Gary, Jewett-Giles, McClanahan among 2023 LCAC Hall of Fame class

Larry Gary became a trailblazer as the first Black head football coach in Lee County at Lehigh Senior High School in 1994.

This year, he’ll be a Hall of Famer.

The 67-year-old Gary was among nine inductees announced for the 2023 class of the Lee County Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. He’s one of three coaches in this year’s class, along with Loretta Purish (North Fort Myers) and Jim Reed (Cypress Lake). David LaRosa, Lee County’s Director of Athletics, is being honored as a contributor.

The five athletes being inducted are Kevin Brown (North Fort Myers ), Keri Jewett-Giles (Dunbar), Shane McClanahan (Cape Coral), Kyle Miller (Estero), and Josh Sheridan (Fort Myers).

The nine will be celebrated at a banquet on Thursday, April 20 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Fort Myers.

Gary said the first person he called when he found out about his Hall of Fame induction was one of his previous coaches, former North Fort Myers defensive coordinator Mike Gorton.

“He made a big impact on my life,” said Gary of Gorton, who now lives in Port Charlotte. “He’s the one who made it possible for me to go to college.”

Gary came out of retirement last summer for his second head coaching stint at Cape Coral High School. He said he’ll be back on the Seahawks’ sidelines this fall, alongside associate head coach Isaac Harvin, whom Gary is mentoring to be Cape’s next head coach.

“One thing I always tell our coaches at Cape is you don’t know how big an impact you’re having on kids when you’re coaching them,” he said.

Gary said he was deeply honored to be included in this year’s Hall of Fame class.

“It’s a special award,” he said. “Any award, you don’t get it on your own. You need help. I heard from so many people who are excited about it, some of them even more than me.”

Here's a closer look at the LCAC Hall of Fame's Class of 2023.

Kevin Brown:  Brown was a three-time All-Conference and an All-State baseball player at North Fort Myers High School. At Miami, he helped lead the Hurricanes to national championships in 1999 and 2001 and still highest overall slugging percentage in College World Series history. He will also be inducted into the Miami Sports Hall of Fame this spring.

Keri Jewett-Giles: Jewett-Giles, a Dunbar High School graduate, was a three-time News-Press Girls Basketball Player of the Year and was selected as first-team All-State her junior and senior seasons. Jewett-Giles played at FGCU where she was the ASUN Player of the Year as a senior. She was also named to the ASUN Conference’s All-Decade team and set FGCU’s Division I era career scoring average record.

Shane McClanahan:  McClanahan was a News-Press Player of the Year finalist and a First-Team All-Area baseball player at Cape Coral. He attended South Florida and was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the first round (No. 31) of the 2018 MLB Draft. McClanahan was the Rays' opening day starter in 2022 and was the starting pitcher for the American League in July's All-Star game.

Kyle Miller: Miller was the 2012 News-Press All-Area Baseball Player of the Year as a senior at Estero High School where he finished 9-0 with 0.58 ERA and 98 strikeouts to help lead the Wildcats to 25 consecutive wins. He went on to play at Florida Atlantic University and was drafted by the Chicago Cubs.

Josh Sheridan:  Sheridan was a two-time state wrestling champion at Fort Myers High School. He was also selected as the Florida 2A Wrestler of the Year as a senior in 2000. A three-time USA Wrestling Magazine All-American, Sheridan also excelled in the classroom as a National Merit Scholarship finalist and graduated with a 4.69 GPA.

Larry Gary:  Gary made history as Lee County's first black head football coach at Lehigh Senior High School in 1994. In 30-plus seasons on the sidelines, he's helped hundreds of students go on to play in college and had 13 players advance to the NFL. Gary returned to coach at Cape Coral High School in 2022. In 12 seasons as a head coach at Lehigh and Cape Coral, he compiled an overall record of 58-61.

Loretta Purish: Purish coached cross country for 28 years and track and field for 27 years at North Fort Myers High School, where the track is named in her honor.  She established the first girls relay meet in Lee County in 1990. In 2015, Purish was named the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Girls Cross Country Coach of the Year. Her teams won district cross country championships in 1997 and 1998 and a regional title in 1997.

James 'Jim' Reed: Reed arrived at Cypress Lake High School in the late 1970s and quickly turned the Panthers into a local and state volleyball powerhouse. In 14 seasons, his teams won 11 South Florida Conference Championships, had five consecutive undefeated regular seasons (1978-82), won two regional championships (1981, 1982), and a state title in 1981.

David LaRosa:  LaRosa is the Director of Athletics for the Lee County School District, overseeing sports in all of its high schools and middle schools. He has worked for 37 years in the district, including 11 years as a teacher and coach and 12 years as the principal of Fort Myers High School. LaRosa is also a member of the FHSAA's Board of Directors and was its president-elect. He also served as the District 13 representative on the Board of Directors for the Florida Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: LCAC Hall of Fame 2023 class includes Larry Gary, Shane McClanahan