Hall of Fame Inductees, by Name: Search by Year

Coach. After graduating from Swanton High School and Doane College, Joe returned to his home town in 1923 as coach, science teacher and assistant principal. In his 17-year tenure with the Jackrabbits he coached them to the basketball state tournament seven times, winning it twice. His 1933 squad was runner-up with only seven players on the roster. Leaving Swanton in 1940 he went to Hildreth as coach, teacher, and administrator for ten years. His teams went to the state tournament seven times and were champions three times and runner-up once. He left teaching in 1950 to go into private business but the lure of education brought him back to teach in Western, Wilber, and once more to Swanton. One final highlight was starting the career of Willard Schmidt, who played at Creighton University and then AAU with the McPherson Globe Refiners and was chosen for the 1936 U. S. Olympic team, gold medal champions.