News Release – Ohio High School Athletic Association Commissioner Daniel B. Ross, Ph.D. www.OHSAA.org twitter.com/OHSAASports

For Immediate Release – April 14, 2014 Contact – Tim Stried, Director of Information Services, [email protected]

Katie Horstman Elected to National High School Hall of Fame Minster native was standout athlete and longtime coach after her playing days in the All‐American Girls Professional Baseball League

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Katie Horstman, a native of Minster, Ohio, who coached teams at her alma mater to nine state championships, has been named to the 2014 induction class into the National High School Hall of Fame. Katie was an athletic pioneer who opened the door for women in sports, beginning with her playing days in the All‐American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) in the early 1950s.

The Hall of Fame is sponsored by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Five student‐ athletes, along with four high school coaches, one contest official, one administrator and one in the performing arts, will be inducted July 2 at the Boston Marriott Copley Place in Boston, Massachusetts. The 32nd Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be the closing event of the 95th annual NFHS Summer Meeting.

The five former student‐athletes being inducted include Ozzie Newsome, Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway, Casey Blake, Michael Devereaux and Suzy Powell. The official release from the NFHS is posted at: http://www.ohsaa.org/news/misc/2014HallofFamePressRelease.pdf

Katie taught and coached at Minster for 25 years and started the school’s sports program for girls. While there, she coached the Wildcats to nine Ohio High School Athletic Association state championships, including eight in track and field and one in cross country. Her track and field teams won five‐consecutive OHSAA state titles from 1976 through 1980. Her teams also finished as state runner‐up eight times (three in cross country, one in volleyball and four in track and field). Individually, 34 of her athletes won state track and field championships and one was the top placer in the state cross country finals. Katie also coached , and gymnastics at Minster.

Katie was a standout in softball and baseball prior to the days of organized school sports programs for girls. Her talent was such that in 1951, at the age of 15, she began a four‐year career in the AAGPBL with the . While in the league, she played virtually every position, excelling as a , and at third base, and was selected as an All‐Star at third base in 1953. She ranks sixth in batting average (.286) and 11th in home runs (23) in AAGPBL history and was 29‐11 in her career as a pitcher. Katie was present in Cooperstown, N.Y., in 1988 when the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum honored the AAGPBL with the opening of a permanent display. The league’s pioneering efforts led to the 1992 movie “.” Katie was in a scene of the movie and she continues to participate in clinics and raise funds for charities in the Los Angeles area and also returns to Minster each summer.

After her playing days, Katie graduated from St. Elizabeth Hospital Medical Records Librarian School in Danville, Ill., and then joined the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Joliet, Ill., where she taught for five years and became the first nun in the to graduate from DePaul University. Katie then earned a master’s degree from Miami University and taught for six more years before returning home to Minster in 1972.

Katie has been inducted into five halls of fame in baseball and track and field, along with the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame.

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