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     On January 10, Kearney High School inducted five individuals in the KHS Athletic Hall of Fame:

Brandon Brill, David Miller, Jerry Thomas, Marc Bauer, and Tom McCann. A presentation took place after the first seven wrestling matches during the wrestling meet at KHS. 

     During the day, inductees toured the high school (2:00), met with current KHS athletes (3:30), and enjoyed a meet and greet session with family members (5:45) before being seated at the wrestling meet.

2019 KHS ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

Brandon Brill - Wrestling

       Brandon Brill was an outstanding wrestler at KHS, who graduated in 2003. He was a four-time state finalist and three-time Class A state champion, wrestling at 103, 112, and 135.  He was the state runner-up at 130 in 2003. He was a four-time district wrestling champion and a three-time Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference (GNAC) champion. His KHS record was 122-3.  Because of his dominance in high school wrestling, he was named a USA Wrestling Magazine All-American. He was recognized by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dave Schultz Excellence Award, awarded for best all class in Nebraska. He was recognized by the Nebraska Scholastic Wrestling Coaches Association (NSWCA) with the Class A Outstanding Senior-Guy Mytty Award and was an NSWCA All-Academic second team.

   After high school, he attended the University of Nebraska at Kearney where he wrestled for three years and was twice named as an NCAA Division II Academic All-American. After receiving his Bachelors Degree from UNK, he attended Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis receiving a Bachelor’s Degree and a Doctor’s Degree.

   Brandon is a Doctor of Chiropractic in Cozad where he lives with his wife Melissa and two children.

David Miller - Wrestling

       David Miller is a KHS four-time state finalist. He won state titles at 125, 140, and 145 pounds and was the state runner-up in his freshman year at 106. In addition to his success at the state level, he was a four-time district champion, a three-time GNAC champion and a conference runner-up. He amassed a career record at KHS of 141-2 while setting 18 KHS records, 10 state high school records, and three all class records. David still holds KHS records for consecutive victories (100), career falls (120), and consecutive falls (41).  David is a 1998 KHS graduate.

         He received numerous recognitions for his successes as a KHS wrestler – the Dave Schultz Award as best all class wrestler in Nebraska, Nebraska Pin Master Award, USA Magazine Dream Team 1^st team, ASIC first-team All-American, and was rated number one in the nation in his weight class in his junior and senior years. He was inducted into the NSWCA Hall of Fame. He was a junior national Greco-Roman National champion.

         After high school, he attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on a wrestling scholarship but was unable to compete due to a shoulder injury. David was an assistant wrestling coach at KHS from 2003-2010 and is currently coaching and working at Waukee High School in Iowa where he lives with his wife, Kelly and their two sons.

Jerry Thomas - Cross Country * Wrestling * Track and Field

Jerry Thomas was a three-sport standout athlete at Kearney High School, who graduated in 1994. He was a three-time state champion in wrestling, winning state wrestling titles at 103, 112, and 119 pounds. His KHS wrestling record was 122-11 and he held 12 KHS wrestling records. He still holds the KHS record for career takedowns (470).

         Due to his all-around prowess, he was named the Kearney Hub Athlete of the Year, to the USA Wrestling Magazine All America Team, NSWCA Hall of Fame, and awarded the NSWCA Guy Mytty Award as the outstanding Class A wrestler.

         Jerry was also a two-year state cross country competitor. He placed 5^th in the pole vault at the State Meet in his senior year.

         Jerry attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he wrestled for four years (47-32). He was voted the most improved senior wrestler with a 22-9 record and placed 3^rd in the all-academy championships. He was commissioned as a lieutenant upon graduation from West Point and received a degree in Engineering. He served three combat tours of duty in Iraq and retired from the US Army as a major.

         He is currently a systems engineering manager and lives in Florida with his wife Joni and two children

Marc Bauer - Wrestling * UNK Coach

Marc Bauer has had an illustrious career as a KHS/UN0 wrestler and as a University of Nebraska-Kearney wrestling coach.  Marc’s career record at KHS was 107-32. He was a two-time conference and district wrestling champion and placed 3^rd and 2^nd at the state wrestling meet. He graduated from KHS in 1988. After high school, he attended the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO) on a wrestling scholarship and was a 3 time NCAA Division II wrestling and academic All-American.

Marc graduated from UNO with Bachelors’ degrees in Elementary Education and Physical Education and received Masters Degrees from UNK in Physical Education and Sports Administration. He is currently a doctoral candidate at Creighton University in Interdisciplinary Leadership.

   He served as the University of Nebraska at Kearney wrestling coach from 2000 until 2016. During that time his teams were three-time NCAA Division II national champions and five-time Division II national runner-ups, and two times national duals champions. During his tenure at UNK, his teams won 14 conference championships. He was twice named an NCAA Coach of the Year and is an NCAA Division II Hall of Fame inductee and an NSWCA Hall of Fame member.

   Marc is currently the Athletic Director at UNK. He lives in Kearney with his wife Beth and they have four children.

Tom McCann-Coach - Wrestling * Tennis

Tom McCann is one of the most decorated wrestling coaches in Nebraska wrestling history. Tom started his Nebraska coaching career in 1970 at KHS. During his 41 year tenure at KHS, his teams were State Champions (1998) and eight-time state runner-ups. His teams had 29 top ten and 13 top three end of season finishes. KHS won 14 District championships and 21 Conference championships under his leadership.

During his early career at KHS (1970-75), he also was KHS tennis coach. He led his tennis teams to a state runner-up finish and four top-five finishes. 

Tom was instrumental in the initiation and coaching of wrestling/cultural exchange programs with Maine, Hawaii, Mexico, Poland, and Germany. He led a United States high school age team to a competition in Romania, at the time the first high school team to compete behind the Iron Curtain. He coached Junior World teams which competed in Mongolia, Russia, Iran, and Bulgaria.

For his many achievements as a wrestling coach, Tom has been inducted into the Nebraska Coaching Hall of Fame, the NSWCA Hall of Fame and the National AAU Coaches Hall of Fame. He was named National Coach of the Year by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association (2001) and was named Nebraska Coach of the Year five times by various organizations.

Tom is currently an assistant wrestling coach at UNK. He resides in Kearney with his wife Regina and they have two daughters.