NFHS Hall of Famers: Multi-Sport Experience Makes Major Difference
By
The NFHS Voice
National Federation of State High School Associations
July 28, 2026
The theory that athletes in high school need to specialize in one sport in an out-of-school program to progress to the next level was not the theme from the five athletes inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame last month in Salt Lake City, Utah.
At a press conference preceding the 43rd Hall of Fame induction ceremony, five former extraordinary high school athletes – all of whom later excelled at the college, professional and for a few Olympic levels – delivered resounding messages about the importance of playing multiple sports within school-based programs.
Joe Carter, who was a four-sport standout in football, basketball, baseball and track at Millwood High School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, long before his stellar pro baseball career, said he might never have been a successful pro baseball player without his multiple sport career at Millwood.
“If I had played baseball all year long, I wouldn’t have been a professional baseball player because I would have burned out,” Carter said. “Coaches will tell you that if you don’t come out for football in the spring instead of playing another sport, you will be passed up. This is not the case because if you’re good they will find you. I will take an athlete who played two or three sports over an athlete who just played one sport because those guys know how to take advantage of a situation and know how to adjust.”
Jordan Larson, a three-sport participant at Logan View High School in Hooper, Nebraska, before settling into volleyball and leading the University of Nebraska to an NCAA championship and playing in four consecutive Olympics, also pointed to multiple sports as a reason for success.
“I can’t emphasize it enough – playing multiple sports helped me personally,” Larson said. “It helped me adapt and adjust as I got older. I can’t recommend it enough from a young age.
“Playing multiple sports helped shape me health-wise from a longevity standpoint. There’s something to be said for the mind. If you’re on the grind in the same sport, burnout will come.”
Another volleyball standout in the 2026 class was Alisha Glass Childress, who also played basketball at Leland (Michigan) High School and who would later lead Penn State University to three consecutive NCAA volleyball titles and team with Larson on the U.S. squad at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
“Playing for your high school team is so important – it’s such a different experience,” Childress said. “Being in the same program for four years and getting to know the athletes you’re with, I felt like it was family.
“High school was a beautiful time and the beginning of a love affair with sports. I fell in love with the sport of volleyball but also tried a lot of different sports. I played basketball as well. For me, high school is when you start to have an understanding of yourself – reflecting on who you want to be or what you want to achieve.
“The life lessons you learn along the way are so important. The majority of the athletes on our team did not continue on to play past high school. The life lessons you learn as a high school athlete – being a leader, accountability, goal-setting – carry with you the rest of your life.”
Patrick Willis was one of Tennessee’s top two-way football players at Hollow Rock-Bruceton Central High School who also played basketball and baseball before his hall of fame football career with the San Francisco 49ers.
“Coming from a small town with two red lights, I would say the most fun I had growing up was playing sports,” Willis said. “Life can throw a lot of things at you, and to be able to adjust is amazing. In sports, we’re able to learn these things – the discipline, the toughness, the perseverance. I wanted to be a representative that anything is possible, and it’s not just the ones from the big cities or towns, but ones from small towns also.”
Another proponent of playing multiple sports was Krissy Wendell Pohl, the most dominant player in girls ice hockey in Minnesota history and the national record-holder in goals scored in a season who went to a stellar career at the University of Minnesota and won a silver medal at the 2002 Olympics. In addition to her excellence in ice hockey, Wendell Pohl also played tennis, baseball and softball.
“It was so special for me to be able to play multiple sports,” said Wendell Pohl. “For me, playing baseball, softball and hockey, you had different groups of friends, different roles on different teams, and all of that had an impact and you don’t realize it until later.
“High school is the purest form of sport. What you learn in high school, as you’re learning and growing and developing, those things stay with you. The people who impact you in high school – you will never forget that.”
We urge coaches today to take the message from these five outstanding athletes about playing multiple sports to heart and make that option available to athletes in their schools.
These vital programs help to shape young student-athletes into successful parents, citizens and leaders of our nation for years to come.
Century of School Sports: Predecessors Laid Foundation for MHSAA's Formation
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 14, 2025
We have celebrated throughout this school year the 100th anniversary of the Michigan High School Athletic Association – our “Century of School Sports.” But the first high school sports in this state were being played more than a half-century before the MHSAA was established in December 1924 – and it’s important to recognize our predecessor organizations for their pioneering work.
To keep things very brief, it’s fair to say that high school athletics in Michigan followed the increase in number high schools across the state – especially public schools – as well as interest in sports predominantly at the college level.
In lieu of citing detail by detail, the following is based on research from “Athletics in Michigan High Schools – The First Hundred Years” by L.L. Forsythe, who served as the first president of the MHSAA Representative Council after playing a leading role in its creation as an officer of the previous Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Association. Newspaper reports of the day also contributed to what's summarized below.
It is also key to keep in mind a few things about the organizations that regulated high school athletics before the MHSAA, and to understand their relation to our work today:
- Schools at the start of organized athletics sought primarily to create competitive equity and a safe playing environment for their teams and athletes.
- Schools looked to the statewide organization to uphold and consider appeals for those rules regulating eligibility and fair play.
- Schools later asked for the statewide organization to take over sponsorship of the statewide championship events that began to crop up over the 30 years before the MHSAA formed.
According to Forsythe’s research, the first public high schools in Michigan opened during the middle of the 19th century – as of 1850, only 3-4 existed, but after the Civil War that number began to grow, and with it an interest in athletics as part of student life. Football and baseball were main draws, later to be joined by basketball and track & field – which would be among the MHSAA’s first championship offerings several years later.
The Beginning (1895-1909)
Forsythe notes that 1895 saw the first steps toward regulating high school athletics on a statewide basis. A few entities took on roles in an attempt to bring structure.
- The Michigan State Teachers Association, which in 1895 began to recruit schools to become part of an organization that would require eligible athletes to be enrolled students, succeeding academically with at least a “passing grade,” and participating in no more than five seasons or years of a sport. However, the MSTA did not have a program of activities, as those of the day were generally organized by universities.
- The University Athletic Association was formed by University of Michigan in 1898, and was the main organizer of invitational “state” championships in partnership with the MSTA.
- Another organization, the Michigan Inter-School Athletic Association, also pops up in 1895 as the host of what aspired to be an annual field day.
Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Association (1909-1924)
The Michigan Schoolmasters’ Club absorbed control of athletics from the MSTA in April 1909, forming the MIAA and immediately introducing a series of regulations including an age limit of 21 years old, an eligibility limit of four years, and a restriction on participation by athletes who had competed professionally.
The MIAA would continue to set other eligibility rules, charge dues ($1), and also write into bylaws that member schools could play only member schools. That latter detail was a big driver of growth – the revised MIAA constitution in 1921 added that regulation, and the association grow from 26 schools in 1920 to 130 in 1921, to 284 in 1922 to 305 schools in 1923.
On the event side, the MIAA conducted its first state track meet in 1912, then did so coordinating with Michigan State College. The 1921 basketball tournament saw the first mention of classes – Class B for schools with 250 or fewer students, and Class A for schools with more than 250.
It should also be noted that during the early 1920s, MIAA representatives helped form the organization (first of Midwest states) that would become the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) – which continues to write game rules for nearly all MHSAA sports.
The MIAA continued operating into its annual meeting in December 1923, when leaders were presented with an unwelcome surprise announcement – the Michigan legislature, at the close of its recent session, had transferred supervision of interscholastic athletics to the state Superintendent of Public Instruction (to the superintendent's surprise as well, Forsythe noted).
The negotiations between schools and the state over the following year resulted in the dissolution of the MIAA on Dec. 5, 1924 – and the first meeting of the MHSAA eight days later.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
Jan. 9: MHSAA Blazes Trail Into Cyberspace - Read
Dec. 31: State's Storytellers Share Winter Memories - Read
Dec. 17: MHSAA Over Time - Read
Dec. 10: On This Day, December 13, We Will Celebrate - Read
Dec. 3: MHSAA Work Guided by Representative Council - Read
Nov. 26: Finals Provide Future Pros Early Ford Field Glory - Read
Nov. 19: Connection at Heart of Coaches Advancement Program - Read
Nov. 12: Good Sports are Winners Then, Now & Always - Read
Nov. 5: MHSAA's Home Sweet Home - Read
Oct. 29: MHSAA Summits Draw Thousands to Promote Sportsmanship - Read
Oct. 23: Cross Country Finals Among MHSAA's Longest Running - Read
Oct. 15: State's Storytellers Share Fall Memories - Read
Oct. 8: Guided by 4 S's of Educational Athletics - Read
Oct. 1: Michigan Sends 10 to National Hall of Fame - Read
Sept. 25: MHSAA Record Books Filled with 1000s of Achievements - Read
Sept. 18: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules? - Read
Sept. 10: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year - Read
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read