Sharon Vantrease

2018 Inductee

Not only is Coach Sharon Vantrease one of the greatest coaches in Walker County and Ridgeland history, she is arguably the greatest Ridgeland coach of all time. In all honesty, I’ve yet to hear the argument against it.

As an appropriate prelude to her Ridgeland High School coaching years, she was the Head Basketball Coach for the Rossville High School Bulldogs from 1983-1989. During that time, she accumulated over 100 wins, a Region Championship in 1985, and a state championship in 1986.

In 1989, she was named the Ridgeland High School Head Basketball Coach and Assistant Softball Coach.

As the Lady Panther Assistant Softball Coach from 1989-1993, she coached the great string of teams that won region championships in 1989, 1990, and 1991, and state championships in 1989 and 1991. In 1993, she was named Head Softball Coach, and she led her team to the 1993 region championship and was the 1993 state championship runner up.

Her accomplishments as a softball coach would’ve been more than enough to cement her legacy as one of the greats and to guarantee her enshrinement in the Hall of Fame. Nevertheless, it is as the Lady Panther Basketball Coach that the name of Sharon Vantrease became synonymous with greatness.

During her tenure as head coach from 1989-2000, she accumulated over 200 wins (for a career total of over 300). She led her team to sub-region championships in 1990 and 1992, a region runner-up distinction in 1990, region championships in 1992, 1994, 1995, and 1996 (including the two legendary undefeated seasons of 1992 and 1995); and in 1994, she led her team all the way to the State Final Four.

Coach Vantrease is a 5-time Region 7 Coach of the Year; was named the Georgia Coach of the YEar in 1986; a 4-time North Georgia Tip-Off Coach of the Year; a 4-time Chattanooga Times Free-Press Coach of the Year; the 1992 Scrappy More Award recipient; and a former Athletic Director of the Year.

Coach Vantrease’s career has come full circle! She is once again a Rossville Bulldog, serving as Head Basketball Coach for the Lady Bulldogs of Rossville Middle School

-2018, Rob Stinson