Locally: Three former Idaho athletes set for induction into North Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame

Three former University of Idaho standouts and two individuals with strong ties to local high school sports comprise the 2020 inductees into the North Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame.

Women’s basketball player Emily Faurholt Sann and football players Jason Shelt and Robert Young are the former UI athletes who will be inducted along with former Coeur d’Alene High three-sport standout Ann Schwenke Jaworski and long-time late high school teacher, coach, administrator and official Jim Wilund.

They will be inducted during a banquet April 25 at the Coeur d’Alene Resort that will also feature the North Idaho high school awards. Tickets are $27 and can be purchased online at www.nihof.org.

Former UI and Green Bay Packer legend Jerry Kramer, an NFL Hall of Famer from Sandpoint, is the scheduled featured speaker.

Sann (2003-06) led the NCAA in scoring at 25.4 points per game her first season when she was named Big West Conference Player of the Year and 23.2 the next season, the top two averages in program history. Her 1,938 career points are third all time. She was a WBCA All-American, an Associated Press All-America honorable mention and a two-time All-Big West regular-season and tournament first-team selection.

Shelt (1992-97), a linebacker who is program’s second-leading tackler all time with 461, was a first-team All-Big West Conference selection in 1996 and second-team All-Big Sky in 1993. A knee injury forced him to redshirt in 1994, but he came back his final two seasons and finished his career with seven interceptions and six fumble recoveries.

Young (1965-68), the backup to All-American running back Ray McDonald his sophomore year, led the Vandals in rushing his final season and was first-team All-Big Sky Conference. He signed a free-agent contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers but was cut before the season. He played with the semipro Spokane Shockers and half a season with the Ottawa Rough Riders of the CFL.

Jaworski, a volleyball, basketball and softball standout in high school, earned numerous All-Inland Empire League honors. She went to the University of Montana in 1988, where she was a four-year volleyball starter as a setter, earning Big Sky Conference MVP as a senior and first-team all-league and AVCA All-Region second team as a junior and senior.

Wilund, who died in December, grew up in Coeur d’Alene and played football at Idaho. He spent 33 years as a teacher, coach and principal before he retired from Lewiston HS in 2005. A state-tournament-level basketball and baseball official, he was named to the Idaho High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011. He also officiated college basketball.

Info: Rick Rasmussen at Rick.Rasmussen@ surgerypartners.com or (208) 699-7495.

• Jodie Kaczor Berry, a former Gonzaga University women’s basketball assistant coach and four-year star at Western Washington, will be inducted into the WWU Athletics Hall of Fame with the Class of 2020 on May 15.

Berry was an assistant at GU for 11 years under head coach Kelly Graves, whom she followed to Oregon when he became head coach there in 2014.

Baseball

The Spokane Indians are looking for game-day employees at Avista Stadium for a variety of positions for the 2020 Northwest League season. Info: www.milb.com/spokane.

Football

Zach Bruce, an All-Big Sky Conference safety as a senior at Eastern Washington in 2016, is returning to the Eagles as an assistant to coach the position he played.

Head coach Aaron Best said the 2012 University High School graduate will replace Bryan Mills.

Bruce was an assistant at Mead High School in 2017-18 and spent time in 2018-20 as a defensive backs and speed and conditioning coach in Helsinki, Finland, where his wife, the former Delaney Hodgins, the all-time leading scorer in EWU women’s basketball, was playing professionally.

While in Finland, Bruce wrote a book called “Dumb Jocks” that takes a deep look at understanding defensive football.

After redshirting at Eastern in 2012, he played in 50 games from 2013-16, 24 as a starter. He had 227 total tackles with 11 passes broken up, five interceptions and two forced fumbles.

As a senior, he was ninth in the Big Sky – and 62nd nationally – with an average of 8.2 tackles per game. His team-leading 115 tackles that season are 13th in school history.

High school scene

Oakesdale collected two state titles when the WIAA, Dairy Farmers of Washington and Les Schwab Tires announced Winter Team Academic State Champions.

The Nighthawks won State 1B academic championships in girls (3.965 GPA) and boys (3.924) basketball.

Lind-Ritzville won in 2B girls basketball (3.980) and Almira/Coulee-Hartline in 1B boys wrestling (3.337).

Hockey

The Spokane Chiefs are looking for host families for the 2020-21 season.

Often referred to as billets, they provide a home away from home for the players.

Information and an application are on the Chiefs’ website, spokanechiefs.com/host.

Karate

USA Karate, the national governing body of karate in the United States, announced that Spokane will host the 2020 USA Karate National Championships July 9-12 at the Spokane Convention Center.

An estimated 2,000 junior, senior and Olympic athletes and an additional 2,500 coaches, officials and fans are expected.

It is the final stop before USA Karate Olympians head to Tokyo for the sport’s debut in the 2020 Olympic Games.

Junior athletes will be competing for two spots in their divisions to qualify for the Junior National Team that will compete in the Junior Pan American Championships in Monterrey, Mexico, in August.

Athletes in senior elite divisions will be vying for spots in the 2021 Senior National Team Trials.

Miscellany

Randy Logan, associate head trainer at Portland State for more than six years, has been named to the Washington State athletic training staff as the football team’s head trainer, Cougars athletic director Pat Chun announced.

Logan received his bachelor’s degree in athletic training from Eastern Washington in 2006 and a master’s in kinesiology from Texas El Paso in 2008. He oversaw an eight-person training staff at Portland State that included two professionals on the football staff. Prior to that, he was at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, for five years.

• Bryan Blair, in his second year at Washington State as senior associate athletic director, chief operation officer, has been named by the Minority Opportunities Athletic Association to its board of directors for 2020-21.

Partnered with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, the MOAA promotes equitable employment opportunities for minorities in the athletics industry. At WSU, Blair directs the sport administrator group responsible for day-to-day administration of the school’s 17 varsity sports.