athletic Directors Association; Rick Kaufmann – Official (swimming & diving), Northern Nevada Officials Association; Warren Mills – Coach (cross country, track & field), North Tahoe High School; Jonas Prida – Athlete (basketball), Yerington High School (graduated in 1990); Leon T. Reyes – Coach (football, boys & girls basketball, track & field), Official (football and basketball), Elko High School, Northeastern Nevada Officials Association, (died in December, 2021); George Smith – Athlete (track & field, football, basketball), Coach (track & field), Contributor (track & field), Reno High School (graduated in 1954), Reno and Hug high schools, (died in November, 2013); Robert Sullivan – Coach (basketball and softball), Administrator, Bishop Manogue High School, and Reno; Janelle Lynn Wells (Chandler) – Athlete (cross country, basketball, track & field), Reed High School (graduated in 1993) and Matt Williams – Athlete (baseball, basketball, football) Carson High School (graduated in 1983).
MITCH DOMAGALA is the winningest wrestling coach in the history of the NIAA. He led the Battle Mountain High School wrestling program to 17 state team titles, four state team runner-up placings and 18 region team championships while at the helm from 1995- 2022.
The Longhorns had runs of eight and six consecutive crowns along the way. Domagala, who started his teaching and coaching career at Tonopah (1992-1994), coached six high school All-Americans, 96 individual state champions and 241 state place winners.
His teams won a combined 458 dual meets. Domagala was a long-time member of the NIAA’s Wrestling Policy Committee (all-state planning group).
STEVE CLAUSEN dominated on the hardwood, exiting his high school playing career at Lowry in 1975 with multiple boys basketball state championships and individual accolades to his credit. Clausen earned 10 varsity letters total in football, basketball (4), baseball, and track & field.
He helped to lead the Buckaroos to three consecutive state crowns (and to the final as a freshman) and a 47-game winning streak in hoops.
He was named the state’s Player of the Year and to high school all-America teams after his junior and senior year campaigns. Clausen, who went on to play collegiately (and make all-Conference teams) in basketball, also had all-State seasons in football and baseball.
ARTIS BRANDT was a high school girls coaching pioneer, taking advantage of the passage of Title IX. Brandt began her coaching career as the head of Incline’s girls volleyball program in 1975-76, the same year the NIAA first sanctioned the sport.
She helped to lead the Highlanders to two state titles and two state runner-up placings over the course of 26 years.
Brandt started what is considered to be the first major girls sporting tournament in Western Nevada – an 18-team invitational held annually over Labor Day weekend – in 1980.
Brandt also served as Incline’s track & field coach for 15 years and Director of Activities for 20 years. Brandt retired after the 2001-02 school year.
TIMI BROWN was a state acclaimed three sport student-athlete at Carson High School from 1982 - 1986. She earned status as a first team all-Zone and all-State participant in girls volleyball, leading her teams seasonally in blocks and kills.
She helped to lead the Senators to three large-school classification state basketball championships, and garnered the Gatorade State Player of the Year honor her senior season. Brown earned status on the Converse, USA Today and Street & Smith all-American squads.
She was also named all-State in softball while helping that program earn a state title. Brown went on to star as an athlete and coach at the collegiate level.
WARD COATES, who died away in July of 2010, served Wells High School as a teacher, coach, athletic director and vice principal over the course of 32 years before retiring in 2001.
He coached football as a JV head, varsity assistant and varsity head from 1974-1993.
He led the boys and girls track & field teams from 1984-1995. Coates guided the Leopards to two league titles and two other state runner-up finishes on the gridiron.
Coates led his girls’ teams to four state titles and two runner-up places, and his boys’ teams to three state crowns and a pair of runner-up trophies around the oval.
He was named a Coach of the Year multiple times in both sports.
JOHN DIBBLE’s outstanding leadership qualities were on display constantly as a coach, athletic administrator and contributor for five decades.
Dibble served as a teacher, four-sport coach, athletic director and state representative at Yerington High School from 1971-2000.
He headed the athletic department for Rite of Passage from 2000-2020.
Dibble won multiple state titles as a coach (track & field), directed countless region championship tournaments/meets in many different sports, and served on high level NIAA committees as a league president.
Dibble helped to lead the Nevada Athletic Directors Association in various capacities for two decades, and was bestowed with elite National Federation awards for service over the course of his career.
RICK KAUFMANN was an institution for Northern Nevada swimming. Kaufmann, along with his wife, Marge, nurtured the sport at the high school level for 26 years as a member of the Northern Nevada Officials Association.
He worked as a meet referee from 1990 through 2015, and also served as President of the association’s sport chapter for six seasons, the Commissioner of Officials for six years after his presidency, and the NIAA’s State Rules Interpreter for five years after his commissionership.
Kaufmann was a sanctioned US Swimming official and meet referee from 1987-2010.
The Kaufmanns were always praised for increasing the number of swimming & diving officials.
WARREN MILLS is the NIAA’s all-time coaching leader for state team championships won in any sport. Mills led the North Tahoe High School cross country program for 52 years before stepping down following the 2021 fall season.
His Lakers’ teams captured 24 boys’ and 13 girls’ Class 2A state banners. His athletes took home 25 gold medals and posted more than 150 (top seven) podium finishes overall.
Mills, who also coached the distance runners during the spring track season to an incalculable number of individual state wins and top medal placings, directed one of the region’s largest invitationals (the North Tahoe Open) for most of his career.
JONAS PRIDA led Yerington High School’s boys basketball to one of the most impressive stretches for any team in any sport. Prida, who graduated in 1990, was one of the superstars on a team that went 104-7 and captured three state championships over the course of his career.
He was named to the first team all-State after his sophomore, junior and senior seasons, averaging more than 24 points per game throughout. Prida was named the state’s Player of the Year after his last two campaigns.
He still holds the school’s career scoring and assists records. Prida’s teams suffered only one league game loss over his career.
LEON REYES was a centerpiece of the Elko High School and Northeastern Nevada Officials Associations communities for 50 years until his passing in December of 2021. Reyes taught math and coached football, boys and girls basketball, and track & field for the Indians from 1971-2021. He was inducted to the school’s Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Northern Nevada Track and Cross Country Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame in 2008. Reyes worked every sport possible as an official, and he served as Commissioner for the NENOA for more than two decades. He also developed the area’s first athletic training program, helping students and citizens learn how to provide care for athletes.
GEORGE SMITH, who passed in November 2013, was a renowned athlete at Reno High School in the early 1950s, and a legendary track & field coach for Reno and Hug high schools for 40 years. Smith was the youngest student-athlete to win a varsity letter and zone individual title (pole vault). He also earned starting positions on the football and basketball teams starting in his early years, which was unheard of at the time for non-juniors or seniors. Smith coached the Huskies and Hawks to three state team crowns, three state runner-up finishes and eight zone titles during one nine-year run. Smith was also instrumental in assisting the NIAA as a clerk and official at top track & field meets.
BOB SULLIVAN had many successes as a student-athlete, coach and administrator at Bishop Manogue High School. He excelled additionally as a principal at Reno High School leading up to his retirement from education. Sullivan quarterbacked two state championship football teams and was also a multi-year starter on the basketball and baseball teams before his graduation in 1973. He served first as an assistant coach (under two NIAA Hall of Fame members) and then the head coach for basketball (1978-1986) and softball in the Miners’ athletic program before finishing his career as a principal in 1999. His teams captured multiple league championships in both sports.
JANELLE WELLS (Chandler) graduated from Reed High School in 1993 with 10 varsity letters, multiple zone and seven state team championships, and a collection of individual postseason awards in tow. She was a top three performer in girls cross country, an all-State selection and state championship team member in basketball, and a team and highly decorated individual state champion in track and field. Wells-Chandler helped to lead the Raiders to an 88-game winning streak over the last two seasons of her prep hoops career. She was a two-time runner up in the heptathlon (an event in which she would excel collegiately) in one of the nation’s premier postseason high school invitationals.
MATT WILLIAMS, also known as the “Carson Crusher”, graduated from Carson High School in 1983 as one of the nation’s top prospects in baseball. He was selected originally in the Major League Baseball Draft after graduation by the New York Mets but instead decided to accept a scholarship to play for UNLV (1984-1986). Williams was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the first round in 1986, sending him on to a star-studded professional career as a player and then coach/manager. Williams also played varsity football (starting at quarterback) and basketball (starting forward) at Carson.