MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — The Morgantown High Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremonies will be Sept. 20 at MHS.
Dinner will be at 4:30 p.m., followed by inductees and/or families being introduced and will have an opportunity to share their thoughts and will also receive a commemorative plaque. Following the plaque ceremony, the 2019 Wall of Fame will be unveiled with our newest honored inductees.
Inductees also receive a MHS Honorary medallion and a Lifetime MHS Gold Card.
The newest class will be introduced and honored at halftime of the MHS/Hedgesville football game. Tickets for the dinner are $35 each and can be purchased at MHS. Tickets will also serve for entrance to the football game, as well.
Info: Assistant principal/athletic director John Bowers at 304-291-9260, or committee chair Dan Erenrich at 304-826-0930.
Alpha ‘Cowboy’ Mayfield
Alpha “Cowboy” Mayfield, a 1956 graduate, was a four-sport athlete while at MHS, excelling in football, wrestling, track and basketball.
His athletic prowess began in the fourth grade as a member of the Dellslow Live Wires, a 4H softball team. Alpha was said to have trained by running sprints on the hill across W.Va. 7 near the then-burning slag dump of Richard Mine and then by jumping rock-to-rock in Deckers Creek.
While at MHS, he established a school shot put record that stood for many years. In wrestling, which he started his senior year, he pinned his first five opponents. In football, Mayfield played fullback and about every defensive position on the field. In fact, Alpha has stated that, “Big John (Coach Rockis) had a way of putting me in front of their mean guy.”
After graduating from MHS, Mayfield attended Marshall on a full athletic scholarship and earned six varsity letters in football and in wrestling; he was captain of both teams his senior year. After graduating from Marshall in 1961, Mayfield headed to northeastern Ohio where he was a teacher, coach, assistant principal at Northwest High School and board of education vice president.
While at Northwest, he started the wrestling program, organized a plethora of wrestling tournaments, is credited with bringing AAU-Freestyle wrestling to Stark County, was named Ohio’s AA Coach of the Year in 1982, and has been inducted to both the Stark County and the Northwest Wrestling hall of fames. Mayfield and his wife, Carolyn, have three children, eight grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Jacob ‘Jake’ Mullett
Jacob “Jake” Mullett did not graduate from MHS, but his contributions to the school will last a lifetime. Mullett, along with his twin brother, were members of the of the 1961 Magnolia High School state championship basketball team as juniors.
As seniors, they played on Magnolia’s undefeated football team. Mullett’s success on the gridiron that year earned him all-state honors. Mullett and his brother went on to play football for two years at Pitt. Mullett then transferred to WVU, where he received his bachelor’s in secondary education and his master’s.
His career included teaching and coaching at Sabraton Junior High and serving as principal at Cass Junior High and Clay-Battelle High School before serving as South Junior High’s first principal. Mullett then moved on to administrative positions for the Monongalia County Board of Education.
As assistant superintendent, his responsibilities included serving as contact person for county athletics. A staunch Title IX supporter, the county’s athletic programs expanded to include more opportunities for student participation in swimming and lacrosse. He worked with the WVU athletic training program to set up a partnership that resulted in the presence of athletic training personnel at athletic events and strength and conditioning programs for athletes.
Mullett lived his life knowing the importance of being part of a team — a value he instilled into his own children who were successful students and athletes at MHS. With assistance from his wife, Betsy, the MHS athletic department awards the Jacob Mullett Scholarship every year to a deserving athlete, and the press box at Pony Lewis Field is named in his honor.
Mark ‘Hot Dog’ Wilson
While at MHS, Mark “Hot Dog” Wilson, who graduated in 1974, was a three-year member of the basketball team and a two-year member of the track team. Wilson and his teammates on the 1974 team coached by Clyde Green averaged 80.5 points per game — without the benefit of the 3-point shot. In addition, this team had a five-game stretch of scoring that has never been duplicated: 98, 102, 90, 101, and 95 points.
The 74 team reached a ranking of No. 2 in the state, and its assistant coach, Vic Bonfili, was quoted as saying that the 74 team was one of the best in MHS history. During this 74 season, Wilson averaged 20.6 points per game, while shooting 82% from the foul line. For his efforts, Wilson was named first team all-state, first team all-Dominion Post, and first team all-city.
Wilson played in the all-state basketball tournament and The Mon Valley/Marion County All-Star basketball game.
After graduating from MHS, Wilson played on the 1974-75 WVU freshman basketball team where he scored 15 points against Pitt at the Fitzgerald Fieldhouse. At WVU, he earned a bachelor’s in physical education and a master’s in safety. He has been employed by Greer Industries since 1981, where he is currently Vice President of Safety and Human Resources. Under his direction, Greer has won a plethora of safety awards, including the 2017 Sentinels of Safety Award by the National Mining Association, the nation’s most prestigious mine safety award. Wilson, and his wife, Sandy, have two children and two grandchildren.
Shawna Toth Merrill
Shawna Toth Merrill, a 1999 MHS graduate, was a four-year letter winner on the girls’ soccer team coached by Tom Yester.
While Merrill attended the then-Suncrest Junior High her freshman year, 9th-graders were permitted to participate in soccer at the high school level. Her prowess as a midfielder and striker for the Mohigans led to a plethora of awards including a 1998 first team all-state selection, a four-time all-conference selection and the West Virginia Gatorade Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year in 1998.
All of Merrill’s high school soccer successes paved the way for her to play soccer at the collegiate level at WVU. At WVU, Merrill excelled both athletically and academically. Academically, she received a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from the Statler College of Engineering while earning Big East Academic All-Star honors, as well as being named to the Athletic Director’s Academic Honor Roll.
Athletically, she was a three-year letter winner for WVU while appearing in 49 collegiate soccer matches.
Due to her leadership abilities, Merrill was named team captain of the soccer team her senior year. Following graduation from WVU, Merrill spent many years in southern California and worked as a Cause Evaluation Specialist for an electric utility. Earlier this year, she moved to Georgia with her husband, Ryan, and their two young sons, Walker and Colton.
Stephanie Michael Anderson
Stephanie Michael Anderson, a 2009 graduate of MHS, was a three-year standout on the girls’ basketball team. She was named state tournament MVP after helping the Mohigans and head coach, Alan Collins, win a state championship in 2007 during her sophomore year and earned all-conference, all-state, and state player of the year honors in 2009.
After high school, Anderson continued to excel in basketball for California University of Pennsylvania, where she helped lead the team to three NCAA tournament appearances. Also, she was a four-time PSAC Scholar-Athlete and was named to the Cal U Athletic Director Honor Roll four times.
Anderson led Cal U to the Atlantic Regional finals in 2013 after averaging 20 points and knocking down 50% of her three-point attempts in the NCAA tournament. She earned first team all-PSAC West after leading her team in scoring and finishing second in the conference with 76 threes her senior year.
Anderson was voted the Alumna of the Year in 2019 by the Cal U department of athletics. While at Cal U, she earned a bachelor’s in biology and a master’s in performance enhancement and injury prevention. After coaching the Morgantown Mavs AAU team, a team made up of girls who won back-to-back state championships for MHS, Anderson was an assistant women’s basketball coach at Fairmont State for five years.
In May 2019, Anderson was named the head coach for the lady Falcons. She is married to her high school sweetheart, Tyler Anderson, and they have a son, Noah, who was born in 2018.
