Wayne High School announces the Wayne Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2022-23 to honor former student athletes, coaches, contributors and teams who helped build a tradition of athletic and academic excellence that continues at Wayne High School today.
The 2022-23 class includes:
Xavielle Brown (Athlete): Xavielle Brown was a member of the Wayne High School boys’ basketball team from 2008-2011. Xavielle was a 4-year letter winner at Wayne and scored 1,074 points in his career making him the 5th All Time Scorer in Wayne High School history. He had 687 career rebounds and averaged 18.5 points per game. Xavielle was also named to 1st team All SAC, 1st Team All Northeast Indiana, 1st Team All State, and a Border Wars All Star. Xavielle received a full scholarship to Park University in Missouri. Here, he continued to excel in his basketball career. Xavielle was named American Mideast Conference Freshmen of the Year, NABC All-America First Team (2x), NAIA first team all-American (2x), NAIA third team all-American, and Park University Athlete of the Year (2x). Most notably, Xavielle is the third time leading scorer in Park University history with 2,000 career points, was inducted into Park University Hall of Fame, enshrine into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, and honored by the Kansas City Sport Commission. Xavielle currently coaches in the NKC school district in Kansas City, Missouri, and continues to pursue entrepreneur endeavors in consulting, landscaping, and personal training.
Lacia Gorman (Athlete): Lacia Gorman was a member of the Elmhurst High School and Wayne High School girls’ basketball team from 2008-2011. Lacia was a 4-year letter winner at Elmhurst and Wayne and scored 1,604 career points with 688 assists and 478 steals. She was named all-conference (4x), all-area (4x), and all-state (3x) during her career. During her basketball career, Lacia earned 3 sectional championships, 1 regional championship, and a semi-state championship. Most notably, Lacia was a member of the state championship team at Elmhurst, a 2011 Indiana All-Star, 2011 McDonald’s All-American Game nominee, named to 2010 Junior All-Star Core Team and was a 2011 Indiana Miss Basketball candidate where she placed 6th overall. During her time at Elmhurst and Wayne, Lacia was also a three year letter winner in softball, and one year letter winner in volleyball. She was the president of the National Honor Society in 2010 and 2011, held a 3.9 GPA, and was 4th in her graduating class. Lacia continued her basketball career with a full ride scholarship to Wisconsin where she played for one year and transferred to Northern Illinois. Lacia currently coaches basketball at Wayne High School.
Justin Mitchell (Athlete): Justin Mitchell was a member of the Wayne High School boys’ basketball team from 2011-2014. Justin played four years at Wayne High School and broke a decades long all-time points leader record with 1,416 career points. Justin continued his basketball career at Wright State University for four years. Most notably, Justin is proud of scoring a triple/double as a junior at Wright State. He is one of only three players in the history of the university to do so. Justin graduated from Wright State University in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in Communications. He continued his basketball career professionally in 2018 playing in Switzerland for the Basel Starwings. Justin played overseas from 2018 to 2021, finishing his career with the BNXT League in Amsterdam, Netherland. He received multiply awards during his tenure including “Player of the Game”, Team Captain, Top Scorer, and Swiss League “Team of the Week” (4x). Justin currently lives in Indiana and is pursuing a career in Sales and Marketing.
Alfred Wims (Athlete): Alfred Wims was a member of the Wayne High School cross country and track & field teams from 1982-1984. In cross country, Alfred was a 3-year letter winner, team captain, and placed in sectionals (2x), regionals (2x) and All-SAC (2x). Most notably, Alfred was a state finalist (3x) and Indiana All-State his senior year. In track & field, Alfred was a 3-year letter winner, team captain, state finalist (3x) and selected for the Midwest Meet of Champions Team his senior year. Alfred received a full ride scholarship for track and field to Purdue University. During his time at Purdue, Alfred was recognized as a Most Valuable Freshmen in Big Ten nominee and holds the 4th fastest all-time record in the 500m and 6th fastest all-time record in the 600m in Purdue University’s history. Alfred currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina and works as a Corporate Global Financial Informational Technology Project Manager for Bank of America.
Tom Hogan (Coach): Tom Hogan was a coach of the Wayne High School boys’ track team. Tom served as an assistant coach from 1983-1990. From 1990 – 2018, Tom served as the head coach of the boys’ track program. During his tenure, Tom Hogan led the Wayne boys’ track team to 12 sectional championships, 3 SAC championships, and 3 regional championships. Tom’s tenure saw 5 individual state champions, 1 relay team state champion, and 2 state runner-up finishes. He received the District Coach of the Year Award and has been inducted into the Fort Wayne African American Hall of Fame (2002).
Vern Doehrman (Contributor): Vern Doerhman served many roles relating to the growth of young athletes and Fort Wayne sports. He has been a player, coach, teacher, referee, umpire and scorekeeper. His role at Wayne High School saw him sitting at the score table keeping the scorebook for various head coaches for 25 years. He often traveled with his brother, Will, to help the head coaches scout other teams. He also kept the scoreboard at Wayne High School football games and assisted in keeping score at sectional and regional track meets. Even after Vern’s retirement, he could be found in various gyms around the city keeping tabs on the families of former players and friends. Vern passed away on November 10, 2021 at the age of 92. His family believes he would have been appreciative and humbled by this honor. Accepting on Vern’s behalf are his son, Scott Doehrman, and daughter, Jann Irvin.
Don Reichert (Contributor): Don Reichert was the first athletic director at Wayne High School. Don served in the role of the athletic director from 1971-1981. Don’s task was to develop what the role would be for an athletic director, organize sporting events, mentor coaches, reserve fields, arrange travel logistics, build community relations, and handle media interactions. Don worked hard to create a strong and respectable athletic program at Wayne High School during his tenure. Prior to his role at Wayne High School, Don coached and taught at South Side High School, Fort Wayne from 1951-1971. South Side’s gym was dedicated to Don for his years of service and success at South Side. Don passed away in June of 2008 at the age of 89. Accepting on Don’s behalf are his daughter and son-in-law, Sandra and John Forston.
1980-81 Mens Basketball Team (team): The 1980-81 mens’ basketball team was coached by Will Doehrman, Lee Deturk, Murray Mendenhall and Tim Smiley. This season, the Generals record was 20-7 and they were led by captains Kendrick Boyd, Eric Chapman and Benny Moore. The 1980-81 men’s basketball team went on to win a regional championship defeating Dekalb, 64-51, in the regional semifinals and defeating Concordia 62-26 for a regional championship. The members of the team are: Tom Applegate, John Bates, Jerry Bowman, Kendrick Boyd, Tim Burton, Dennis Duncan, Stuart Freimuth, Benny Moore, Eric Thomas, Scott White, and Damon Whitt.
Sponsored by the Wayne Athletic Department, the Hall of Fame is dedicated to preserving the rich heritage of outstanding achievements by student athletes and adults in athletics at Wayne High School. Student athletes are eligible for consideration five years after completion of their high school careers while coaches are eligible for consideration five years after they retire from coaching. Contributors are individuals who over many years worked as an employee of Wayne High School or significantly contributed time or resources, in each case to the betterment of the Wayne High School athletic programs. Nominations can be made for individuals for future consideration by completing the nomination form found at www.waynegenerals.org