Chip Sherman is well-known for his tenure at Platte County High School from being a head coach for wrestling and football and even time as the athletic director.
What maybe some didn’t know was the impact he had on the start of the swimming team.
During the Pirates Hall of Fame induction on Friday, Feb. 28, Josh Hulett — one of three inductees — recalled his time in high school and a talk with Sherman.
Hulett was playing basketball his sophomore year of high school when he talked with Sherman.
The football coach heard of Hulett’s dream of having a swim team at the high school.
He instilled a bit of confidence and the rest is history — swimming was started in 1995 with a lot of work by Hulett.
“I knew his mom, Donna; I worked with her for 20 years or so,” said Sherman, who was at the ceremony. “Josh swam over at the Smithville Swim Club pool back off (Highway) 92 and he told me what he wanted to do and I said ‘great, do it.’ That was it.”
Hulett was joined in the hall of fame induction by Zac Wegner and the family of the late Terry Michael in an event that followed a signing ceremony. All three’s tenure in the school district overlapped in the 1990s.
Contributed photo
The Platte County R-3 Hall of Fame inducted Zac Wegner (left), Josh Hulett (center) and the late Terry Michael, who was represented by his daughter, Julie Borchers, during an event on Friday, Feb. 28 at the Wilson Auditorium inside Platte County High School.
Hulett was a standout swimmer as a youth but when he got into high school, there wasn’t an option of that sport at Platte County. Before he left high school — he graduated in 1996 — he filled out the paperwork needed and presented a plan to the board of education to help establish a swimming program.
While he was a member of the first team — with five members in 1995 — Hulett also played a big role for the team that his mom, Donna, served as the head coach.
“I did the nightly practice schedules during study hall and my mom would type them up and print them out,” Hulett recalled. “But I don’t want to discredit her coaching acumen.”
Hulett was a standout swimmer and advanced to state in both years he could and held the record in the 100-yard breaststroke for 21 years.
He helped design the uniforms, as well as planning the team’s workout each practice.
The Pirates got two relays to state the first year and the second year, with a roster of eight, relays advanced back to state, as well as individual events.
“After I graduated, I didn’t know what would happen (to the team) after that, but the rest is history,” Hulett said. “The decision by that board that evening to invest in me and the success that followed for me and my teammates. We realized our potential and it taught me leadership, hard work and encouraged me to be yourself and to go over, around and through barriers.”
He thanked the swimmers that followed for carrying the torch from the first program and helped develop a program that had hundreds of participants, numerous state qualifiers and state placers. The team has been in the top 16 the past three seasons at the state meet and the girls program just took 16th place last month.
A Kansas City Scholar Athlete, Hulett got a full-ride naval ROTC scholarship to the University of Missouri-Columbia. He earned a degree in civil engineering and became a commissioned officer after graduation in 2000. He served in active duty until 2009 (reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel) and is still a member of the Air National Guard out of Rosecrans Airport in St. Joseph.
His military tenure had him take part in five different major operations and he went to 44 different countries.
Hulett is currently a pilot for United Airlines.
Former coach Jan Patterson introduced all three of the hall of famers, with Hulett getting the last chance to speak.
The ceremony was the first time Hulett had seen his fellow inductee, Wegner, since a football game at Faurot Field in Columbia.
Hulett was working at the stadium while attending MU, while Wegner was on the field as a player for Kansas. It has been nearly 20 years since that happened.
Wegner was a three-year letter winner at Kansas and was a captain for two years.
Now, a resident of Des Moines, Iowa, Wegner works for Interstate PowerSystems. He hadn’t been back in Platte City for sometime but had a large group of former teammates, both high school and college, at the ceremony.
He was a multisport athlete for the Pirates, earning all-conference honors in football, basketball and baseball. The 1995 graduate was an all-state quarterback and offensive player of the year on the gridiron for Sherman, who helped pave the way for Wegner’s future.
The veteran football coach pulled Wegner into his office one day.
“Without his guidance and knowledge of the game, our teams wouldn’t have been successful, so thank you very much coach,” he said. “He knew my passion was baseball and that is what I wanted to do (in college) and he pulled me in the office one day and said they don’t give a lot of full baseball scholarships in a lot of places, but in football there is a lot of full rides. That is what started my thought process to use my athletic ability for football. I’ll never forget it.”
When he left Kansas, he was seventh in career passing yards and is currently 13th overall with 2,640 yards. Number 10 on the list is Adam Barmann from West Platte. Wegner is still in the Kansas record book with a 77-yard touchdown pass in 1997, which is tied for 15th longest in school history.
The first inductee was the late Terry Michael, who passed away on April 18, 2019. His daughter, Julie Borchers, spoke about her father at the ceremony.
Michael worked at the district from 1978 to 1999 and held various roles as head football coach, teacher, assistant principal and assistant superintendent.
The last year he worked at the district was the first year the Platte County R-3 Hall of Fame was created.
“Terry had a profound effect on students in Platte County and was a truly beloved figure,” said Patterson, who taught and coached in the district for 37 years.
“It is an honor to accept the induction for him,” said his daughter. “I want to thank the hall of fame and the Platte County community. I know he’d thank his colleagues and students that impacted his life as a Platte County Pirate teacher, coach and administrators.”
She noted her dad wasn’t one who liked to accept awards, rather pass them out, but would’ve been OK with this one.
Michael was a Cameron native who attended Central Missouri before earning his master’s degree from Northwest Missouri State and then a specialist degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He taught at Fairfax and Marceline before coming to Platte County.
A scholarship has been set up at UCM in Michael’s honor which is for a student from Platte County. Donations to that can be made through the UCM Foundation.
All three speakers were handed a bag full of Pirates memorabilia and all three hall of famers will have their name engraved on a brick that will be placed near Pirate Stadium.