The IHSAA is proud to announce 2024 honorees for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame and Officials Hall of Fame, with the seven total selections to be honored during the 2024 IHSAA State Basketball Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. These honorees were nominated through their schools, recommended by the Hall of Fame selection committees, and approved by the Board of Control this winter.
Below is brief biographical information on each Hall of Fame selection. Selections will be introduced at halftime of the Class 3A championship game on Friday, set for a 5 p.m. tipoff.
More information on IHSAA awards is available in the annual state tournament program, available for $5 at Wells Fargo Arena or through the IHSAA website and office.
IHSAA BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME
BRAD BARRON, Cedar Falls – An all-state post who posted school record averages of 22.1 points, 13.1 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks in 1992, Barron capped his Cedar Falls career as runner-up for Mr. Basketball and honorable mention All-American. He shot 70 percent from the field in that season and is a member of Cedar Falls’ athletic hall of fame. Barron’s postseason honors included MVP of state Dr Pepper all-star game, nominee for McDonald’s All-America, and a role on an Iowa Select team that played abroad before college. He went on to become a Hall of Fame player at Morningside, scoring 1,625 points and 702 rebounds and earning all-conference honors three times. Barron works as a fraud and financial crimes senior manager with ACAMS and lives in Ohio. He has three children: Cameron, Connor, and Lily.
DWIGHT GINGERICH – Gingerich is an active coach who ends 2023-24 tied for fifth all-time with 738 wins across 42 varsity seasons, including 12 state tournament appearances, five state finals appearances, and one championship in 1992. He coached at Iowa Mennonite, now Hillcrest Academy, since 1981, except one year as an interim coach at Goshen College in 2000-01. Gingerich started his career as college basketball player at Eastern Mennonite University before starting as an assistant coach at Archbishop John Carroll in Washington D.C. and Eastern Mennonite High School in Virginia. Once at Iowa Mennonite in 1981, he served countless roles, including as a successful volleyball coach, assistant track and field and soccer coach, and now principal and head of school with Hillcrest Academy. Gingerich and his wife Mo have three adult children, Michaela, Eli, and Caleb.
KENT McCAUSLAND, Waterloo, West – McCausland was an elite prep shooter who led West to the Class 4A state tournament in 1994, its most recent appearance. He averaged 17 points, five rebounds and five assists per game as a senior, earning all-state honors on top of two MVC all-conference awards. The son of Linda and Mac McCausland, who served as the voice of the Iowa Hawkeyes in the 1980s and 1990s, he shined on an AAU roster featuring Klay Edwards, Raef LaFrentz, and Ryan Bowen. McCausland went on to become a three-year starter at Iowa and led the NCAA in 3-point percentage in 1998-99 at 52.2 percent. In 1999, he was the leading scorer for a Sweet 16 squad and is the program’s all-time leader in 3-point shooting percentage. McCausland works as a partner at PDCM Insurance in Waterloo, where he also serves on boards for the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Cedar Valley, the national University of Iowa I-Club, and the Iowa Chapter of the American Cancer Society. McCausland and his wife Traci and have two sons, Jay and Casey.
BRYCE SMEINS – A retired coach and administrator, Smeins led three different schools to state tournaments and won 387 games across 33 varsity seasons. A longtime athletic director and physical education teacher, the Ackley-Geneva grad started his coaching career at Steamboat Rock before heading east. His Lost Nation squad went to state in Class A in its final two tournament appearances in 1987 and 1988, including a one-point thriller against powerhouse Palmer in 1987. He then took Clear Creek-Amana to state in Class 2A in 1992 and 1993, with a runner-up finish in the first year. Smeins then led Washington to state in Class 3A in 2006 in his final head coaching stop, where he taught and coached until 2015. He then served as athletic director at Regina in Iowa City from 2018 to 2021. Smeins and his wife Krista live in Washington and have two adult children, Joe and Greta.
KIRK SPERAW, Sioux City, North – A four-sport star with the Stars, Speraw played quarterback in football, was an all-state baseball player, a Drake Relays runner, and shone brightest for North’s basketball team under coach Tom Goodman. He was an all-state guard in North’s first ever state tournament appearance in 1975, averaging 19 points, five rebounds and four steals a game. He rose higher in Des Moines, scoring 26 points per game and was named captain of the All-Tournament Team as the Stars finished third in Class 3A at 23-1. Speraw played at Iowa from 1975 to 1979 and was named “most inspirational player” of the 1979 co-Big Ten championship team. He dove into coaching with an award-winning career that spanned more than 40 years, including stops at the University of Denver, Florida Southern, Pensacola Junior College, the University of Florida, head coach at the University of Central Florida – including four NCAA tournament appearances as the school’s wins record from 1994-2010 – and then as an assistant coach at Iowa. Speraw and his wife Tracy live in Coralville and have four adult children: Drew, Brooke, Dustin, and Bailey.
KURT SPOMER, Tri-Center, Neola – A multi-sport star in western Iowa, Spomer was a rare four-time all-conference and two-time all-state basketball player for coach Carl Cochran at Tri-Center. He led his teams to two state tournaments in 2007 and 2008, racking up 1,948 points, 778 rebounds, 458 assists, 226 made 3-pointers, and 75 victories in his four varsity seasons on the court. Spomer was also an all-state quarterback in football and two-time all-state pitcher in baseball. He went on to play baseball at Creighton, where his teams won two Missouri Valley Conference tournaments and he holds the school record for saves in a season. His baseball career continued with the Los Angeles Angels and Detroit Tigers in AA and AAA levels, where he pitched in 282 career games with an ERA of 3.14. Spomer has returned to Iowa high school activities as an official, including multiple state tournament basketball appearances. He now works as a high-risk probation and parole officer and lives outside Council Bluffs with his wife Megan and son Korbin.
IHSAA OFFICIALS HALL OF FAME
RICH COLLISON: A four-sport athlete at Boone and graduate of Briar Cliff, Collison spent 19 years as a head basketball coach before embarking on 19 successful years as a basketball official for boys and girls. Work and family kept him in north Iowa after starting his teaching and coaching career at Lincoln Central, then going to Algona where he taught for 30 years and coached girls’ basketball and baseball. Collison planned on officiating after enjoying the role during college, but waited until coaching was done to change out the whistle and he quickly rose in the high school boys’ and girls’ ranks and into college men’s basketball in NAIA and Division III. In his 19 years, he worked eight boys’ state tournaments with three title games, and a similar total of girls’ tournaments. He retired in 2020 and continues assisting basketball officials as an observer and evaluator, including at both boys’ and girls’ state tournaments. Collison and his wife Julie have two adult sons, Brady and Clay, and live in Algona.
