Longtime Waterloo West coach Dr. Tony Pappas is the 2016 basketball recipient of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union's Plaque of Distinction Award.
The IGHSAU's Golden Plaque of Distinction Award honors the Iowa coach who has demonstrated a successful career while making notable contributions toward school, community and the coaching profession. Pappas will be honored at halftime of the Class 2A State Championship game Friday, March 4.
Dr. Pappas, a native of Mason City, has been coaching Waterloo West girls basketball for 36 years. He has won over 500 career games and led the Wahawk girls to seven trips to the Iowa Girls State Basketball Tournament. He has reached the state championship game in 1999 and 2002.
Dr. Pappas has won numerous coaching awards. 2016 has been especially rewarding as Pappas was named the 2016 girls basketball National Coach of the Year by the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) and also named as the 2016 recipient of the prestigious Morgan Wooten Award, given annually to the outstanding girls and boys high school basketball coach in the country. He is in the Iowa Girls Coaches Association’s Basketball Hall of Fame and was selected to coach in the 2011 McDonald’s all-American game.
Pappas has been extremely generous to the game of basketball. He is a highly-regarded clinician and has directed basketball camps throughout the country and was a regional scout for the WNBA. He also coached the 1999 National Player of the Year Nina Smith along with the National Junior College Player of the Year Kristi Kincaid in 1989. Both girls are member of the IGHSAU Basketball Hall of Fame.
Pappas has also served as Waterloo West’s athletic director since 2010.
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