(KMAland) -- KMA Sports is continuing to announce the 2018-19 Hall of Fame class.
On Friday, we welcomed one of the most successful athletes and coaches in state history. Bedford’s Connie Shafar made her mark on nearly every athletic program she touched.
Whether that was as a 3,000-point scorer in basketball, a four-time state track qualifier, a pioneer for women in collegiate sports or as a Hall of Fame coach, Shafar is one of the most impactful persons in Iowa sports history.
For today’s purposes, we highlighted an incredible basketball career at Bedford. Shafar averaged 38.3 points per game in her four seasons with the Bulldogs, including 48.8 per contest as a senior.
“I was so fortunate that Bedford even had girl’s athletics,” Shafar said on Friday’s Upon Further Review. “Before they consolidated with Gravity, Conway and Blockton, they didn’t have girl’s basketball.”
My first introduction to organized basketball was in seventh grade,” she added. “We got better every year, and my senior year we won the (Tall Corn Conference). That was a big highlight.”
Shafar says much of her basketball success can probably be traced back to her parents’ interest in the sport.
“My mom and dad both played basketball,” Shafar said. “In the summertime, dad put a hoop up on a tree, and we would shoot baskets out there. In winter time, when the cows were all milked, we cleared out a space in the barn. I started shooting baskets at an early age.”
Shafar went on to lead the development of women’s sports at Northern Iowa and eventually played basketball and field hockey for the Panthers. She would go on to a prolific coaching career at Hampton, Hudson and Pleasant Valley, but not before leading her alma mater to the 1969 state softball tournament.
Shafar is already a member of the IGHSAU, the NHSACA, the Quad Cities, the Northern Iowa and the Bedford Halls of Fame. We are more than proud to welcome her during the 2018-19 school year.
Hear the complete interview with Shafar linked here.
Previous announcements are linked below. Listen to KMA's Upon Further Review each day in August for a new Hall of Fame announcement.
Wednesday, August 1st - Dan Martinez, Red Oak (Coach)
Thursday, August 2nd - Ricky Williams, Riverside (Basketball)
Friday, August 3rd - 1989 Glenwood Wrestling (Team)
Monday, August 6th - Bill Blay, Griswold (Track & Field/Cross Country)
Tuesday, August 7th - Madison Frain Peterson, Creston (Softball)
Wednesday, August 8th - 2008 Lenox Football (Team)
Thursday, August 9th - Megan Winkelmann Ivusic (Cross Country)
