Willis Jones – Beatrice
Coach. Willis Jones, according to noted sportswriter Gregg McBride was one of the top 10 prep football backs in the state. At Minden High he lettered seven times in three sports earning all-state honors in football and basketball and quarterbacked the Whippets to an undefeated season as a senior. After a service stint, he enrolled […]
Larry Jacobson – Omaha
Coach. Larry was a four year letterman at Homer High School participating in football, basketball and track. He was his team’s leading rusher in football for two years and was selected to the all-state football team his senior year. Graduating in 1956, he attended Kearney State College where he lettered in football and track all […]
John Johnette – Omaha Burke
Coach. John Johnette, Omaha Burke’s first basketball coach, led the Bulldogs to state championships in 1977 and 1986. He compiled a 292-251 record in 25 years as Burke qualified for the state tournament 13 times. On the baseball diamond, Johnette coached from 1963 to 1970 and ended on a high note with a state championship […]
Charles “Deacon” Jones – Boys Town
Athlete. An NCAA cross country champion, Charles “Deacon” Jones set the American record in the steeplechase in 1957 and competed in the Olympics in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 1956 and 1960. However, his first rewriting of the record books came while representing Boys Town where he set a national high school record in an AAU […]
Rex Jones – Chadron
Contributor. Rex Jones retired in 2002 after a 50-year career in Nebraska athletics that saw him rise from the playing fields to the board room. Jones played quarterback on an undefeated Chadron High School football team of 1954, played for an undefeated Chadron State football team in 1958 and coached an undefeated Rushville football team […]
Jodi Janssen Harper – Papillion-LaVista
Class of 1994 Jodi (Janssen) Harper established the standard in Nebraska high school diving, becoming the first to sweep the gold medals all four years at the state swimming and diving meet. She set the state record in 1994, breaking the previous mark by 20 points. That record still stood at the time of her […]
Tom Jaworski – Creighton Prep
Coach Tom Jaworski kept the Creighton Prep football team in the upper echelon for nearly 40 years. He retired in 2010 as the all-time leader in football coaching victories in Nebraska. His 39-year career resulted in 343 victories against only 92 defeats. His Junior Jays won nine state championships, including five straight from 1985 to […]
Clester Johnson – Bellevue West
Athlete. Bellevue West (1991) Being a wide receiver for the undefeated national champion Nebraska Cornhuskers in 1995 followed a dominating high school career for Clester Johnson, who stood out in three sports at Bellevue West. A two-time all-state quarterback whose team had a 20-7 record during his high school years, he established Class A standards […]
Ed Johnson – Lincoln Northeast
Coach–In his very first year as a head high school basketball coach in Nebraska, this legendary gentleman led the Lincoln Northeast boys rocketing to a Class A state championship by winning his first state tournament. For nearly forty years he would often repeat this performance, winning seven state titles in boys basketball and nearly 500 […]
Peaches James Keaton – Papillion-LaVista
ATHLETE No one dominated Nebraska high school softball like Peaches James. The pitching ace on four straight state championship teams, the four-time all-state hurler set numerous state records, including 11 no-hitters, five perfect games and an 0.04 ERA in 1999. Her exploits included 31 consecutive wins, 19 consecutive shutouts and a streak of 257 2/3 […]
