2023 Hall of Fame Class Announced

[SubGod22]

Since VB is dominating this round, I'm putting it in here.

Go Shockers - 2023 Hall of Fame Class Announced

WICHITA, Kan. –Victor Everett (Track and Field), Casey Gillaspie (Baseball), Emily Hiebert (Volleyball), Nikki Larch-Miller (Track and Field) and Abbie Lehman Chaffin (Volleyball) have been selected as the 2023 Class of the Wichita State Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame.

A dinner is set for 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 13 at the Beggs Ballroom on the Wichita State campus, while the induction ceremony is scheduled for halftime of Wichita State's Jan. 14 (3 p.m.) men's basketball game against Tulsa.

Cost for the dinner is $50 per person, and paid reservations can be made online at goshockers.com or by calling the Shocker Ticket Office at 316/978-FANS or in person at the WSU Ticket Office located on the south side of Charles Koch Arena.

The addition of this year's class brings the total of former coaches and student-athletes in the Hall of Fame to 156, while there are 13 at-large selections.

More info in the link.

I don't know anything personally about Victor Everett as he was before my time, but I do know the other four were no doubters!

[boyshocker]

We had the three best volleyballers from the Wichita area there for a couple of years, that was some fun ball to watch!

[WuDrWu]

Nikki and her sister Taylor are 2 of the best people I've had the pleasure of knowing that were associated with WSU athletics, and their family. 2 of the BEST.

[1972Shocker]

Victor Everett is an interesting inductee, not because he is not deserving but because he was matriculating at WSU 45 years ago. Impressive that his outdoor 400m time and his outdoor 4x400 relay team's time are still #2 all-time after 4.5 decades. His indoor 400m time is still 7th. I like this choice.

As SubGod22 stated the other 4 were no doubters. Really happy that Emily and Abbie are going in together. I wonder if this is the first time two inductees from the same sport and same small-town Kansas high school have been inducted together?

[SubGod22]

Go Shockers - Hall of Fame Feature: Emily Hiebert

After volleyball practice in August 2013, Emily Hiebert and Abbie (Lehman) Chaffin – tired from two-a-days, brains spinning from Lambo jargon, strategies and analogies – recorded their lessons in a spiral notebook in their room at Fairmount Towers.

"We were upset going back, because we were like 'Man, we didn't realize how much there was to volleyball," Hiebert said. "We were getting so much information, all the different defenses and offenses and plays."

Hiebert, a setter from Newton, survived that initial test of physical and mental strength on her way to a superb career at Wichita State. She is one of five 2023 inductees into the Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame, along with Chaffin, a middle blocker.

In 2013, Hiebert joined an experienced team coming off a trip to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2012. Senior setter Chelsey Feekin, an honorable mention All-American in 2012, ran a no-nonsense camp. There was little patience for players who didn't keep up and Hiebert fit right in. She had to – she and Feekin did all the setting.

"I was always pretty serious, and she never took any of that the wrong way," Feekin said. "You could tell she had the attitude of taking this year and learning as much as I can. Then be ready for next year."

When Feekin handed the job of Wichita State setter to Hiebert, she gave Hiebert a bag of Shocker shirts and hair ribbons.

"I think I still have (the ribbons) in my bathroom," Hiebert said.

Feekin, inducted into the Shocker Sports Hall of Fame in 2022, passed on much more than gear to help continue the legacy of great setters at WSU.

"Chelsey Feekin was amazing," Hiebert said. "She knew I was freaking out about learning everything and knew that it was a lot to learn and tried to teach me everything."

There's much more in the link and it's a good read. I didn't realize, or remember, that Emily is the HC at Northwest and has taken them to State in each of her two years leading that program.

[1972Shocker]

Hall of Fame Feature: Nikki Larch-Miller

https://goshockers.com/news/2023/1/12/athletics-hall-of-fame-feature-nikki-larch-miller.aspx

Really great write-up on Nikki and the value she brought to the WSU track and filed program that even exceeded the value of her prodigious personal performances and records. Nikki is the kind of athlete that makes following collegiate athletics fun. Unfortunately, her kind are relatively rare birds.

Also, Nikki's praise of Coach 'bolt and staff says a lot about why the track and field program as probably been our most competitive program since joining the AAC.

Larch-Miller, from San Diego, came to Wichita State a somewhat-reluctant track athlete, following twin sister Taylor. The coaches and team spirit at Wichita State quickly sparked a passion for the sport.

(Rainbolt) made me really fall in love with track and field," Larch-Miller said. "He really cares about his athletes as a person."

Larch-Miller coached at WSU, Eastern Illinois, and Nebraska before returning home to enter private business. Her time as a Shocker exceeded her expectations.

"It completely shaped me into the person I am," she said. "Work ethic. Competition. Bolt and that whole staff were willing to take a chance on me."

[WuDrWu]

NIkki (and Taylor, they're really a package deal) is EASILY in my top 10 all time favorite Shocker athletes that I had the pleasure of meeting and interacting with over her time at WSU.

An amazing young woman (Taylor too) and exactly what you hope for in a student athlete. Brilliant, dedicated, engaging, friendly and a wonderful ambassador for both the University and the area for years to come.

Hats off to their parents, Michael and the one of a kind, Helen. Those two raised an amazing family. The 2 men that get these ladies to say yes will be as lucky as any guy on the face of the earth.

I miss that family, and I will remember them fondly for the rest of my life.

[SubGod22]

Better late than never. I've been mostly away and this was posted during that time. But She definitely deserves inclusion in this and I'm sure there are some of you who would like to read it, if you missed it as well.

Go Shockers - Hall of Fame Feature: Abbie Lehman Chaffin

One of Wichita State's greatest setter-middle combinations enjoyed a long history, one that Pittsburg State basketball almost tore apart.

Abbie (Lehman) Chaffin considered herself a basketball player and a likely future Pittsburg State Gorilla before her senior year at Newton High School. She attended the Wichita State volleyball team camp that summer and Shockers coach Chris Lamb dramatically changed his recruiting evaluation for the class of 2013.

"I had their team on my court in the morning and I just couldn't believe Abbie Lehman was the same Abbie Lehman moving around the volleyball court," he said. "What happened between volleyball season her junior year and summer camp half a year later? All of a sudden, she seemed to have clicked with volleyball stuff."

In his office, a whiteboard listed 50 middles ranked for recruiting. Lamb moved Chaffin, 6-foot-3, from off the board to No. 3, behind two future Big 10 middles.

"Then, I found myself competing against Division II Pittsburg State for basketball, vs. Division I for volleyball," he said. "She didn't look powerful. All of a sudden, she started looking powerful."

Emily Hiebert, Chaffin's setter at Newton and soon-to-be Shocker teammate, remembers Shocker coaches pulling Chaffin aside for a closer look. Hiebert was already headed to Wichita State.

"That summer changed everything," said Chaffin, one of five 2023 inductees into the Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame.

That day gave Hiebert and Chaffin five more years together (both redshirted in 2013) and kept the Shockers atop the Missouri Valley Conference and led them into the American Athletic Conference. At Newton, they carried the Railers to second place in Class 5A as juniors and back to state as seniors.

"She is crazy athletic, and she wants to win, wants to learn," Hiebert said. "We took in everything the coaches said to us from the beginning."

[WstateU]