NIAA Names 11 Sports Leaders to Hall of Fame Class of 2025

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) will induct 11 influential figures into its Hall of Fame during a ceremony scheduled for June 26 at the Palace Station in Las Vegas. These honorees have impacted high school sports throughout the state through decades of coaching, officiating, leadership, and advocacy.

“We are pleased to welcome these deserving individuals into the NIAA Hall of Fame,” NIAA executive director Timothy Jackson said in a news release. “They each contributed greatly in their own way to the success of high school sports in Nevada and have positively impacted the young men and women of our state. For all they have done for the student-athletes of Nevada, it is a pleasure to honor this class and their collective accomplishments.”

The 2025 inductees include Jim Cavin, Mike Gomez, Gary Hickman, Amy Huntsman, Rick Kauffman, Brad Loveday, Rick Phillips, Marc Ratner, Gertha Robertson, Yvonne Torres-Arguello, and Brian Whitaker.

Among the honorees is Marc Ratner, who served as commissioner of the Southern Nevada Officials Association for 32 years before retiring in 2024. Gertha Robertson spent 44 years with the Clark County School District and was instrumental in sanctioning boys' volleyball in 2000. Yvonne Torres-Arguello guided Chaparral to a girls' volleyball state championship in 1994 and has contributed to Nevada athletics for 35 years.

Other inductees include Jim Cavin, a football official for 52 years who most recently refereed the 2024 Class 4A state championship game at Allegiant Stadium; Rick Kauffman, who officiated swimming and diving for 26 years in Northern Nevada; and Brian Whitaker, who amassed 562 career baseball coaching wins and led Valley and Silverado high schools to multiple titles.

Also honored are Mike Gomez, who led Durango to a baseball state title in 1999; Amy Huntsman, with 14 girls basketball state titles at Pahranagat Valley; Gary Hickman, a three-sport state champion at Moapa Valley in 1967; and Rick Phillips, who coached Lincoln County to four boys basketball titles and served as AD for 30 years.