A basketball coach, baseball coach, official, athletic director and three-sport stars will be part of the six-member class in the latest round of inductees into the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame.
James Pouncy (Holmes), Jeff Hans (Thomas More), Jeff Hetzer (Thomas More), Ken Ellis (Holmes), Marc Collins (Lloyd Memorial) and Melissa Marsh (Notre Dame) will be inducted on April 17 at 1 p.m., at the Gardens of Park Hills.
Here is a brief bio on the newest members (submitted by Buddy Dittus):
James Pouncy, Holmes
Pouncy graduated from Holmes in 1989 and was a letterman in football, basketball and baseball. He then got into coaching and developed and ran the NKY Tar Heels/KY Select youth basketball program for 30 years. In 2012, James was named the Kentucky AAU Coach of the Year.
He began officiating in the 9th Region in 2000 and became a college official in 2006. He has worked 15 Regional tournaments, 10 All “A” Tournaments, and four KHSAA state championship games. In 2011, he was nominated for Kentucky State Official of the Year. In 2021, he was selected to be the 9th Region Basketball Assigner. He is currently working NCAA in Divisions II and III, and NAIA College basketball. His current and past assignments have been to seven NCAA National Tournaments and 9 NAIA National Tournaments.
Jeff Hans, Thomas More
Jeff is the head coach of the women’s basketball team at Thomas More University. He has coached three national championship teams and two national runner-up finishes in his 13 years at the helm. He has been named the National Coach of the year in 2022 and has a 321-31 record. In his tenure, the Saints have won eight regular season conference titles, eight conference tournament titles and 11 national tournament berths. Jeff came to Thomas More from NKU, where he was the top assistant to NKYSHOF member Nancy Winstel for three years. Jeff spent four years as head girl’s coach at Lexington Catholic and at St. Henry were he had a combined record of 89-34 with two district titles and two regional runner-up finishes. Prior to his four years at the high school level, he spent five years as an assistant at Indiana State, NKU and Wilmington College. He helped his teams go a combined 168-67 (.714) in his eight years at the collegiate level.
Jeff Hetzer, Thomas More
Jeff coached baseball at Thomas More for 19 years and was named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference coach of the year four times and the ABCA Conference coach of the year three times. He posted 18 winning seasons.
Jeff had 104 players named all-conference, including 40 named first team. During this time he compiled a 484-277 record with five conference championships, seven NCAA appearances, five region semifinalists, and one region finalist. He is the programs all-time winningest coach. He had four PAC Players of the Year and one Pitcher of the Year. He had 39 named all-region and seven All-Americans.
He was named ABCA conference coach of the year in 2008, ’11 and ’15. He was PAC coach of the year in 2011, ’14, ’16 and ’18. He has also served a four-year term on the NCAA Division III Baseball Committee from 2010-13.
Ken Ellis, Holmes
Ellis is currently the Athletic Director at Holmes. He worked his way through starting as an assistant football coach at Dayton High School from 1978-84. He was the girls head track and field coach from 1978-84 and the assistant boys’ basketball coach from 1978-85. He also served as the assistant athletic director from 1989-2000 and was the Dayton High School Youth basketball league director from 1988-2000.
He also officiated high school basketball for 16 years from 2003-2019 and a football official from 1993 to present day.
Ken was named the 9th Region Athletic Director of the Year in 2020-2021.
Marc Collins, Lloyd Memorial
Collins was a three-sport standout for the Juggernauts in football, basketball and tennis. In football he was a three-year starter as the punter and kicker. His senior year he led NKY in scoring with 53 points, led NKY in punting average and was name third team All-State Punter. He made the Recorder Newspaper, NKY Coaches, Channel 5 top 22, the Enquirer and the Class A All-Star Teams. He was named to the East/West All Stars and was named the game MVP, earning a scholarship to Eastern Kentucky University.
In basketball he was a three-year starter for Coach Bill Code. His senior year he averaged 18 points and 13 rebounds. He was named to the All-District team, Class AA All-Star Team, honorable mention all-state, famous Recipe Player of the Week, and was named Lloyd’s “Mr. Juggernaut”
In tennis he was a five-year starter and letterman in both singles and doubles. He was region runner-up in singles his junior year and played in the state singles tournament.
Collins went on to play football at EKU where he was a four-year starter and two-time All-Conference kicker and punter. He was named All-American by the Associated Press, the Sports Network, the Walter Camp Foundation, and the Football Coaches Association. Marc signed with the Seattle Seahawks in 1996, and with the Buffalo Bills in 1997. He is currently the President of NFLPA for the Cincinnati chapter and serves on the advisory board for former NFLPA players.
Melissa Marsh, Notre Dame Academy
Marsh is a 1993 grad of Notre Dame where she was a soccer, basketball and softball standout. She was first team Academic All-State, first team All-Region, and Ky. Post Defensive Player of the week in 1993 for soccer. She helped lead her teams to two district titles, a region title and a region runner-up, a conference title and a State runner-up on the pitch.
In basketball she made coaches association first team, 9th region All-Tournament team, First team All-Region, and Ky. Post All Star. She was NDA Most valuable Player and chosen to play in the Senior All-Star game.
In softball she was a 3-time first team All-Region, 3-time coaches association All-region, 3-time All-State Academic, a Ky. Post All-Star. She was NDA 3 sport athlete award.
Melissa was selected in 1994 to play in the World Softball Championships in Kansas City. She was inducted into the NDA Hall of Fame in 2014. She was inducted into the Athletic Director’s HOF in 2019.