Award winners to be recognized at OHSAA boys basketball state finals
The Ohio High School Athletic Association will honor six Ohio greats during the finals of the 2025 Boys State Basketball Tournament Saturday, March 22, as part of its Circle of Champions recognition program.
Among those being saluted is Dr. Aaron Craft, a two-sport high school star at Liberty-Benton High School near Findlay who holds Ohio State University basketball records for career assists and steals and is 2024 spring graduate from Ohio State’s medical school. Also included in the recognition program are swimmer Hunter Armstrong; basketball’s Jacy Sheldon, Kristin Ronai and Kari Pickens; and former basketball official Phil Bova.
Craft was a football and basketball standout at Liberty-Benton High School near Findlay who went on to a tremendous basketball career at Ohio State. He led the Buckeyes to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances, was a three-time Academic All-American and holds the school records for assists and steals. Additionally, he was twice selected the Big Ten Defensive Playerof the year and was the named Most Outstanding Player of the 2013 Big Ten Tournament. Following graduation from Ohio State’s medical school in May, Dr. Craft is currently doing his residency at Ohio State with the goal of specializing in surgical and medical management of head and neck conditions.
Armstrong is a graduate of Dover High School, where he was an eight-time all-state swimmer and twice state runner-up. This past summer in the Olympic Games in Paris, he was part of the U.S. Team that won a Gold Medal in the 4x100 freestyle relay and a Silver in the 4x100 medley relay. He also was on the Gold Medal-winning 4x100 medley relay in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and has won seven gold medals in the past three World Championships. Armstrong set the world record in 2022 in the long course 50-meter backstroke. While competing at Ohio State, from where he recently graduated, he was named the Buckeyes’ 2021-22 Male Athleteof the year after winning five titles at the 2022 Big Ten Championships.
Sheldon was a tremendous basketball player at Dublin Coffman High School who then went on to an outstanding career at Ohio State, where she was a two-time All-Big Ten and All-Big Ten Defensive Team selection, four-time Academic All-Big Ten and a second team All-American. Following the 2023-24 season, Sheldon was a first-round draft pick of the WNBA’s Dallas Wings, and she was recently traded to the Connecticut Sun. While currently rehabbing an injury during the WNBA’s off-season, Sheldon is serving as the Ohio State women’s basketball team’s Director of Player Development.
As Kristin Daugherty, Ronai led Warsaw River View to back-to-back OHSAA Division II state basketball championships in 2006 and 2007. She then played at the University of Dayton, where she was a three-time All-Atlantic 10 performer and was named the A-10 Women's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year. Ronai was also a three-time Academic All-District selection; received Dayton's Presidential Outstanding Scholar Award, and helped the team reach the post-season all four years. Inducted into the UD Athletic Hall of Fame in 2020, Ronai is currently the Associate Executive Director at the OHSAA.
As Kari Daugherty, Pickens joined her sister, Kristin, in also helping Warsaw River View win back-to-back OHSAA Division II state basketball championships in 2006 and 2007 as a freshman and sophomore, and her team reached the state semifinals as a senior. Pickens played her last two collegiate seasons at Ashland University, where, as the two-time Division II playerof the year, she helped the team finish as national runners-up her junior year and national champions as a senior. A coach at Ashland since her playing days, Pickens was an assistant for Ashland’s 2016-17 national championship and 2017-18 national runner-up teams. She just completed her seventh year as the Eagles’ head coach, has amassed over 200 career wins and became the only person in Division II history to win a national title as a player, assistant coach and head coach (2022-23). The 2024-25 Eagles’ finished 32-4 after falling in Monday’s regional finals to Lake Superior State.
Bova was grew up in Cleveland and made his mark as a basketball officiating starting in 1974. He was selected to officiate the 1977 OHSAA boys large-school state semifinals and was a collegiate basketball official for 30 years, working primarily in the Big Ten. During that time, he officiated in over 20 NCAA Tournaments, including the Final Four. Bova retired from officiating in 2006 and also spent 35 years at the director of the OWE program at Buckeye High School in Medina County.
Other awards will be presented during various times at this year’s boys state tournament. The honorees are as follows:
• The OHSAA Naismith Meritorious Service Awards are presented annually to individuals for their contributions to the sport of basketball or interscholastic athletics. The 2025 winner was selected from the OHSAA Central District and is Carol Smith. A Dayton native, Smith spent 34 years in education, with 30 of those at Walnut Ridge High School in Columbus, where she taught and started the girls varsity volleyball and basketball programs. She led the Lady Scots to the state basketball finals in 1977 and had a 16-year career winning percentage of 76 percent and is believed to be one of the first females to coach a boys varsity sport in Ohio when she led Walnut Ridge’s tennis team for four years. Her contributions to the sport of basketball were many and included helping advance girls sports in Ohio. The other winner, selected by the East District, is Rock VanFossen but, due to a health issue, he will be officially recognized at next year’s state tournament.
• The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) affords each state the opportunity to annually honor an individual for their outstanding contributions to interscholastic athletics. During the state tournament, the OHSAA will recognize 2025 state service award winner Bruce Maurer, Ph.D. Maurer has provided extraordinary service to the OHSAA in numerous capacities. He has served as the manager of the OHSAA State Wrestling Tournament for 47 years, and, for the past 15 years, has served as the OHSAA’s Director of Officiating Development for the sport of football, where he oversees the educational component for the state’s 3,000 football officials. As an official, Maurer has officiated OHSAA sports for over 50 years in football, basketball and boys lacrosse, and he spent 15 years as an NFL official. Maurer is retired after 39 years as the Associate Director for Capital & Strategic Projects at Ohio State’s Department of Recreational Sports.
• The 2025 OHSAA Coaches Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Awards for boys basketball will be presented to Jason Vermillion, who has spent 27 years as the head coach at Arlington High School, where his teams have won over 400 games, numerous conference championships and this year’s team reached last week’s Division VII state semifinals. Vermillion is currently in his 27th year as a sixth-grade teacher in the Arlington district.
• The OHSAA will recognize award winners from the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA), Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators (OASSA) and the Buckeye Association of School Administrators (BASA). Three from OSBA’s five 2024-25 All-School Boards team will be recognized: Dick Smith from Marysville Exempted Village Schools; Deanna Reynolds-Griffin from Lima City Schools, and Bobbie A. Grice from Little Miami Local Schools and the Warren County Career Center. Also being recognized are OASSA’s 2024-25 Principal of the Year, Michael Martin, Ed.D., from New Washington Buckeye Central High School, and BASA’s 2024-25 Superintendent of the Year, Michael Shoaf, Ed.D., who recently retired from Rocky River City Schools.
• Two Ohio Athletic Trainers Association (OATA) honorees will be recognized during the tournament. The 2025 OATA athletic trainer of the year is Aaron Himmler, the senior associate athletic director for sports medicine at the University of Cincinnati, while the 2025 OATA Hall of Fame honoree is John D. Smith, who joined Nationwide Children’s Hospital as the outreach manager in sports medicine in 2021.
• Three 2025 inductees into the Ohio Prep Sports Writers Hall of Fame will be recognized, Ed Puskas, Rob Todor and Tom Wilson. Puskas has worked at several newspapers in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, that has included two stops at The Star-Beacon in Ashtabula, plus The News-Herald in Willoughby; The Meadville, Pa., Tribune; the Warren Tribune-Chronicle, and the Youngstown Vindicator.
Todor began his professional career as a sports writer with The Alliance Review before moving to the Youngstown Vindicator, where he spent 22 years. In 1999, He was named sports editor of The Vindicator, a position he held for 13 years. Todor returned to his hometown in 2012 as executive editor of The Alliance Review, and from 2019-23 he was assistant regional sports editor.
Wilson has been covering high school sports for 32 years and has made stops at the Record-Herald in Washington Court House; the Mount Vernon News; the Western Star Newspaper in Lebanon, and the Newark Advocate. For the past 12 years, he has been a sportswriter at the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette.
• The Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association (OHSBCA) will recognize several coaches who have hit certain milestones in victories and/or consecutive years in the profession plus several service award winners. Among the OHSBCA honorees are Bascom Hopewell-Loudon High School’s Roger Jury, who is the recipient of the 2025 Paul Walker Award, presented annually to an active coaching member who has made significant contributions to the sport in Ohio.
The 2025 John Wooden Legacy Award boys winner is Norm Persin, current head basketball coach at South Webster High School, who has won over 800 games in his 45 years of coaching, making him the third-winningest boys basketball coach in Ohio boys basketball history.
The Morgan Wootten Lifetime Achievement Award boys winner is Bob Von Kaenel, who retired last summer as coach at Dover High School and is the fourth-winningest coach in Ohio boys basketball history with 741 wins.
In addition, Dru Joyce II, head boys coach at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, will be recognized as the Ohio nominee for the National Federation of State High School Association’s boys coach of the year. He was recently named the NFHS Section 2 coach of the year for 2023-24.
• During last week’s OHSAA Girls State Basketball Tournament, recognized were the following:
— The 2025 OHSAA Coaches Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Awards for girls basketball was presented to Rick Isaly, who has spent the past 21 years at Hannibal River High School, where he has won over 200 games.
— Another OHSBCA honoree was Ed Zink, who was the 2025 John Wooden Legacy Award girls winner. He coached for 46 years, won 810 games and captured three state championships at Beavercreek High School.
— The Morgan Wootten Lifetime Achievement Award girls winner was Dave Butcher. Dave coached for 45 years, with 35 of those as the head coach at Pickerington and Pickerington North high schools. During that time he had 747 wins, and his teams won six state championships.
— Also recognized was the Ohio nominee as the National Federation of State High School Association’s girls coach of the year Pam Davis, head coach at Akron Archbishop Hoban High School who also has had stops coaching at Akron Coventry, Barberton and Canton McKinley.
Tickets for the 2025 OHSAA Boys State Basketball Tournament remain available and can be purchased by going to https://www.ohsaa.org/tickets.
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