Former Ninilchik basketball coach Dan Leman and his daughter and star player, Whitney, were among 11 named to the Alaska High School Hall of Fame, the Alaska School Activities Association announced Thursday.
The Lemans will be inducted into the Hall of Fame during a ceremony on Aug. 3, 2014, in Anchorage. The public is invited.
Leman coached the Wolverines girls for 18 seasons, winning 373 of his 409 games. The Wolverines are the only team in Alaska history to win five state titles, sweeping 2000 to 2004 at the Class 2A level. Leman won eight state titles overall, and finished third or better in 16 of his 18 seasons.
The Wolverines had a 98-game winning streak on Leman’s watch, which was preceded by a 57-game streak. Leman was the small-schools coach of the year seven times, and coached a player of the year nine times.
Whitney Leman, now Schillenberg, was a huge reason for her dad’s success. She led Ninilchik to four of those state titles, and was the first small-schools player to get player of the year three times. She was the MVP of every tournament she played in from her sophomore to her senior year.
As a freshman at the University of Alaska Anchorage, Leman helped the Seawolves win the 2003 Great Alaska Shootout by assisting on the game-winning basket in one game, and icing the championship game with a pair of free throws. Later, at Eastern Oregon, she ranked eighth in the NAIA by averaging 5.9 assists in 31 games.
The other inductee with Peninsula ties is Bruce Shearer, who coached football at Kenai Central before going on to coach at Chugiak and East Anchorage and pile up 10 Class 4A titles in football, girls basketball, and track and field.
The other inductees are Wrangell basketball legend Archie Young, Chugiak drill team founder Pauline Souter, Chugiak soccer legend Steve Simmons, volleyball coach Virgil Hooe, Dimond tennis coach Dave Reeves, band leader Richard “Dick” Barker, official Don Kassube, and volleyball coach Donna Dooley.
