Repository will honor athletic greats
By Jason Miller
posted 11.15.11

Earlier this year, Nancy Snyder walked by the trophy cases at Darrington High School and thought, why don’t we have an athletic hall of fame?

Snyder, who taught for 30 years at DHS and is now in her 39th year of coaching there, didn’t let her thought sit idle. She chatted up IGA co-owner Kevin Ashe for his opinion, pulled together a 12-member committee, and soon will see her idea come to life.

Darrington will celebrate the Darrington High School Athletic Hall of Fame with an inductees ceremony on Sat., Nov. 19, at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium.

“I wanted something that the kids can look up to and think of themselves in the future, earning such honors. I wanted to honor those who put together the athletic programs at Darrington and brought it to where it is today,” said Snyder.

The hall of fame will live in the school library for the time being, and will include photos, yearbook entries, scrapbook items, memorabilia, and, of course, the names of those who have contributed to athletic programs at DHS.

Categories of honor include athletes, coaches, support personnel, and contributors—individuals who have developed the fields, put up light poles, and otherwise created the athletic facilities.

Snyder and the committee haven’t been lacking for material.

“It’s a bombshell—it’s really taken off,” she said. “It’s the talk of the town, and we’ve dug up a lot of history.”

Committee members have been a wealth of information, as have community members, said Snyder. “I had a lady come in with a photo of the very first trophy earned by Darrington High School, a football trophy, in 1939,” she said (see photo, below).

Snyder herself will be one of the first inductees, having coached tennis, volleyball, basketball, and softball for 39 years (and counting). She also led the high school boys baseball team to the state tournament in 1981—and won.

SIDEBAR: Hall of Fame Inductees Ceremony
Sat., Nov. 19, 7 p.m.
Darrington High School Auditorium

SIDEBAR: 2011 Hall of Fame inductees
ATHLETES
Sandy Edwards, 1993; Angie Meece, 1998; Amy Jones, 2004; Calvin (Jinx) St. Louis, c. 1930s; Scotty Parris, 1954; Gerald Green, 1955; David Edwards, 1958; Randy Jones, 1978; Bill West, 1973; Ned Miller, 1999; Andy West, 1999

COACHES
Laverne Simmons , Nancy Snyder

COMMUNITY AND SCHOOL CONTRIBUTORS
High Lead Loggers

1955 BASKETBALL
Duane Sanford, Ken Estes, Daryl Edwards, Larry Gilbert, Daryle Smoke, Harold Haga, Roland Mount, Bill Green, David Edwards, Jackie Bates, Carter Barker, Dick Noble, Coach LaVerne Simmons

ALL-STATE SELECTION
Gerald Green

1957 BASKETBALL
Dick Hitchcock, Danny Bates, Gary Sweeney, Daryle Whittall, Duane Whittall, Lyle Edlund, David Edwards, David Andrews, Bobbie Green, Cecil Parris,
Roger Buchanan, Randall Phillips, Coach LaVerne Simmons, Asst. Coach Bill Carroll, Manager Alyn Rensink

ALL-STATE SELECTION
David Edwards

This image of a scanned photo shows the first trophy earned by Darrington High School, for football, in 1939. Submitted photo.