Farley, Peterson Abiad Headline River Falls H.S. Inaugural Hall of Fame Class
INDIANAPOLIS -- Two Horizon League head coaches will be among the 14 individuals inducted into the first class of the River Falls High School Hall of Fame. Butler baseball head coach Steve Farley and Cleveland State women's basketball head coach Kate Peterson Abiad both starred for the Wildcats before finding success on the collegiate stage.
Farley, a four-time Horizon League Coach of the Year, graduated from the Wisconsin school in 1977. He was an all-conference and team captain standout in football, basketball and baseball. He posted a 25-1 career pitching record in high school and batted .521 as a senior, earning all-state honors in 1977. His lone prep loss was a 1-0 defeat in the state tournament. He led the River Falls baseball team to a pair of conference titles and was twice selected first team all-conference.
"It's an honor to be chosen in this inaugural class of the River Falls High School Hall of Fame," Farley said in a statement to ButlerSports.com. "With so many top athletes coming out of my high school, there are many deserving people. I wouldn't have enjoyed the success I had without so many great coaches and teammates."
The 20-year Bulldog baseball coach also was quarterback, kicker and punter on the football team, earning all-conference honors in 1976. He was one of the top punters in Wisconsin, averaging 43 yards per punt. Farley was also an all-conference basketball player and was among the team's leading scorers and rebounders.
After his days at River Falls, Farley played baseball at the University of Minnesota and earned a bachelor's degree in 1981. He received a master's degree from the University of Arizona in 1983.
Since coming to BU in 1991, Farley has led the Dawgs to five conference titles and two NCAA Tournament appearances. Last year, he was awarded the ABCA Ethics in Coaching Award at the national baseball coaches convention in Nashville.
"It is quite an honor to be inducted into the first Hall of Fame class at River Falls H.S.," Peterson Abiad said to CSUVikings.com. "I was fortunate to have great coaches and teammates at River Falls and was also blessed with tremendous family support throughout my career. This is quite and honor."
This will be the second Hall of Fame that Peterson Abiad will enter after she was inducted into the UW-Stevens Point Hall of Fame in 2000.
After graduating from River Falls H.S., Peterson Abiad went on to earn Kodak All-American honors at UW-Stevens Point in 1991, setting the NCAA Division III record for three-point field goals per game (3.85).
She quickly got into coaching after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 1991, spending two years at Indiana (1991-93) and four years at Eastern Illinois (1993-97) as an assistant coach.
She was hired as an assistant coach at Wisconsin in 1997, spending the next six seasons with the Badgers, helping them to three NCAA appearances and two NIT appearances, including the 2000 title.
In addition, Peterson Abiad helped the Badgers bring in two top-10 freshman classes during her final four years with the Badgers and was responsible for the signing and development of WNBA draftees Tamara Moore and Jessie Stomski and was instrumental to the Badgers inking Nina Smith, who was named the 1999 National Player of the Year by USA Today.
Peterson Abiad received her first head coaching job when she was hired at Cleveland State on April 25, 2003, and has built the Vikings into one of the top teams in the Horizon League..
She led CSU to its first-ever Horizon League tournament title and NCAA berth in 2008 and again in 2010. She ranks second on the all-time wins list at Cleveland State with 106 after leading the Vikings to 21 wins last season, the second most in school history.
The pair will be inducted on July 29 at the 1st Annual Wildcat Hall of Fame Golf Tournament at Kilkarney Hills G.C.
