Utah Sports Hall of Fame honors Weber State athletic director Bovee and seven Beehive State coaches

The Utah Sports Hall of Fame handed Weber State athletic director Jerry Bovee its distinguished service award Tuesday night at its spring awards banquet at Little America.

The group also awarded former Weber State track coach Jim Blaisdell a Coach of Merit honor.

Longtime Utah coaches Kerry Anderson, Don Hall, Danny Hill, Jim "Shoe" Nelson, Glen Partridge and Jay Welk earned Coach of Honor awards.

"You are mentors and teachers in your professions, and in life itself," said Utah High School Activities Association director Rob Cuff, the master of ceremonies. "You have been the delivery system of education-based athletics and you have delivered well."

Bovee, a graduate of Ben Lomond High and Utah State, has been the Weber State athletic director for the past seven years after spending 12 years as an assistant director for the Utah High School Activities Association.

Under his leadership, the Wildcats have celebrated Big Sky Conference Championships in basketball, track and field, cross country, soccer and softball.

Blaisdell, an Idaho native and BYU graduate, spent 33 seasons as the coach of the Weber State women's cross country and track and field programs. His teams won nine indoor Big Sky Conference championships, five outdoor titles and four cross country crowns. He earned 17 Big Sky Coach of the Year honors.

Anderson, a Piute High and BYU grad, served 39 years at Wayne High school, where his wrestling teams won a record 16 titles. He also coached the girls' track and field team to seven titles and was athletic director for 27 years.

Hall, known as the Colonel, coached track and cross country at Ogden High for 23 seasons. The Arkansas native coached the Tigers to 11 state titles and 50 region crowns.

Hill was the longtime basketball coach at Gunnison High, spending 42 years at the Sanpete County school teaching and coaches. His basketball teams won over 400 games, four state titles and eight region titles.

After graduating from Utah State, Nelson returned to Spanish Fork to coach the Dons in baseball for 29 years and establish the Utah County town as a baseball hotbed. Shoe's teams won 572 games, six state titles and 17 region crowns. He was the national coach of the year in 2011.

Partridge, a Tooele High and BYU graduate, coached at Delta, North Sevier and Panguitch, winning 10 state titles and seven seconds place finishes in track and cross country. He was head coach or assistant for 20 different state title teams.

Welk made his mark at Davis and Weber High schools after graduating from Weber State. He spent 24 years as the Darts' head coach, winning 351 games and the 2002 5A state title. He said his coaching philosophy was to have basketball develop life skills.

The Utah Sports Hall of Fame Foundation will hold its 50th anniversary celebration on Oct. 16, honoring 226 members.