The Washington High School Athletic Department and the Washington High School Athletic Association are proud to announce the selections for the inaugural class of the Washington High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Inductees were recognized during halftime of Washington’s varsity football game on Friday, August 27.
The Hall of Fame process consisted of roughly 50 nominations over the categories of Coaches, Contributors, Players and Teams. From the list of nominations, the Hall of Fame Committee initially voted for 20 semi-finalists and then from the semi-finalists, a second vote was taken to select the Finalists.
The 2021 Hall of Fame Inductees are:
Coaches: Jim Scanlan (Football), Doris Jones (Volleyball) and Alex Graham (Track and Field).
Contributors: Jack Hagedorn.
Players: Lorene Ramsey (Softball and Volleyball), Tom Officer (Basketball), Jim Gephardt (Football), Tim Hayes (Football), Jill Kingsbury (Cross Country and Track), Mike Sandbothe (Basketball) and Lisa Sandbothe (Volleyball, Basketball and Track and Field).
Team: 1973 state champion football team.
Jim Scanlan
Jim Scanlan was Washington High School’s head football coach from 1965 to 1986 and head track and field coach from 1963 to 1974. His WHS football teams had a cumulative record of 158-49-2, capturing nine conference championships, three district titles, and one state championship.
The 1973 Blue Jays team claimed the Missouri Class 3A state championship with an 11-0 record, and the 1974 and 1978 squads finished second in the state. In his 22 seasons as Washington's head football coach, the Blue Jays had just two losing seasons.
Scanlan also served 21 years as Washington's athletic director and 12 years as an assistant principal before his retirement in 1998.
In December of 2012, a ceremony for Scanlan took place prior to a Washington basketball game to announce that the football stadium at WHS was officially named after him.
Scanlan was a 1954 graduate of McKinley High School in St. Louis, where he was a standout on the football and track and field teams. He then attended Northeast Missouri State University in Kirksville, where he was inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame in 1998. He was a lineman on the Bulldogs football team and a field event performer throwing the shot put and javelin for the track and field squad.
Scanlan was named the 1978 Sporting News Coach of the Year and the 1987 Missouri Athletic Director of the Year.
Scanlan passed away on March 29, 2018, at the age of 82. He was represented by his three daughters Julie Weindel, Jayne Markum-Scanlan and Janel Brown.
Doris Jones
Anyone walking in the Blue Jay Gymnasium at Washington High School will notice the State Banners hanging on the walls. Doris Obermark Jones has her name on all nine of the volleyball banners.
During her tenure coaching volleyball at WHS, Jones reached the Final Four four times as an assistant coach and five times out of 13 seasons as the head coach, making Washington one of the elite volleyball programs in the state. She also had a 13-year run coaching eighth grade volleyball where her teams did not lose a single match.
As Washington’s varsity volleyball coach, Jones accumulated over 330 career wins, averaging 25 wins per season.
Jones began her teaching career at Washington in 1975. In addition to coaching volleyball, she started the girls basketball program and also was an assistant softball coach.
Jones obtained her Master’s Degree in Education Administration in 1988 and became the chair of the WHS physical education department. She retired from the School District in Washington in 2001 after spending 32 years in education. She returned to the Washington volleyball program in 2010 as an assistant coach, and was in that role until 2018. She now is coaching her grand-daughter’s club volleyball team, along with her daughter.
Alex Graham
Alex Graham coached track and cross country during his time at Washington High School.
From 1968 to 1971, Graham was the assistant coach for the WHS boys track team that won three conference championships during that time. In 1969, he coached the boys cross country team that won conference and district titles.
The first girls track team at Washington started in 1979. Graham coached that program for 17 years. In 1979, the girls finished fourth in the state. The girls went on to win 10 straight conference championships in the 1980s. After finishing second in conference in 1990, they won five straight conference titles from 1991 to 1995, giving them 15 conference championships in a 16-year span.
Graham coached two state track champions, Robin Sandbothe in the shot put and discus in 1979, and Jill Kingsbury in the 1,600 and 3,200 meter races in 1983. Alex also coached Kingsbury to a cross country state championship. He also coached the WHS boys golf team in 1997 and 1998 before retiring from coaching.
Graham graduated from Beaumont High School in St. Louis in 1957, where he was a part of a state championship cross country team. Alex and his wife of 61 years reside in Texas, where he enjoys playing golf almost every day.
1973 Washington Football Team
The 1973 Washington Football Blue Jays won the Missouri Class 3A state championship with an 11-0 record.
The Blue Jays defeated Jefferson City Helias in the state title game at Rolla High School by the score of 14-7 in a dramatic comeback victory. Trailing 7-6, Ted Stahl returned a punt 66 yards for a touchdown with 46 seconds left in the game. Dennis Brune scored on the two-point conversion to seal the win.
In the semifinal game, Washington defeated North County Desloge by the score of 20-14. It was the first state playoff game ever hosted by Washington.
The Blue Jays claimed the Four Rivers Conference championship and were the first team to reach the state football playoffs in school history.
In the first nine games of the regular season, Washington’s defense held opponents to a total of 26 points, which is an average of just under three points per game.
The Blue Jays were a tough, hard-nosed team that took the personality of their head coach, Jim Scanlan. They were also a smart team with good quickness who knew how to win games.
Many members of the 1973 squad were on hand to celebrate the team’s recognition into the Washington High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Jack Hagedorn
Jack Hagedorn graduated from Washington High School in 1952. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he moved to Washington in 1948. Jack and his wife Jo Ann both were extremely active in the Washington community and with the Washington School District for many years.
Jack’s support of the Washington School District, and in particular, the athletic program, has spanned for well over 50 years. He was a charter member of the WHS Athletic Association and later served as president for over 10 years. During those years, the athletic association was extremely active in money-raising activities to support the athletic program and many work projects to improve athletic facilities.
Jack was a starter at track meets for 10 years and continued to help at meets for another 20 years. He was a part of the WHS Football chain gang for over 40 years. He also volunteered his time as a scoreboard operator for boys and girls basketball games at both the high school and the middle school for over 40 years.
Jack actively served on the committee to pass the bond issue in the late 1960s that funded the Washington Middle School campus. He’s also been involved with many different clubs and organizations in the Washington community.
Jack Hagedorn was inducted into the WINGS Hall of Honor in 2011.
Lorene Ramsey
Lorene Ramsey graduated from Washington High School in 1955, an era when high school girls sports were limited. She played softball and volleyball and graduated Valedictorian of her class at WHS. One classmate said that the boys could not compete with Lorene, both academically and athletically. She was that good.
Ramsey attended Illinois State University, where she played field hockey, basketball, volleyball and softball.
Ramsey had a successful career as a softball player, educator and coach. She played softball both on the amateur and professional level. As a pitcher, she was unstoppable. In 1965, she pitched 98 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings. She’s a member of the Illinois and National Amateur Softball Association Hall of Fame.
Ramsey’s coaching resume is at the top for any coach, in any sport, at any level. She coached both softball and basketball at Illinois Central College from 1969-2003. As a softball coach, she amassed a career record of 840 wins and 309 losses, won two NJCAA National Championships, placed second two years, and third seven times.
Ramsey’s basketball teams also were phenomenally successful. She had 887 wins and 197 losses and won five NJCAA National Championships. She was the first coach in any division of women’s basketball to win 800 games. And she’s the only coach ever to win two NJCAA National Titles in the same year, softball and basketball, in 1998.
Jill Kingsbury
Jill Kingsbury had a passion and dedication to the sport of long distance running. She’s a trailblazer for cross country at Washington High School. It wasn’t offered when she started high school in 1979, so instead she ran in various 5K and 10K events around the state.
From her sophomore through her senior years at WHS, Kingsbury was the only member of the girls cross country team. She was a one-person team who broke records and put Washington High School on the map for the sports of cross country and track. She set the stage for female runners to follow.
In the three years Jill ran cross country, she finished second in state as a sophomore and won state championships in both her junior and senior seasons.
Kingsbury also competed on the girls track team all four years of high school. She competed in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs along with the 3,200-meter relay. She was a state performer all four years of high school and won state crowns in the 1,600-meter run and the 3,200-meter run as a senior in 1983.
Jill went on to the University of Missouri, where she was a member of the cross country and track teams.
Today, Jill is teaching Business Law and Economics.
Lisa Sandbothe Braun
Lisa Sandbothe is commonly recognized as one of the best athletes to have graduated from Washington High School. Lisa was an all-state athlete while competing in three sports; volleyball, basketball and track.
On the volleyball court, Sandbothe was a power outside and middle hitter, who commanded the court both offensively and defensively. She led Washington to the Final Four three years in a row from 1984 to 1986.
Lisa’s dominance continued on the basketball court, where she was a scoring machine. She holds the school record for most career points with 2,058, which happened without a three-point line, most points scored in a season with 691, most career field goals with 897, and most career rebounds with 1,071. She was named to the All-State Team three times and was Miss Missouri Basketball in 1987.
Sandbothe also was a member of the WHS track team. She was a state qualifier in the hurdles.
Lisa continued her outstanding basketball career at the University of Missouri, where she currently ranks third in career blocked shots and tenth in career rebounds. She scored 1,218 career points at Mizzou and was a two-time All-Big 8 Conference selection.
Sandbothe played basketball professionally for three seasons for the St. Louis River Queens.
In 2019, the Sandbothe Family was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
Mike Sandbothe
Mike Sandbothe is one of the most well-known and successful basketball players to have ever played at Washington High School, where he was an All-State performer for the Blue Jays.
Sandbothe went on to play basketball at the University of Missouri from 1986 to 1989 and had a tremendous career for the Tigers. At Mizzou, Mike played the role of scrapper, the kind of player Coach Norm Stewart looked for on the recruiting trail.
Mike’s name still appears 21 times in Mizzou’s Top 10 records. Career wise, he is seventh in steals with 172, eighth in assists with 380, and tenth in minutes played with 3,647. The Tigers reached the NCAA Tournament all four years of Sandbothe’s career, which included the 1987 Big 8 Conference championship. He was an All Big 8 selection in 1989, when he co-captained the Tigers to the Sweet 16. He later played in the Continental Basketball Association and in Japan.
In 2019, the Sandbothe Family was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
Tom Officer
Tom Officer will always be regarded as one of the best Blue Jays to ever step on the basketball court. Officer is seventh in the WHS boys basketball record book for points scored in a single season with 599 during the 1960-61 season. He was an All-State selection during that season.
The 1961 Washington boys basketball team that placed third in the state in Class L was honored during a 50-year anniversary celebration at WHS back in 2011.
Here we are 60 years after the team reached the State Final Four and the 1961 Blue Jays, led by Officer, are still known as one of the best teams in school history.
Coached by Glenn Cafer, Washington finished its memorable 1961 season with an overall record of 35-1.The only loss came in the state semifinals against University High by the score of 54-47. A crowd of over 6,000 fans packed into the Washington University Field House to watch that game. Tom Officer led Washington in the scoring column with 18 points.
The Blue Jays bounced back in the third-place game, defeating Mercy by the score of 50-46. Officer again led the Blue Jays with 25 points and was named to the all-tournament team.
One of Tom’s teammates, Ron Cowan, said during the 50-year reunion that Officer was the heart of the team and made all of his teammates better.
Officer, a post player, was the star of the team. After his days at WHS, he played at Murray State for one season and finished his career at Mizzou. He now lives in Houston, Texas.
Jim Gephardt
Jim Gephardt is a familiar name to Blue Jay Nation as a former athlete and coach at Washington High.
After coaching football at Ft. Zumwalt High School for four years, Gephardt returned to Washington High School and coached football, basketball and track for 27 years. He was an assistant football coach on the 1978 team that finished second in the state. Gephardt was the Blue Jays Head Football Coach from 1991 to 1997. He was a high school math teacher at WHS.
On the playing field at Washington High, Gephardt played on the school’s first football team in 1965, and scored the first touchdown against Union. He was a captain on the program’s first undefeated varsity team in 1967, going 9-0 during the regular season. He was a first-team all-district selection and a third-team all-state pick in Class L in 1967.
Gephardt also played other sports at WHS. He was a varsity starter on the basketball team during the 1967-1968 season. He set a school record in the shot put during the spring of 1968 with a throw of 49 feet, six inches.
Gephardt went on to play football at Northeast Missouri State University in Kirksville and was a captain on the 1971 conference championship team that had a 9-1 record.
Jim Gephardt was inducted into the WINGS Hall of Honor in 2016.
Tim Hayes
Tim Hayes attended Washington High School 1966-1970, where he excelled in football, basketball, and track for all four years.
Tim scored 488 career points in football, a record that stood in the St. Louis area for well over a decade. He still holds that record at Washington. In his very first varsity game as a freshman, Tim returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown.
Thereafter, his career flourished, earning All-Conference, All-District, and All-Metro honors at both running back and defensive back, and All-State honors at running back. Tim scored six touchdowns in one game during the 1967 season. He rushed for 1,284 yards during the 1968 season.
A rare combination of speed and power, Tim qualified for the Missouri State Track and Field finals in the shot put. His talents landed him several options to play college football after graduation.
In honor of his coach, John Carter, Tim decided to accept an athletic scholarship to Northeast Missouri State University, lettering four years in both football as a fullback and in track and field as a shot put thrower from 1970 to 1974. Northeast football won conference championships in 1970 and 1971.
In 2012, Hayes was inducted to the Missouri State Football Hall of Fame. In 2019, Tim was inducted into the Truman State University Athletic Hall of Fame.
Tim was a teacher at Hazelwood West High School for 30 years. He spent a combination of 21 years coaching football and track. In 1991, Tim was named Head Football Coach at Hazelwood West. He is the only football coach in the history of Hazelwood West to win District and Sectional Championships.
While attending Northeast Missouri, Tim met his wife, Rita, and they married in 1972. They have three sons; Gregory, Matthew and Justin.
Jim Scanlan
Doris Jones
Alex Graham
Jack Hagedorn
Lorene Ramsey
Jim Gephardt
Tim Hayes
Jill Kingsbury
Mike Sandbothe
Lisa Sandbothe
WHS 1973 State Championship Football Team
