Date: April 14, 2025

Location: DCSD LEGACY CAMPUS

Times: 5-6pm- reception and cash bar, 6-9pm Dinner and Program

Tickets: $85 click the link below

The Colorado High School Coaches Association is excited to announce the 2025 Hall of Fame Class.  This is the 61st class to be inducted.

The class includes:  Pat Callahan, Wendy Hall, Doug Hugill, Penny Isenbart, Al Lear, Andy Lowry, Ken Niven, and Rich Yonker.

The group includes three football coaches, two volleyball coaches, one soccer coach, one cross country/track & field coach, and one basketball coach.

The induction banquet to recognize this group will be held on Monday, April 14, 2025 at The DCSD Legacy Campus, 10035 S. Peoria St., Parker 80134.  Tickets for the event can be purchased at www.colohsca.org.  

The inductees are:

Pat Callahan has been the coach for the boys’ soccer team at Canon City High School since its inception in 1987 and took on the same role for the girls’ team beginning in 2003.  His boys team won the state championship in 1991 capping off an undefeated 20-0 season.  While at the head of the program Callahan’s boys’ teams have qualified for the state tournament 22 times and the girls 16 times.  Callahan has been a member of the Colorado High School Coaches Association since 1987 and served the group as the soccer president 2003-2004. 

Wendy Hall, a 1982 graduate of Steamboat Springs High School, has devoted a career to coaching volleyball at the same high school. After serving as the assistant volleyball coach for two years Hall took over the reins of the program in 1989 and has remained.  During those 36 seasons the Sailors are 566-294 with eight state tournament appearances.  Nineteen SSHS volleyball players have gone on to play collegiately and three have played international professional volleyball.  Hall has also served SSHS as an assistant girls’ basketball coach for ten years and an assistant track and field coach for eight years.

Doug Hugill, the 1979 graduate of Wasson High School, has dedicated his coaching career to the athletes of the Colorado Springs area.  Doug in particular left his mark on the cross-country and track & field programs at Wasson and Coronado High Schools.  While coaching at Wasson the teams won state championships in boys’ cross-country in 1995, and boys track & field in1998.  In 2012 the boys’ cross-country team at Coronado won the state title.  Hugill directed the success of these programs all while teaching Physics & Geology at the schools. 

Penny Isenbart graduated from Aurora Central High School in 1987 and received her BA from Metropolitan State University.  She completed two MA degrees, one from Colorado College and one from The University of Missouri.  A brief start in education in the Denver Metro Area was followed by a move to Colorado’s eastern plains. This began the outstanding coaching accomplishments for Isenbart.  Penny was the volleyball coach at Kit Carson High School sandwiched between two stints at Stratton.  In her 24-year stay at Kit Carson her teams won three state championships in their 13 state appearances.  Along the way Coach Isenbart picked up many recognitions including the CHSCA Pioneer Award and the Helen McCall Coach of the Year award from the Colorado Coaches of Girls Sports.

Al Lear, a 1961 graduate of Fort Collins High School was an All-American Football player in his senior year of high school and went on to play for two years at Oklahoma.  Lear returned to Colorado State University to complete his education and begin his highly successful career as an educator and coach in Northeastern Colorado.  Lear’s first stint as a head football coach was at Yuma High School where he led the Indians for 12 years. His teams won numerous league titles and finished with a state runner-up in his stay.  Coach Lear next landed in Windsor as an athletic director and later the head football coach for 14-years.  His team won the state championship in 1993. Lear, the “Coach of Coaches”, served as an assistant coach at Frederick High School and was on the staff for their first five state qualifying teams.  

Andy Lowry, the Lakewood native, left only for a five-year period to get his education at Western Colorado University where he played football for the Mountaineers.  He returned to Lakewood High School to begin his teaching and coaching career in 1987 and moved to Columbine to become the head football coach for the Rebels in 1994.  From 1994 to the present, the Rebels have won six 5A State Football Championships.  His teams have won 17 league championships and added a State Runner-up trophy in 2019.  The Columbine High School Rebels have arguably been the premier football program over the past thirty years in Colorado.    

Ken Niven, a 34-year high school basketball coach left his mark on two high school programs. Niven started his career at Alamosa High School after graduating from Adams State University.  During his 15-year tenure at Alamosa, the Mean Moose won four State Championships and added one more state runner-up.  Niven moved to Monarch High School after leaving the San Luis Valley and stayed on as the head man for the Coyotes for 19 years.  Monarch made the final-eight three times and Niven was named the 5A Coach of the year once.  In addition to coaching basketball, Coach Niven served as an assistant football coach throughout his time in Alamosa and continued to assist with football at Brighton and Roosevelt into his retirement years. 

Rich Yonker has spent his lifetime in Fort Collins and became the Head Football Coach at Poudre High School in 1986 after assisting in the same program since 1976.  During Yonker’s tenure as head man of the Impalas, their record was 139-103 winning nine Conference Championships, making 13 state playoff appearances and twice going to the semifinals.  Yonker was named Coach of the Year by both the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News in 1989.  After retiring and stepping away from his coaching duties at Poudre, Yonker served as the Head Football Coach at Resurrection Christian from 2009-2012.  He led them to their first winning season in 2011. Yonker, never fully retiring, was back at Poudre coaching the defense from 2013-2020. 

Benefits. Education. All State Games. Recognition.

OUR MISSION

The Colorado High School Coaches Association was founded in 1934 and presently serves over 2,900 coaches across the state of Colorado. Through its mission, CHSCA provides support for all groups coaching CHSAA-sanctioned sports in Colorado. The objectives of CHSCA are to:

• Provide Member Benefits, such as the Association's $2,000,000 per member general liability insurance program
• Provide Member Recognition through the Association's extensive awards program and Hall of Fame
• Provide Member Education via sport specific coaching clinics and seminar
• Host the Colorado All-State Games