Director of Hummer Sports Park Annette Wiles overcome with emotion on Hall of Fame honor

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – One of the 12 Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inductees is in the Capitol City.

Director of Hummer Sports Park Annette Wiles has a long history of being involved in sports. She was a shining star at Fort Hays State University where she’s the all-time leading scorer in school history, among many other statistics. She was an All-American, a National Champion and National Tournament MVP.

Wiles also coached at Fort Hays State for eight years among some other stops along the way too. He’s a Tiger Hall of Famer and she’s enshrined in the Rocky Mountain Conference Hall of Fame also.

At one point in time, she was the Athletic Director at Topeka High too. Wiles is from Hunter, Kansas, and when she got that phone call, it’s one she won’t forget.

“‘Hey, I’ve got something I need to tell you’ and he said, ‘you have been selected for induction in the Kansas Hall of Fame’’ and then I just begin to sob,” Wiles said. “I just was overcome with emotion which was just a very surreal moment and an honor, a blessing, a privilege and immediately my thoughts turned to my parents, to my family, to all the coaches, all of the teammates, and all of the players I’ve had the honor to play and Coach alongside of.”

Wiles said there’s a lot of proud moments and thankful for everything she’s been given but with the role she’s in now, she has a different perspective.

“Every time the girls basketball team at Topeka High or the boys basketball team at Topeka High would make the state basketball tournament, it just flooded all of those memories from my youth because I knew that these young people here in the city of Topeka were going to build memories with their families for the rest of their life,” Wiles said. “There’s been spectacular moments as the director here at Hummer Sports Park, watching the accomplishments of Topeka High, winning state softball championships and to know the caliber of players that have come through this facility.”

“I speak highly of all three of our high schools, in Highland Park, in Topeka West, and as well Topeka High. We also host all of our six middle schools out here at Hummer. We see a lot of young people building memories and having opportunities and I’ve always looked at sport being a vehicle of life and these are where they learned life skills and I couldn’t be more proud to have a facility that represents a championship environment for them,” she added.

When she came back to Kansas after a stint at Minnesota Duluth, she wanted to come back to get closer to family and with Kansas being home. She says this state stands out from others because of Kansans are.

“I think the people, the work ethic, we’re a blue-collar hard-working state. Obviously, I come from a farming community and that work ethic, the daily struggles that people have to overcome to be successes and I think also Kansans are just resilient. They can face adversity and rise above it and I’m just proud to be a Kansan,” Wiles said.

To learn more about her accomplishments at Fort Hays State University, click here.

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