Pahranagat Valley girls varsity volleyball coach Ginger Whipple was inducted into the Southern Utah University Coaching Factory Hall of Fame at a special dinner and ceremony at the school Jan. 28. Also inducted was Dr. Bob Corry, a long time track coach in Cedar City.
A 1975 graduate of SUU with a Bachelor?s degree in Physical Education, Whipple later established the first girls volleyball program at Pahranagat Valley High in Alamo.
Over her many years of coaching, Whipple has put PVHS into the record books of the Nevada Interscholastic Athletic Association with a state record 16 state championships since 1985, including a nine-year run (1997-2005), and has taken her team to the state finals 19 years in a row.
As perennial champions of the Southern League, the Panthers under Whipple?s leadership have achieved outstanding success, with an overall winning percentage of well above the .800 mark. Along the way, PVHS has developed scores of All-League and All-State players and sent a good number of them off to the collegiate ranks.
In recognition of her outstanding coaching career, characterized not only by her record-setting successes in coaching, but also by her exemplary guidance and empowerment of young women, SUU honored her with induction to the Southern Utah University Coaching Factor Hall of Fame.
Whipple said she was very surprised to be given the honor when notified. ?I feel very honored and humbled mostly. That is the last thing I ever thought would happen, never entered my mind.?
?We were given a plaque and a medal,? she said, ?and ?our picture will be added to others that hang in the Physical Education building on the SUU campus.?
She said she had been invited to attend the ceremony for other people who were being inducted, ?but it usually occurred when my own kids were playing ball and it interfered with my schedule.?
Dubbed the ?The Coaching Factory,? several years ago by a sports reporter for a Salt Lake City newspaper, the moniker fits because of the high rate of success many SUU alumni had while coaching high school sports, be it in Utah or other states.