Coach Shari Is In!!!! Longtime Clarion Area Bobcats And Former Clarion-Limestone Lions Volleyball Coach Shari Campbell Selected To The Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Hall Of Fame

Above photo by Nate Girvan – Above 2021 PIAA Class-1A Volleyball Champions – Clarion Area Bobcats

(Note: There are two lists at the bottom of the article. The first is an all-time list of Bobcats Volleyball PVCA All-State, All-District Nine and All-KSAC players. The second one is a year-by-year list of all of Clarion’s season records [conference and overall], all their various championships and important place finishes etc.)

The Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association (PVCA) announced their 2022 Hall of Fame Class on Monday, November 28th and longtime Clarion Area Bobcats Coach is one of four members who will be enshrined at the Induction Banquet to be held at Toftrees Golf Resort at State College, on Friday, December 2nd, beginning at 6:30PM.

Coach Shari will be honored along with Cochranton High School Head Coach Marci Malliard; Denny Cruse, Player, Coach, Official and League Organizer; and Jim Hopton, Senior Tour Player and Multi Year National Champion.

Reservations are required to attend and can be obtained by contacting Daryl Wessner at 570-764-4965.

Coach Campbell is very familiar with Coach Malliard and pleased to be inducted with her. She said, “It’s a real honor to be inducted with Marcy, who is a Single A coach at Cochranton, which is just one district away (District Ten). I have a lot of respect for her program. We played her teams a lot over the years. She’s a really good person.”

Her very impressive teaching and coaching resume` attest to Coach Shari’s induction qualifications. At Clarion Area she has been a DK Teacher, First Grade Teacher, Elementary and High School Guidance Counselor 1994-Present.

Coach Campbell has been the Bobcats Head Volleyball Coach from 1999-Present. The Bobcats have had some great accomplishments during Coach Shari’s tenure, thus far. Her overall record (not including tournaments) is 437-70. Clarion has won three Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) State Championships (2012, 2020, 2021). They were State Runners-up twice (2010, 2011) and reached the State Semi-Finals four times. They have made nineteen State Tournament appearances.

The Bobcats won twenty Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference (KSAC) Championships, all but two outright; fifteen District Nine Championships and three District Nine Runners-up.

Coach Shari’s Bobcats have garnered a multitude of Individual Player Awards: fifty-five All-State Players, eighty-four All-District Players, one hundred and three All-Conference Players; and twenty six Collegiate Players.

From 1996-Present, Coach Shari has been Club Director and Coach of Clover Volleyball. She created the local USAV Junior Olympic Volleyball Club.

Prior to Clarion Area, Coach Shari was the Head Coach at Clarion-Limestone from 1994-1996, where her record was 22-36, including a 13-5 mark in 1996.

From 1992-1994 she was a Graduate Assistant/Assistant Coach Atlantic Ten Conference, Division I Saint Bonaventure University, in Allegany, New York.  “It was a great learning experience and I value all I learned from John Wasielewski, current assistant coach at Virginia Tech University.”  In 1990 Coach Shari was ASAV Junior Olympic Club Coach at Juniata College in Huntingdon.

Coach Shari is the PVCA District Nine Class A representative. Former Bradford Coach is the Class AA and Class AAA representative. Coach Leet helped with Coach Shari’s nomination. She had high praise for Coach Leet. “Mike Leet is a great advocate for players and coaches. He was a great coach at Bradford himself, and for him to stay involved in the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association is commendable. He does a really great service for District Nine and the state. I have a lot of respect for what he does to highlight our players.”

A hallmark of Coach Shari’s playing and coaching career is the remarkable people she has had in her life that have strengthened her as an individual, as well as the programs she has guided.

At Clarion Area. “I’ve been fortunate over the years at Clarion to be supported by so many people. I remember coming in and D J Bevevino was the Athletic Director at the time. And I had some ideas of things I wanted to do, tournaments I wanted to go to, and uniform ideas. He was like ‘Yep, let’s see if we can make that happen’. To have someone right from the get-go, who believes in what you are doing is a big thing.

“And over the years, just to have so many people that have been administrators  that reach out to me again and again, just to congratulate the team and provide support. I still hear from Bill Kaufman, I still hear from George White. Joe Fotos, before he passed away, would make anonymous donations to the team and have pizza parties for the team. And all that kind of support from Clarion is really amazing.”  People like Brad Wagner, Todd MacBeth and Larry Wiser wish me luck before big matches.  I appreciate that so much.”     

And the assistant coaches she’s had. “I’ve had such great support from very knowledgeable coaches as my assistant coaches. Jami Emings, who is a teacher out at C-L was my first assistant (at Clarion Area). She jumped on board and was ready to learn and we had a great time together.   

“And I can’t say enough about Erika Cathcart my assistant (who also contributed to Coach Shari’s nomination process), for as long as she stood by my side. She was my first setter at Clarion Area and she was there for the first State Championship. Even though she’s not currently coaching, she’s a huge supporter and continues to help the team in many ways.

“And I’m really fortunate to have Tracy Durish by my side. She’s been a head coach in her own right; I think the players really benefit from that. And, Sam Beichner, who is a previous player, has been a volunteer for us for so many years.  I value all she does for the program.  I have had a few past players come back to coach also, Lindsay Banner, Kaitlyn Speer, and Matti Thornton.  I love when players become coaches and give back to the program.

“I think that is a big element to being successful, not having a lot of turnover in your coaching staff. I feel extremely blessed to work with such great people.”           

And the support is running strong  today. “I would like to  say something about current support also. Over the years, it’s just been great to have so many people supporting the program and to still have the support we have today is very much appreciated. I could not be more supported than we are now; the way (Dr.) Joe Carrico supports what we do, highlighting the success and giving us the resources that we need to continue to strive for our goals. (Athletic Director) Nancy Mills is a tireless hard working athletic director and she loves the team, loves the program. I feel really fortunate to work with the people that I work with at Clarion right now. (High School Principal) Natalie Miller-Martini is just fantastic. You see her at games all the time. I’ve been really been fortunate over the years, to continually have the support from a lot of the administration. And, our school board is very proud of these young female athletes.  They have gone above to help the team.”

And Coach Shari saw that same kind of support during her tenure at Clarion-Limestone. “I was at C-L for three years. It was a time when Clyde Conte was there. He and I shared the weight room. He was super supportive of what I was doing.

“I can’t say enough about Susie Rensiel, Laura Smith Dunn’s mom. She was one of the biggest supporters and helped me create a family atmosphere. (Players) Becca Daugherty, Betsy Swaub, Wendy Ferguson, Laura Dunn, Amy Mahle, Christina Greitzer, and so many more.  We started out with a lot of kids that didn’t know the game, but great athletes and by the time I left, I had a phenomenal team.

“We made a great run my last year. But I was teaching at Clarion and living in Clarion. So whenever the coaching job became available, it was just a lot easier to be at one school.”

About the PVCA and Hall of Fame fraternities, “I became a Lifetime Member a long time ago, with the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association. And I would attend those clinics. There are a lot of people that I looked up to, mentors in the sport. Some of them are still members today.

“I really think the association tries to do a lot for players to grow the sport. So I’m really thankful to have those relationships because of that. And, I am honored they are seeing my career in the support as successful enough to honor me with the hall of fame.”     

Coach Shari has a principle that guides her programs. “My philosophy is that the game is the topic that teaches these girls to be strong, powerful young women. So it’s something that we love, that we share together, the sport of volleyball.

“But there is so much more that is learned and shared because of the work ethic, because of the dedication and the culture that we try to create in the gym. A family atmosphere that kids stick with the program.

“Kids come back and support their teammates after they graduate. Kids turn into amazing adults who we still have contact with. They’ll reach out to these current players (wishing them) all the success in the world. I really think it is more than just a game. It always has been. The court is an amazing classroom. I love to see kids grow.  When you believe in them and you set expectations high and they rise to the expectations, it is very gratifying.  And their individual powers shine through when they achieving those things. This is really the magic of being able to create a program over time that does this for its members.

“We see that happen over again and again, for these young women.” 

Roughly a year ago or so, Coach Shari had a request for me, saying she would like the team referred to as the Bobcats not Lady Cats because she wants them to be seen as equals to their male counterparts. “I truly believe that there needs to be equity in sports. I believe that when you are representing your school, you are representing everybody. And the school mascot is what we should be using and I think that we need to understand the complexity of who an athlete is.

“I think that taking gender away from that is something that is empowering to me as a coach and to empower these young women to see themselves as equal to all athletes. It is something that is important to me.”  

That volleyball is a family affair has been instilled in Coach Shari from way back. Her parents Barbara and Bruce Thomas have been there from the get-go supporting her and you can see them at many, many Bobcat matches. Her mother-in-law, Martha Campbell has been an integral part of the program for a number of years.     

About her early days in the sport, Coach Shari, said, “I feel like volleyball is a small community and I’m fortunate to have grown up in Huntingdon, where Juniata College is, and just a thirty-five minute drive from Penn State. So I was able to be exposed to some of the best coaches in our country, Larry Bock (now retired) at Juniata.  He was my Club coach. He started my Club program at Juniata and was my college coach. Also Russ Rose (now retired) Penn State coach. He started running his Volleyball Express Camps at Juniata.

“I started attending those. (I was actually at the first camp there ever was. I didn’t know it at the time, but I noticed when Brenna went. I got the 30 year anniversary T-shirt that she had.)  My whole family became involved in the sport of volleyball.  My own coaches, Betsy Mason at Huntingdon and Priscilla Gibboney, were very influential.  I was the first to play in my family, my sister played and my mother was a Club director and my best friends in Huntingdon are coaches. So I feel like it has always been a family affair.

“There are so many people that I have the honor to be coached by, coached beside or sit in the stands and watch games with; and to just have that camaraderie with so many great people is something that makes me feel so fortunate. So many great individuals that has passed through my life, because volleyball. I can’t imagine doing it any other way.”     

And her own family’s affair with the sport. “I remember when Brenna was born. Jim and I were deciding ‘Do we have time to coach and raise children and have jobs.’ I came to the decision that your kids growing up in a gym is a great place to be; way better than growing up in front of a TV.

“I knew that the only way we wanted to do this was to have the kids with us.   

“Jim is an amazing person, in that he jumped right in to that. Baby bags on his back, strollers, he brought the kids while I was coaching and ran the cameras. So our kids (Brenna, Hadlee and Addiwyn) really did grow up in the gym and continue to do that. I’m pretty proud of their work ethic.”

The Campbell girls as well as other Bobcat players are beneficiaries of former players paying it forward. “They’ve been shown some amazing players over the years, as role models. One of the biggest benefits is that my kids have looked up to the Brooke Bailey’s, the Dani Fleeger’s, the Tiffany Smathers,’ the Gretchen Vandermeer’s, the Morgan Bailey’s, the Kate Fillman’s, the Ellie Burns’, the Kiersten Kiser Krepps’, the Emily Fillman’s and so so so many great young women.  I want to name them all.  Every one of them are such wonderful people and I am very proud of them.  I love seeing who they are as adults, what they contribute to our world.  They all are doing such positive things.

“My kids look up to those kids, like ‘I want to be just like them. I want to do what they are doing.  I really love that my kids have been around such great people.     

 “The only other thing I would say is that there have been so many great players, so many kids who have bought into the concept of working hard, being great and being part of something bigger than themselves. There have been so many parents who’ve been amazing with the club,  as officers or booster members, who have also supported the concept of ‘We’re going to support these kids playing. We’re going to find ways to raise money to make sure we have the camps that we need, make sure that we have the tournaments that we need.’ I can’t say enough about all of those, so many wonderful parents who work behind the scenes to help create those opportunities.” 

Coach Shari’s thoughts on being a member of the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Hall of Fame Class of 2022:  “I’m humbled by it. I’m really honored to be thought of as having achieved something. I don’t look at the numbers a lot. I just see myself as teaching the game of volleyball and holding kids to some high standards and loving what I do.

‘When you are in it, you don’t take a pause to look at it, what it looks like over time. I really appreciate the opportunity to do that.

“I’m not done yet. It’s making me feel a little bit old, but I’m still excited about what the future holds and the kids that are in the gym right now and the kids that are going to be coming through the program in the next couple years.”

Congratulations on this Great Honor, Coach Shari!!!! Well Deserved!!!! And Congratulations to all of you who have been part of this Amazing Journey!!!! Thanks to Nate Girvan. Bri Kirkland – Kirkland Photography and others for their photos!!

(Note CSZ will be doing an induction follow-up article also. And there is one unfinished piece of business after that… The Gym Floor needs to be Named Coach Shari Campbell Court!!) 

All-Time list of Bobcats Volleyball PVCA All-State, All-District Nine and All-KSAC players.

Clarion’s season records (conference and overall), all their various championships and important place finishes etc.