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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
A pair of athletes who played in the NFL, a Major League Baseball alum and a United States Olympian are part of the fourth installment of men's picks in TopSports.news' Shawnee County All-Time Top 100 project.
TSN's latest group of 10 Top 100 honorees is headed by former Topeka High star Lamar Mady, who played for the Raiders before putting together a long and continuing career in professional indoor football, while Washburn Rural and Kansas State alum Will Cokeley also got a taste of the NFL with the Buffalo Bills while also playing in the United States Football League and Canadian Football League.
Picks No. 61 through 70 is top heavy with Topeka High products, including U.S. volleyball Olympian Chuck Nelson, Major League pitcher Ken "Hook'' Johnson, Trojan football stars Levi Lee and Troy Slusser and local softball legends Milo Mitchell and Joe Douglas.
Seaman grad and Washburn University baseball star J.P. Wright, a former NAIA Player of the Year, earned a spot in the Top 100 along with Washburn Rural product Luke Yarnell, who played Arena Football League for 10 seasons after starring at Coffeyville Community College and Southwestern Louisiana.
TSN SHAWNEE COUNTY ALL-TIME TOP 100 MEN’S ATHLETES
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Five of the best known names in Shawnee County softball earned spots on TopSports.news' fourth group of Shawnee County All-Time Top 100 honorees while spots No. 61-70 also included three local soccer greats as well as swimming and golf stars.
Silver Lake product Brenda Stolle, who helped Emporia State capture a national softball title, earned the No. 61 spot on the Top 100 while the latest grouping also includes former Washburn Rural and ESU All-American Taylor Zordel, Silver Lake star and Washburn University Hall of Famer Kathy Mohler, Seaman state champ and Division I standout Hailey Reed and Rural multi-sport standout and Kansas pitcher Kasey Hamilton.
The group of honorees also includes former soccer national champion Leea Murphy of Shawnee Heights as well as Washburn Rural stars Kaira Houser and Darby Hirsch while Topeka West product Kadence Jeffries won six state swimming titles in as many tries and Topeka High grad Rachel Stous established herself as one of the area's top women's golfers.
TSN SHAWNEE COUNTY ALL-TIME TOP 100 WOMEN’S ATHLETES
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
A former world record-holder in track, two of Shawnee County's all-time tennis greats, a Major League Baseball alum, a top MLB draft pick, three Division I athletes in basketball and football and a pair of record-setting quarterbacks comprise the third group of men's picks in TopSports.news' Shawnee County All-Time Top 100 project.
TSN's group of 10 Top 100 honorees in the No. 71 through 80 spots includes former American and world record-holder Clardy Vinson of Topeka High and Topeka West multi-sport star and Kansas Jayhawk C.B. McGrath as well as four-time state tennis champ Tommy Hunter of Hayden and three-time champ John Grantham of Topeka High.
Picks No. 71 through 80 also include former Division I athletes Bennie Simecka of Rossville and Theron Wilson of Highland Park, former MLB pitcher Rick DeHart and top draft pick David Proctor and former Silver Lake and Rossville stars Shannon Kruger and Tucker Horak.
TSN SHAWNEE COUNTY ALL-TIME TOP 100 MEN’S ATHLETES
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
A group of Shawnee County greats that excelled in five different sports earned spots No. 71-80 on the women's TopSports.news Shawnee County All-Time Top 100 list.
The third installment of the TSN women's picks is widely diverse, including college softball All-Americans Susan Punzo (Shawnee Heights) and Chris Torrez (Topeka West), tennis stars Danielle Knipp of Washburn Rural and Meg Griffin of Topeka West, who went on to excel at Division I Oklahoma and Maryland, respectively, as well as Topeka West star swimmer Kelli Dudley, who helped Truman State win three straight national swimming titles.
The group of honorees also includes Shawnee Heights product Stefine Pease, who put together a Hall of Fame volleyball career for Lipscomb, along with former T-Bird basketball standout Lori Roenbaugh, a 1,000-point career scorer for Washburn University, and former city tennis stars Tonna Rieger (Topeka West), Alex O'Neal (Hayden) and Zebbie Roberson (Hayden), who all won three state high school championships.
TSN SHAWNEE COUNTY ALL-TIME TOP 100 WOMEN’S ATHLETES
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Perhaps the biggest hurdle Chris Ridley faced in writing his third book was getting longtime Washburn Rural Hall of Fame boys and girls tennis coach Kevin Hedberg to agree to the project.
Kevin Hedberg, during his induction into the Kansas Tennis Coaches Assocation Hall of Fame in 2023, is the subject of 'Coaching Legacy of Champions,' which will be released in the coming weeks. [File photo/TSN]
Hedberg, who retired in 2022 after 43 years in education and coaching, wasn't keen on the idea of talking about himself, but Ridley, who previously released books on legendary prep football coaches Merle Venable of Baldwin and Rural's Ron Bowen, was eventually able to sell his close friend on the book by hitting Hedberg in his soft spot -- his former players.
"I knew it was going to be a hurdle, because we met, about whether the book could be written,'' said Ridley, Washburn Rural's former athletic director who helped bring Hedberg to the school in 1991. "He wasn't sure that it was something that we ought to do.
"But I said, 'Well, think about the way Bowen felt, that it gave an awful lot of attention to an awful lot of kids that played.' That's what convinced Kevin was all the different kids that could be mentioned and their stories and their seasons. That's what he likes I think.''
Ridley is currently accepting orders for 'Coaching Legacy of Champions,' with the target date for release early next month.
"It should go to print here pretty quickly, we're hoping for the first of August,'' Ridley said. "It shouldn't take too long to get it printed. That's usually the fastest part of it.''
Hedberg, a former standout at Topeka High and South Florida and a member of the Topeka Tennis Association and Kansas Tennis Coaches Association Hall of Fame, said the book gave him an opportunity to re-live his 82 seasons (girls and boys combined) as a high school coach, beginning his career with an 11-year stint at Seaman before 32 years at Rural.
"I said no initially and then Chris came back at me with the team aspect,'' said Hedberg, who coached five state championship teams at Rural. "It was wonderful and looking back you just realize all the unique personalities that made up tennis teams. All teams have that, but in tennis you've got six people and they're in a van and you're learning all kinds of things. We had a van rule that whatever was said in the van never left the van. And most of the time they held to that.
"Those dynamics were so much fun. I got to have some really terrific players and then there were all the kids that got their start playing tennis. It's just fun to re-live it and that part was really fun.''
