By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Longtime former Washburn Rural teacher and tennis coach Kevin Hedberg, Brenda Holaday's 2008 Class 6A state championship softball team and the late Michael Brennan, a Rural graduate and world-renowned musician and composer, will be inducted into the Washburn Rural Hall of Fame Friday night at Rural.
A social hour will be held from 4:30-5 p.m. in the WRHS cafeteria, followed by the induction ceremony from 5-7 p.m. The inductees will also be recognized at halfcourt between the girls and boys varsity basketball games against Emporia.
2025 WRHS Hall of Fame inductees:
2008 GIRLS SOFTBALL TEAM -- Coach Brenda Holaday's Junior Blues won the 2008 Class 6A championship at Hummer Sports Park. The team defeated Olathe Northwest in the championship game by a score of 2-1 and finished with an overall record of 23-2. During the State Tournament, the team did not allow a single earned run and gave up only one run in three games. The Junior Blues also won Centennial League and regional championships. The title was the second state championship for the softball program, which also won titles in 1995 and 2014. Holaday was named the Kansas softball coach of the Year in 2008 and Paige Ladenburger was named the Gatorade Player of the Year. Many of Rural's softball players played more than one sport at Rural and their ability to multitask, be team players, develop tremendous leadership skills and build great work ethic has contributed to their adult life and the impact they continue to have on others and in this community. Four of the 2008 players went on to earn their medical doctorate degrees in their chosen field, three became nurses or work in the medical field, two became teachers in USD 437, and four became business leaders. Seven of the 13 went on to play college ball. Coach Holaday left Washburn Rural in 2016 after being a part of all three state championships and posting a 351-93 record, 14 Centennial League championships and 16 6A state tournaments. In her 19 years of coaching at Rural Holday was named Centennial League and City Coach of the Year nine times. Holaday took over the reins at Washburn University’s softball program before the 2017 season. Her teams have won two MIAA Conference titles, appeared in three NCAA tournaments and she has been named MIAA Coach of the Year twice.
KEVIN HEDBERG -- Hedberg was a Washburn Rural staff member and tennis coach from 1991 until he retired in 2022. After graduating from Topeka High in 1970, Hedberg attended the University of South Florida on a tennis scholarship and played varsity all four years, serving as team captain his final two years. Graduating from USF with a Bachelor of Science in United States History, Kevin returned to Topeka where he was the head tennis professional at Topeka Country Club for three years. In 1977, he relocated to the Houston Racquet Club as assistant professional, then in 1978 managed an indoor club in Kansas City. In 1979 Kevin moved back to Topeka to get teacher certification, completing his student teaching at Seaman High School. Seaman then hired him as a 90-day substitute in an EMH classroom and then as a social studies teacher and tennis coach. He remained at Seaman for 11 years and was named high school teacher of the year two times. In 1991 Kevin began teaching at Washburn Rural with classes in US History and Criminal Justice. He began coaching that fall as Bob Gladfelter’s assistant and took over as head tennis coach in the spring of 1992. Kevin stayed at Washburn Rural as a teacher and coach for 32 years. He served as social studies department head from 1995 until retirement and was named AW Secondary Teacher of the Year in 2002. Successes by his tennis teams earned him 22 coach of the year awards. Rural tennis players earned 58 All-State designations during his tenure while his teams earned a combined 47 city championships, 42 league championships, 41 regional championships and five Class 6A state championships. He is one of a handful of 6A coaches who have had championship teams in boys and girls tennis, as well as individual champions in singles (Madeline Hill and Drew Hansen) and individual champions in doubles (Megan McBride-Jenni Van Vlack, Blake Asbury-Jared Keller, Trevor Hedberg-Sumeet Patel, and Ben and Zach Newell). Hedberg was inducted into the Missouri Valley Tennis Association Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Kansas Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame in 2023 and was a charter inductee into the Topeka Tennis Association Hall of Fame.
MICHAEL BRENNAN -- Brennan, who passed away in Jan., 2022, graduated from Washburn Rural in 1992 then attended Kansas State and Kansas. He performed/had the lead in numerous musicals, variety shows, This Generation, chorale and was also an assistant teacher as well. WRHS was the stepping stone to his world renowned career. Brennan had started his career as a dancer and grew into a renowned vocal coach, musician and composer. Early on he was a musical director for Broadway tours Victor/Victoria, Cinderella and Disney's The Lion King at The Pantages Theater in Los Angeles. He was universally admired and respected in the Las Vegas Vegas entertainment community, Brennan worked on "Starlight Express" at Las Vegas Hilton, "Mamma Mia!" at Mandalay Bay, "Avenue Q" and "Steve Wynn's Showstoppers," at the Wynn and the aquatic spectacle "Le Reve" at the Wynn, which won "Best Show in Las Vegas" for nine consecutive years. While at Le Reve he was a musical director for world renowned composers Benoit Jutras of Cirque Du Soleil and eight-time Oscar winner Alan Menken. Michael and his friend and fellow composer-musician Keith Thompson co-founded one of the city's endearing art institutions The Composers Showcase of Las Vegas in May 2006. Two of his animated short films with Nicolas Villarelal, "Meta" and "Pasteurized," premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. "Nieta" has already won 80 international film awards and counting. Their latest work "ON/OFF" was on the short list for Oscar consideration this year.
