2020 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

CATHERINE GAFFIGAN

  Sacred Heart-Griffin High School graduate (1991) who competed in cross country, track, swimming, and soccer during her high school career and also was class Valedictorian. She was a four-year starter in soccer and, as a freshman, she was a starting middle halfback for Sacred Heart Academy, the first high school girls soccer team in Springfield. She was an all-city selection in soccer as a sophomore, junior and senior and co-Player of the Year as a senior. As a senior she was the first SH-G soccer player, male or female, to be named to the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association All-State team. She was an all-city swimmer as a sophomore, but after taking up cross country in the fall of her sophomore year, she elected to give up swimming. She was a three-time all-city pick in cross country, and she placed fourth at the Illinois High School Association Girls Cross Country Meet as a sophomore, fifth as a junior, and fourth as a senior. Gaffigan attended college at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where she earned 12 varsity letters – four in cross country, four in indoor track, and four in outdoor track. She was Army’s No. 1 runner in cross country all four years. She was cross country team captain as a junior and senior and captained the indoor and outdoor track teams as a senior. She set multiple Army records in track. In 1995 she set the record in the indoor mile against Navy and the indoor 3,000 meters at Princeton, and both stood for 23 years. She won numerous Patriot League titles in track and cross country, and at graduation Gaffigan was presented with the prestigious Army Athletic Association Award, which goes annually to the male and female cadet who displays the “most valuable service to intercollegiate athletics during a career as a cadet.” She graduated as an honor graduate (top 50 in her class), and after graduation she served as a U.S. Army officer, and while on active duty she was selected for the first All Army women’s soccer team in 1999. She was the starting left fullback for the All Army women’s soccer team for the next three years and was captain of the 2000 and 2001 teams. Gaffigan graduated from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

Lester Hampton

 The 1979 Lanphier graduate who ran track and cross country and played basketball for the Lions. He captured seventh place in the Class AA 880-yard run in the 1979 state track meet as a Lanphier senior. He concluded his career at Lanphier with seven school records in track while being named most consistent performer as a senior and most valuable distance runner as a junior. He received a track scholarship to Illinois State University and was a three-time Missouri Valley Conference champion in the 800-meter run, winning two indoor titles and one outdoor crown. He ranks as one of only eight competitors to become a two-time champion in the MVC 800, and he held school records at ISU in the indoor 800 for eight years (still ranks fourth after setting the mark in 1982) and the outdoor 800 for five years (still ranks eighth after establishing the record in 1981). Hampton was a three-time qualifier for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. But his greatest success may have come as a coach. He was inducted into the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in January 2017. He has won three state championships in 32 years of coaching at Normal University High School, including two in boys cross country and one in boys track and field. Has led the Pioneers to 15 top-three finishes at state, including three runner-up finishes in boys cross country, one second-place performance in girls cross country, six third-place finishes in boys cross country, one third-place effort in boys track and field and one third-place performance in girls track and field. Hampton has coached his athletes to a combined eight individual state championships and three relay state titles among 87 all-state performances in cross country and track, and he has directed his boys cross country teams to 26 state berths and the girls to 10 state appearances. He has won a combined 34 regional titles and 20 sectional crowns in boys and girls cross country and boys track and field. Hampton coached freshman and JV boys basketball for 30 years before transitioning to a full-time varsity assistant coach position. His stint as an assistant coach included a 1995 state basketball championship.

Shelly Lehman Burke

The 1987 Ursuline Academy graduate was a three-year standout in basketball and softball, played on the tennis team and graduated with a 3.81 grade-point average to rank fourth in her graduating class. She’s the all-time leading scorer for the now-closed school in basketball with 1,780 career points, led her team in scoring three years in a row and was an All-City selection in 1987 as a 5-foot-6 forward. She scored 21 points in her final game, a 43-39 loss to Brown County in the 1987 sectional title game. During her senior year she scored 33 points in a 75-67 win over Springfield High and 29 in a 64-58 win over Southeast. She averaged 22.8 points as a senior and 21.0 for her career. In softball, she played shortstop and batted .406 for her career, including .438 with 33 RBIs as a senior when the Sonics qualified for the state tournament and she was named to the All-City team. In 1986 against Lutheran, she hit two home runs in one inning, a feat accomplished by 29 players in state history. After graduation she enrolled at Lincoln Land Community College to play both basketball and softball. As a freshman she averaged 23 points a game and was named team MVP, and as a sophomore she averaged 25 points a game. After Lincoln Land, she attended Illinois State University and got a degree in physical education and then a masters in educational administration from the University of South Carolina and an educational leadership specialist degree from Georgia Southern. She authored an article with her husband, Kevin L. Burke, that was published in the Journal of Sport Behavior entitled “Perceptions of momentum in college and high school basketball: An exploratory case study investigation.” She is a physical education teacher for Gaston County Schools in North Carolina.

Dave Urish

 The Springfield-based competitive summer team won the prestigious Continental Amateur Baseball Association 16-under World Series, beating the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Power 2-1 in the championship game. There were 24 teams from across the United States and from Mexico, Puerto Rico and Canada entered. The team played approximately 40 games in the regular season, and the roster included 14 players, most of them who went on to play collegiately and/or professionally. One of those players was 15-year major league veteran Jayson Werth (Toronto, LA Dodgers, Philadelphia and Washington). The team was coached by former major leaguer Dennis Werth, and his assistants were Elston Mitchell and John Schneller. Other team members were Jay Crawford, Chad Duncheon, Adam Feld, Bryce Hager, Jeff Hurie, Todd Mitchell, Kevin Montgomery, Craig Moreland, Todd Schneller, Tyler Shelton, Brad Svoboda, Seth Von Behren and Matt Whalen.

Jim Jumper

 Long-time Springfield resident who began his teaching and coaching in 1972 at Mount Sterling and later coached at Augusta Southeastern, Elkhart and Mount Pulaski. In 1984 he moved his family to Springfield and along with coaching at school, became involved with youth baseball, basketball and track in Springfield. He coached at Dale Teubner then Fairview where he had five teams advance to the State Tournament with three playing in the championship. In basketball, Jumper coached at the YMCA and worked the YMCA camps. He coached a Gus Macker summer team that never lost in three summers with players T.J. Jumper, Victor Chukwudebe, Jeff Walker and Carlos Kincaid. He coached Lanphier summer basketball from 1993- 95, including a team made up of Victor Chukwudebe, Jeff Walker, Leonard Walker, Lester Hampton, T.J. Jumper, Jamal Broomfield and Aundra Williams that made the semifinals at the prestigious Memphis Classic against teams from all over the country. In 2009 he was selected to the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and was named Coach of the Year 5 times. During his career he has coached over 1,000 basketball games as well as hundreds of baseball games and track meets. Since retiring from teaching and coaching he works part-time with students who are home-bound for medical reasons for District 186 and works at the Springfield Running Center part-time.

Pete Stoll

Since coming to Springfield as the athletic trainer for the Class A Springfield Cardinals baseball team of the Midwest League, he has been a fixture in the Springfield Illinois and Central Illinois sports medicine community. He has assisted countless area athletes over the last 38 years as the on-site athletic trainer for hundreds of high school, college and professional sporting events. The Denver native joined Memorial Medical Center’s new sports medicine program in August of 1985. He has been involved in the creation of 3 Springfield-area sports medicine programs: SportsCare of Illinois (Memorial Medical Center), AthletiCare (St. John’s Hospital-‘98) and currently with Springfield Clinic Sports Medicine (’14). He spent 30 years as the primary athletic trainer for Sacred Heart-Griffin High School, and also was very involved in then Sangamon State University (now University of Illinois Springfield). His current full-time high school coverage is with Rochester High School. In addition to direct care of athletes, Pete has assisted with educational protocols for the EMS/EMT programs, coordinated teaching of medical students and residents, developed enhanced concussion policies and assisted with community education. He is a member of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, was honored as “Friend of the County” at the 2018 Sangamon County Basketball Tournament and served as athletic trainer for teams that were inducted into the Springfield Sports Hall of Fame, the University of Illinois Springfield Hall of Fame, Lincoln Land Community College Hall of Fame and Newman University Athletics Hall of Fame. Stoll is a 1982 graduate of Newman University (Kansas Newman College) in Wichita, Kansas.