Three athletes -- two of them former NFL players -- headline the Alaska High School Hall of Fame's Class of 2015.
A total of 11 selections, five of them coaches, will be inducted in an August ceremony in Anchorage.
Leading the way are athletes Reggie Tongue of Lathrop, Chris Kuper of Dimond and Jeremiah Richards of Palmer.
Tongue and Kuper went on to long careers in the NFL, and Richards was an NAIA All-American in football and track and field.
Also gaining entry into the Hall of Fame are five coaches -- Homer ski coach Dave Schroer, Point Hope basketball coach Rex Rock, Palmer and Colony wrestling coach Lancer Smith, West Valley and Eielson basketball coach Ted DeLeon and Noorvik basketball coach Mike Zibell.Voted in as an administrator was Roger Steinbrecher, who worked in Sand Point and Seward.
Joining those nine individuals in the Class of 2015 are two selections from the category of major contributors -- the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks and Alaska Airlines.
The induction ceremony is Sunday, Aug. 2, at 5 p.m. at the Hilton Anchorage hotel.
Tongue and Kuper are among 11 Alaskans who have played in the National Football League.
Tongue, the 1990 Alaska Player of the Year, was a standout running back and defensive back for the Malemutes. He went on to star at safety for Oregon State and from there went on to a 10-year NFL career. Tongue played for four teams and spent four seasons apiece with the Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks.
Kuper was the Cook Inlet Conference's lineman of the year in 2000. He helped North Dakota win an NCAA Division II championship before becoming an eight-year offensive lineman for the Denver Broncos.
Richards was a two-sport star at Palmer, claiming two state titles in track and field (discus is 1996, shot put in 1997) and earning the 1996 Alaska Player of the Year award in football. At Benedictine College in Kansas, he was a two-time NAIA All-American in track and one-time All-America tight end in football.
The Alaska High School Hall of Fame was created in 2006 by the Alaska School Activities Association. It honors students for their achievements in sports, academics and fine arts as well as coaches, administrators, advisors/directors, officials/adjudicators and major contributors.