Anne Shadle-South Sioux City

South Sioux City (Class of 2001) The road under Anne Shadle’s feet often seemed to fly by. At South Sioux City, where her father was the coach, Shadle took the first steps to becoming a premier runner. She won three Class B and two all-class gold medals at the state cross country championships and three […]

Renee Saunders-Omaha Marian

Omaha Marian (Class of 1995) Renee Saunders kept her eye on the ball. Named all-class all-state in volleyball and basketball her junior and senior seasons, she led Omaha Marian to the state basketball tournament every year and a state runner-up finish her junior year. She graduated as Marian’s all-time leader in scoring and rebounding. On […]

Laura Spanheimer Dechant – Omaha Marian

Omaha Marian (Class of 2001) The Athlete of the Year tag stuck to Omaha Marian’s Laura Spanheimer, who twice earned the honor from the Lincoln Journal-Star and as a senior from the Omaha World-Herald. She led Marian to back-to-back state basketball championships those years, earning all-metro and all-state accolades. An outstanding runner as well, she […]

Sarah Sasse-Kildow – Lincoln High

Lincoln High (Class of 1998) In spite of her diminutive size, Sarah Sasse-Kildow cast a long shadow on Nebraska high school girls golf. After tying for fourth at the state meet as a freshman and second as a sophomore, she won back-to-back state titles as a junior and senior. She also dominated the amateur golf […]

Dean Steinkuhler – Sterling

Athlete–Not far from the Big Nemaha River in southeastern Nebraska is the village of Burr. From this small place came a young man with a large talent who graduated from Sterling High School in 1979. Fortunately for Cornhusker fans, Coach Tom Osborne was astute enough to discover the talent and he encouraged Dean Steinkuhler to […]

Cliff Squires – Lincoln Northeast

Athlete. Cliff’s athletic career began with 13 varsity letters at Bethany and Lincoln Northeast high schools. He was co-captain of Northeast’s first state championship football team in 1943. It was that year he was selected Nebraska’s “Prep Player of the Year” which was the forerunner of the “Athlete of the Year” award. He also garnered […]

Russ Snyder – Nelson

  Athlete. 1952 grad. A starting outfielder for the 1966 World Series Champion Baltimore Orioles, Russ Snyder played in the major leagues from 1959-1970, building a career on athletic prowess that developed at Nelson High School where he was a three-sport star. Snyder earned all-conference honors as a running back in football. He was a […]

Gene Suhr – Papillion-LaVista

Coach A motivator, innovator and a master builder of programs, Gene Suhr created a winning legacy on the football fields at Ord and Papillion. He compiled a 200-95 record over a 23-year head coaching career, which included 21 state playoff appearances.  Suhr led Papillion-LaVista to undefeated state championship seasons in 1990 and 1996, with both […]

Roger Sayers – Omaha Central

Class of 1959–Competing in an era where most athletes received a catchy nickname, Rocket Roger Sayers first showed a knack for speed as an Omaha Central athlete in 1957-58-59, winning 100-220 gold medals in 1958, the 220 and a relay gold in 1959. He starred at Omaha University in football and track for four years. […]

Joe Sukovaty – Swanton

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 […]