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By RICK PETERSON 
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks, TopSports.news will recognize Shawnee County's all-time coaching greats in 14 sports as part of our Best of the Best project. The project gets under way with baseball and readers will have the opportunity to vote through July 15, with the Top 10 in all categories announced in July and August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best, click on: https://linkto.run/p/20HCOVC1 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
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The list of contenders to get the nod as the top baseball coach in Shawnee County history has to start with former Seaman coach Steve Bushnell and former Silver Lake coach Alan Cunningham, who combined for an amazing 15 state titles.
Current Seaman athletic director Steve Bushnell (standing), with former star Ben Carlson, led the Vikings to nine Class 5A state championships as Seaman's baseball coach. [File photo/TSN]
Alan Cunningham
Bushnell led Seaman to nine Class 5A state championships before stepping into the athletic director's position at Seaman while Cunningham coached Silver Lake to six 3A titles.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Last summer TopSports.news took on the task of honoring hundreds of Shawnee County's all-time great athletes in more than 20 sports as part of our Best of the Best project.
As rewarding as that project was, however, there was something missing -- the high school coaches, both head coaches and assistants past and present -- who have helped hundreds if not thousands of county athletes achieve athletic greatness.
Washburn Rural's Kevin Bordewick has coached nine Class 6A state championship teams in volleyball and girls basketball. [File photo/TSN]
Current Seaman basketball coach Craig Cox has led five teams to state championships in basketball and baseball, including the Class 5A basketball title this past season. [File photo/TSN]
Former Hayden coach Ben Meseke (right), talking with former Wildcat coach and athletic director Jerry Simecka, coached Hayden to 12 state titles in basketball and cross country. [File photo/TSN
Brenda Holaday coached Washburn Rural to multiple Class 6A state softball championships before moving on to a successful career at Washburn University. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
This summer we will try to correct that ommision, with TopSports.news planning to publish Best of the Best coaches lists in 14 different sports.
As was the case a year ago, TSN will rely heavily on our readers for their input in rating the best coaches in the history of the county.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: TopSports.news writer Rick Peterson recently sat down with highly-successful high school and college softball coach Brenda Holaday to discuss the far-reaching benefits of Title IX, which was signed into law 50 years ago, on June 23, 1972. Holaday talked about how far women's sports have come and how far they can go in the future.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Brenda Holaday has had a bird's eye view of what Title IX legislation has meant to female athletes not only in Kansas, but across the United States.
Highly-successful softball coach Brenda Holaday has seen first hand how far women's sports have progressed since Title IX went into law 50 years ago. [The Washburn Review]
Holaday has been a highly-successful softball coach at the high school and NCAA Division II level for more than four decades as well as a high school and college athlete.
And while the current Washburn University and former Washburn Rural coach is immensely proud of how far women's sports have progressed over the past 50 years, she knows there's still progress that can be made in years to come.
"It's come a long ways,'' Holaday said. "It's got a ways to go for sure, but I think first and foremost what happened along with Title IX, is those opportunities allowed female athletes to get better. When it started out, female athletes weren't in the weight room, they didn't have the best coaches, they weren't doing anything offseason, whereas a lot of the men's sports were.
"Then all of a sudden, they started letting females in the weight room or some semblance of a weight room for them and we started realizing these female athletes were much more capable than we thought they were and at the same time they were getting more opportunities.''
After playing softball three seasons at Kansas State, Holaday started her coaching career at Wabaunsee, then led Washburn Rural to multilple Class 6A state championships before leading Washburn University's softball program to multiple MIAA regular-season titles and NCAA Tournament appearances over her first six seasons with the Ichabods.
But Holaday's first experiences with the impact of Title IX came in the mid-1970s as a student-athlete at Jackson Heights High School.
"I remember when I was at Jackson Heights we got our first male coach,'' Holaday said. "Kenny Thomas became the women's basketball coach and I can remember I was a freshman coming in and we won state and Grand State with him. He'd always coached boys and I can remember the reaction of the boys in our school and parents to how hard he was on females and I think my memory of that is that it was kind of that aha moment for everybody to go, 'You know what, these girls can be coached just as hard as boys, these girls can be worked just as hard as boys, they can train just as hard, they can condition just as hard.'
"And I think that was happening at the same time some other opportunities were being created, so I think some of the explosion during that time was sort of two-fold.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Last summer Highland Park grads Kyle Weems and Mike Wilhoite were back in Topeka to be inducted into the Topeka Shawnee County Sports Hall of Fame.
On July 7 the local sports icons will return home to host the Darting Basketball Academy Youth Foundation's Big Kev's Community Give Back Dual Basketball/Football Camp at Shawnee Heights.
Weems was the Missouri Valley Player of the Year before putting together a long and continuing pro basketball career overseas while Wilhoite played seven years in the NFL with the 49ers and Seahawks, including a Super Bowl appearance, and is currently the linebackers coach for the Chargers.
Former Highland Park and Missouri State basketball star Kyle Weems will be back in Topeka on July 7 to host a combo basketball/football camp with close friend and current NFL coach Mike Wilhoite. [Twitter]
Former NFL linebacker and current Chargers assistant coach Mike Wilhoite will host a combo football/basketball camp with Kyle Weems on July 7 at Shawnee Heights. [Niner Noise]
Weems said it was only a matter of time until the close friends did a camp together in the town they love while honoring the memory of Kyle's late father, Kevin, a former Washburn basketball player who had a big influence on both Kyle and Mike's careers.
"It was kind of the best of both worlds,'' Weems said. "I've been talking with Kerry (Darting) for a while now, just about a basketball (camp) and I know that Mike has already done his own camp up at Washburn some years back. My dad, one thing that he always made sure to voice to us is that he thought it would be great if we could do a camp sometime in the future for the city of Topeka.
"Our schedules kind of butted heads for a little bit between his active playing days, my playing days still going on and then obviously the pandemic kind of slowed some things down, but it also got our minds flowing a little bit so I'm excited to finally be able to do this. We're getting to do it together, we're getting to do it with Kerry, who we're really close with, and obviously with coach (Ken) Darting and for the city of Topeka in honor of my dad, so it's a beautiful thing.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Former Topeka High star NiJaree Canady and Hayden product Tanner Newkirk were named the TopSports.news Topeka Shawnee County Athletes of the Year Wednesday night in ceremonies at Washburn University.
Canady has helped lead Topeka High to back-to-back Class 6A state softball championships, the first two state softball titles in school history, while being named the Gatorade Kansas Softball Player of the Year both seasons.
Canady has earned All-City, All-Centennial League and All-State softball honors all three of her high school seasons and also earned All-State honors and played in three state tournaments in basketball, scoring more than 1,000 points, before bypassing her senior season to concentrate on softball.
"Nija is the true definition of a student-athlete,'' Topeka High softball coach Shane Miles said. "Any kid who can further their education at Stanford University is doing something right in the classroom and on the field. When Nija chose Stanford she was not looking at the next four years, but the next 40 years.''
Newkirk, who won three Class 4A track championships as a senior distance runner at Hayden and four titles overall, was selected as the Topeka Shawnee County Spring Male Athlete of the Year Wednesday night at Washburn University.
Former Topeka High star NiJaree Canady, who led the Trojans to back-to-back Class 6A state softball titles, was named the Topeka Shawnee County Overall Female Athlete of the Year Wednesday night. [File photo/TSN]
Former Hayden star Tanner Newkirk, the Topeka Shawnee County Male Athlete of the Year, won four individual Class 4A state titles in his high school career, including three wins in the 2022 state track meet at Wichita. [File photo/TSN]
Newkirk capped his high school track and field career with a record-setting perormance in the 2022 Kansas state track meet at Wichita State's Cessna Stadium, winning three events and setting two Class 4A state meet records.
Newkirk won the 3,200 meters in 8:58.88, No. 5 all-time in Kansas, won the 1,600 in 4:12.25 and the 800 in 1:55.0.
The Hayden star added a fourth state medal in the 4 x 800 relay, helping the Wildcats finish fifth in that event.
Newkirk was a four-time state medalist in 4A cross country, with a state title and three top-three finishes.
"Tanner Newkirk is a one of a kind athlete,'' Hayden track and cross country coach DeJuan Gardenhire said. "What makes Tanner so special is his ability to want to get better.''
Newkirk will run track and cross country at the University of Kansas.
