Amanda Valle is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Coronado High School for AZPreps365.com

 

Coronado High School Sports has been hit hard since the beginning of the COVID pandemic losing students that have chosen to stay home. However, Athletic Director Anthony Miller didn’t let the fractured year stop him from showing off all the talented players and successful history.

 

Miller created and helped build the first Hall of Fame in the Scottsdale Unified School District. The Hall of Fame is located in the newly-built gym at Coronado and has 19 members with 22 getting inducted this year. 

 

The Coronado Hall of Fame is made up of not only individual athletes, but entire teams, coaches, and even equipment managers or trainers. 

 

Miller came up with the idea his first year as AD in 2019. The first induction class was before COVID. 

 

“I want people to be proud to walk down this hallway and see all of the amazing accomplishments this school has,” said Miller. “This is the heart of our school and everyone walks by it before any sporting event. It is pretty special.”

 

With the help of his 11 other committee members, Miller is confident that they will have 60 or more inductees by next year for the school’s 60th anniversary.

 

The committee team is made up of six head coaches from the school, two faculty members, three community members, two former coaches, the athletic director, and two current students. 

 

Anyone who has a relationship with the school can nominate a former coach, player, manager, or team. To be inducted the nominee must receive 11 of the 16 possible votes. 

 

This year’s induction class also has three members who were unanimously voted in because of the hard work and dedication they had and still have to Coronado-- Nathan Slater, the 1979 girls track team, and Jim Ferrand.

 

Slater, class of ‘89, is the District athletic director and has dedicated much of his professional life to Coronado after playing both baseball and football as a student. Slater returned back to Coronado after college and was a teacher and coach for 17 years with 11 of those years also serving as athletic director. 

 

“The biggest thing I remember is the Tradition of Coronado,” said Slater. “I created lifelong friends that will never be lost or forgotten.”

 

Slater was almost inducted into their first Hall of Fame class but felt that he shouldn’t be considered because he was on the committee. He wanted to give other people the recognition they deserve. When this year's election came around he was nominated again and received a unanimous election into the Hall of Fame that he couldn’t turn down. 

 

“I feel very humbled and appreciative of that recognition,” said Slater. “ After many years of dedication to a school that I truly love” 

 

Former students aren’t the only people that are elected into the Hall of Fame. Jim Ferrando, originally from New Jersey, is getting inducted into the Hall of Fame based on the back-to-back-to-back state titles he won in 1990-1993 coaching Coronado’s women’s basketball team. The 1990-1993 women’s team is also getting inducted into the Hall of Fame.

 

Ferrando coached the women’s team from 1986 through the late 1990s and then returned to help coach the men’s basketball team win its first regional championship in ‘04-05. 

 

“I am really honored to be in [the Hall of Fame] there have been a lot of great athletic achievements,” said Ferrando. “Coronado is a school full of people who work really hard.”

 

Miller hopes to have an induction ceremony at Coronado’s football stadium to celebrate the inductees and shine a light during these dark times. Stay tuned for more information on the event.