– Billy Hicks & Jeff Jasper Honored as Excellent Excessive Faculty Basketball Coaches on the McDonald’s All-American Sport on April 1-
SPRINGFIELD, MASS. – The Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame introduced the recipients of the 2025 Morgan Wootten Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching Excessive Faculty Basketball:
Boys – Billy Hicks, Scott County Excessive Faculty (Georgetown, KY)
Ladies – Jeff Jasper, Pascack Valley Excessive Faculty (Hillsdale, NJ)
The Elks Hoop Shoot presents the distinguished award named after Morgan Wootten, who devoted 46 years to main DeMatha Catholic Excessive Faculty in Hyattsville, Maryland. Wootten is one in all solely 5 highschool coaches enshrined within the Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame (Class of 2000). The annual award acknowledges two excellent highschool coaches—one for boys’ basketball and one for women’ basketball.
“Congratulations to Billy Hicks and Jeff Jasper, the 2025 recipients of the Morgan Wootten Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching Excessive Faculty Basketball,” mentioned John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Basketball Corridor of Fame. “Their dedication and excellence in teaching exemplify Morgan Wootten’s enduring legacy within the sport. Past their outstanding success on the court docket, their unwavering dedication has profoundly formed the lives of their student-athletes. Their affect extends far past basketball, inspiring future generations and leaving an enduring affect on their groups and communities.”
BILLY HICKS
Hicks was the winningest coach in Kentucky highschool basketball historical past, going 1,021-276 (.787) over 38 seasons (1981–2019) at Evarts Excessive Faculty (1981–83), Harlan Excessive Faculty (1983–94), and Scott County Excessive Faculty (1994–2019). Hicks additionally held the modern-era report with 33 victories within the KHSAA Candy 16. He led his groups to 14 regional titles and a report seven state championship appearances, successful two state titles with Scott County (1998, 2007). He was inducted into the Kentucky Excessive Faculty Basketball Corridor of Fame in 2016, and might be posthumously inducted into the Kentucky Excessive Faculty Athletic Affiliation Corridor of Fame this yr.
JEFF JASPER
Jasper has been a trailblazer in New Jersey highschool basketball since 1971, main the Pascack Valley Excessive Faculty women’ basketball program to historic success. With over 1,100 profession wins, he holds the title of winningest women’ basketball coach in New Jersey historical past. Jasper has led Pascack Valley to 6 New Jersey state titles (1981-82, ‘89, 2005, ‘08, ‘17), 14 state sectional titles, and 34 league championships. In 2024, Jasper was honored with the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Jersey Basketball Coaches Affiliation, additional cementing his legacy as one of the vital completed and revered coaches within the sport’s historical past.
The Morgan Wootten Award recipients are chosen by a nationwide committee of Corridor of Famers, nationwide highschool media members, match administrators, and others who’ve made substantial contributions to the sport. The 2025 Morgan Wootten Awards for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching Excessive Faculty Basketball might be offered on Tuesday, April 1, on the Barclays Heart in Brooklyn, as a part of the pre-game festivities for the 2025 McDonald’s All-American Sport.
MORGAN WOOTTEN AWARD RECIPIENTS
YEAR
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2024
2025
BOYS
Joseph Gallagher, St. John’s School HS
Jack Curran, Archbishop Molloy HS
Ralph Tasker, Hobbs HS
Robert Hughes, I.M. Terrell/Ft. Value HS
Bob Hurley, St. Anthony’s HS
Ed Pepple, Mercer Island HS
Vito Montelli, St. Joseph HS
Gary McKnight, Mater Dei HS
Harvey Reid, Ralph L. Fike, HS
Bob Dwyer, Archbishop Carroll HS
William “Speedy” Morris, St. Joseph’s Prep
Gene Pingatore, St. Joseph’s HS
Invoice Krueger, Clear Lake HS
Freddy Johnson, Greensboro Day Faculty
Bob Farrell, Seton Corridor Prep
Billy Hicks, Scott County HS
GIRLS
Jim Smiddy, Bradley Central HS
Leta Andrews, Granbury HS
Dorothy Gaters, Marshall HS
Rick Insell, Shelbyville Central HS
Gene Klinge, West Central Group Faculty
Brad Smith, Oregon Metropolis HS
Sandra Meadows, Duncanville HS
Thednall Hill, Hardy Highland HS
Joe Lombard, Canyon HS
Dr. Anthony Pappas, Waterloo West HS
Marcia Pinder, Dillard HS
John Hutchcraft, Man Perkins HS
Frank Orlando, Detroit Nation Day Faculty
Jill Pruden, Oak Ridge HS
Mike Kopp, Notre Dame/Allentown Central Catholic HS
Jeff Jasper, Pasack Valley HS
Concerning the Elks Hoop Shoot Program
For almost 50 years, the Elks Hoop Shoot has been growing gritty youngsters by way of a nationwide free throw program for youth ages 8-13. For movies, information from the court docket, and extra details about the Hoop Shoot, go to elks.org/hoopshoot.
Concerning the Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame
Situated in Springfield, Massachusetts, the town the place basketball was born, the Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame is an unbiased non-profit 501(c)(3) group devoted to selling, preserving, and celebrating the sport of basketball at each stage—women and men, novice {and professional} gamers, coaches, and contributors—each domestically and internationally. The Corridor of Fame museum is residence to greater than 475 inductees and over 40,000 sq. ft of basketball historical past. Practically 200,000 individuals go to the Corridor of Fame museum annually to be taught concerning the sport, expertise the interactive reveals, and take a look at their expertise on the Jerry Colangelo “Court docket of Desires.” Finest recognized for its annual marquee Enshrinement Ceremony honoring the sport’s elite, the Corridor of Fame additionally operates over 70 highschool and collegiate competitions yearly all through the nation and overseas. For extra data on the Basketball Corridor of Fame group, its museum, and occasions, go to hoophall.com and observe @Hoophall.
