CONCORDIA, Kan. - Cloud County Community College has selected four members to be enshrined as the 17th Cloud County Athletics Hall of Fame class, which will be inducted the afternoon of Saturday, January 27th when the basketball teams host Coffeyville Community College.
The four individuals who will be honored that afternoon are athletic contributors Jim Lowell and Jay Lowell as well as T-Bird athletic standouts Sheila Cherry-Coleman and Matt Bechard.
A sports journalist for the Concordia Blade-Empire for over 40 years, Jim Lowell has been covering Cloud County Community College athletics throughout his time at the newspaper which includes the coverage of all five NJCAA National Championships won by CCCC teams. A 1977 graduate of Concordia High School, Lowell attended Cloud County Community College in 1977-78 before transferring to Kansas State University to earn his bachelor's degree in journalism and mass communications. Working at the Osawatomie Graphic for one year as the sports editor, Lowell returned to Concordia in February of 1983 to become the sports editor of the Concordia Blade-Empire. Over the past 40 years, Lowell has reported on all of the Cloud County Community College athletic programs and has written more than 2,000 men's and women's basketball stories covering the T-Birds. A highlight of his time covering Cloud County athletics was the coverage provided during the 2001 NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament won by CCCC as the T-Birds became the first women's basketball program from the state of Kansas to win the NJCAA National Title.
A familiar face at Cloud County athletic events, Jay Lowell has been covering Cloud County Community College as a sports photojournalist for the Concordia Blade-Empire for the past 27 years and has been instrumental in helping put together the annual Cloud County Community College athletics media guide that is produced by the Blade-Empire. Starting in the fall of 1997 by covering Cloud County soccer matches using a Nikon camera and 35mm film, Lowell continued that fall by covering the Cloud County cross country home meet in which her climbed a tree that had fallen across the course to get some of his photos. Lowell's first T-Bird basketball game was in November of 1997 as he continued and covered every game of the 2001 NJCAA Division I Women's National Championship Tournament played in Salina and won by CCCC. During his time, Lowell has shot thousands of pictures across all the different sports that have been offered by Cloud County including soccer, basketball, volleyball, cross country, baseball, softball, track, and wrestling. Lowell has received Kansas Press Association awards for sports pictures on multiple occasions including two first-place awards. As a supporter of the Cloud County athletic department, Lowell hosted several T-Bird student-athletes over the years including having international volleyball students live with his family during their time at Cloud County. Before his time as a sports photojournalist, Lowell played golf for one semester at Cloud County under head coach Lou Frohardt and has helped with multiple T-Bird Golf Classic tournaments that raise scholarship funds for the athletic department.
A two-sport standout for the T-Birds, Coleman played at Cloud County from 1986-1988 and was a volleyball and basketball player for Cloud County where she earned First-Team All-Region VI honors in volleyball, becoming the eighth player in program history to earn All-Region honors. In her freshman year, Coleman helped the Thunderette volleyball team to a 45-7 overall record and an appearance in the NJCAA Region Tournament Championship game where CCCC fell to Barton. Coleman finished the year with 382 kills and 139 total blocks while being named to the Cloud County Volleyball Tournament All-Tournament team. The Salina, Kansas native helped the Cloud County the following season to its first NJCAA Region VI title with a 2-0 sweep of Dodge City and a berth in the 1987 NJCAA National Tournament where the T-Birds finished ninth overall. For the season, CCCC finished with a record of 49-8 which included a 35-4 record in NJCAA Region VI play. Individually, Coleman finished with 309 kills and 147 blocks to go along with 13 service aces. On the basketball court, Coleman appeared in 27 games and started 26 as a freshman, scoring 381 points and grabbing 255 rebounds to average 14.1 points and 9.4 rebounds per contest before appearing in 25 games and making 23 starts as a sophomore to score 429 points and grab 227 rebounds. For her career as a basketball player, Coleman scored 810 points to rank at the time fifth (currently 19th) in the all-time scoring chart at CCCC while currently ranking seventh in career rebounding with 482 rebounds
Bechard was a member of the Cloud County track and field program under hall of fame coach Harry Kitchener from 1987-1989 where he excelled and set the still-standing outdoor track and field record in the pole vault by clearing 16 ft. - 1 in. Following his career as a T-Bird, Bechard would attend Wichita State University where he won the 1990 Missouri Valley Conference indoor title in the pole vault and would go on to graduate with his bachelor's degree in 1992. Bechard was named the third athletic director in school history at Cloud County, filling the shoes of hall of fame coach and athletic director Dennis Erkenbrack. In his 25-plus years as athletic director, Bechard has assisted in completing facility upgrades for every sport and increased scholarship opportunities for student-athletes. Under his leadership, Cloud County teams have won 20 KJCCC titles, 17 NJCAA Region VI Titles, and five NJCAA National Championships.
The induction ceremony for the 17th Cloud County Athletics Hall of Fame class will be held at halftime of the men's basketball game against Coffevyille Community College on Saturday, January 27th. Action gets underway that afternoon at 2 PM with the women's game. The men's game will follow at 4 PM as the festivities will be held as part of CCCC's 2024 homecoming.
