Whiteford's Hubbard to join national hall of fame for coaches

OTTAWA LAKE – Kris Hubbard didn’t get into coaching because she wanted to be inducted into a Hall of Fame.

Her legendary career, however, has led to multiple halls of fame inductions. The next one will be by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association, the professional organization of school coaches and athletic directors, in North Dakota this summer.

“It’s not something you never aspire to,” she said. “It’s nice to be recognized that you have done a good job.”

Hubbard will be inducted with her best friend, longtime Morenci head coach and Ottawa Lake resident Kay Johnson. The duo, who have coached against one another since the early 1970s, are the two representatives from Michigan going into the national Hall of Fame.

“Neither of us got into coaching for this, but it’s a nice honor,” Hubbard said. “If I have to go through all of the ceremonies and induction, I’m happy to be doing it with my best friend.”

After spending decades coaching girls basketball and softball, Hubbard stepped down four years ago as head softball coach. She is now a volunteer assistant for the Bobcats. She was head coach from 1979 to 2019, going 865-380-3 and winning three state championships.

“What I find most satisfying about being inducted is the kids had success,” she said. “If the kids had success, that means you had success.”

Hubbard grew up in Blissfield before the passing of Title IX and didn’t have the chance to compete in high school sports.

She went to Western Michigan University, however, where she participated in basketball, volleyball and field hockey.

“I played everything I could, except softball,” she said.

One of her friends growing up, Shawn Emerson, had just been hired as a teacher at Whiteford. She told Hubbard about an opening at the school, and she applied. When she was hired, they asked if she wanted to coach. Almost immediately she was put in charge of basketball, volleyball, and track at Whiteford.

“I wanted to teach, and they wanted a coach,” Hubbard said. “It was a good fit.”

In about 1978, she stepped down as the track coach to focus more on basketball, which was a fall sport, and volleyball, which was a winter sport. Then some girls approached her about starting a softball team. She accepted the challenge and began building the program. One of her first calls was to Johnson, the Morenci softball coach, who Hubbard knew of through a friend, and happened to be a neighbor in Sylvania, Ohio.

She wrote down some tips.

“I wanted to start a softball program and I said to her, ‘Okay, what do I need to do?’” Hubbard recalls.

Those tips included things like what to do during certain offensive situations and drills for outfielders.

“I think I still have it,” Hubbard said a couple of years ago. “It was a pretty good list.”

Hubbard had never coached softball before but was a fast learner. Her first three Bobcats teams won Tri-County Conference championships. In 1984, just five years from starting the program from scratch, the Bobcats won their first of three Class D championships over the next four years.

She coached the Whiteford basketball team to the state finals during that same era. She eventually stopped coaching basketball but amassed 435 wins in that sport as well. During her coaching career she also coached boys JV basketball.

Hubbard said she learned a lot about coaching while at Western Michigan.

“I had some really good coaches and some not so good coaches,” she said. “I learned from both.”

Johnson coached Morenci’s track team to a state championship in the 1970s and the Morenci softball team to a state title in the 1980s. She had great success as a volleyball and basketball coach, too. After retiring as principal at Morenci, she returned to the district to become athletic director. She remains a Morenci softball coach and has 980 career victories.

Hall of Fame membership is based on the performance of their program over the years and their contribution to sport, school, and community.

Longtime Bedford volleyball coach Jodi Manore has been affiliated with the National High School Athletic Coaches Association for several years. She praised both Johnson and Hubbard and said it was fitting they are being inducted together. She said she has been encouraging a greater representation of women coaches in the Hall of Fame.

“They’ve certainly had tremendous impact on the lives of a lot of student athletes over the years,” said Manore. “Both are outstanding coaches and role models.”

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Whiteford's Hubbard to join national hall of fame for coaches