Badger Athletic Hall of Fame inducts five individuals, two teams into 2025 class
Badger Athletic Hall of Fame/Press Release | Bonner County Daily Bee | UPDATED 1 month AGO
The 1991 Bonners Ferry High track & field team at the 1991 A-2 State Championship meet. Pictured, back row, from left are Steve Economu, Kenton Clairmont, Jeff Nearing, Mike Mark, Lee Klarich and Ryan Clairmont. Front row, from left are head coach Tom Wofford, Dustin Myers, Dan Rice, Pat Alt, Gideon Schribner, Ben Nystrom and assistant coach Pete Glindeman.
Gladys "Gramma Badger" Richardson
Roland Hall
Kathy (Tucker) Zech
The 1990 Bonners Ferry High track & field team at the A-2 State Championship meet. Pictured back row, from left are Josh Litterell, Jeff Nearing, Jim Tompkins, Ted Klarich, Mike Ferguson, Dan Rice, Lee Klarich, Travis Hinthorn, Pat Alt and Mike Mark. Front row, from left, are Jon Taggart, Billy Perkins, Jake Greenslitt, Andy Howe and Ed Cowin.
Introduction
Feeling a need to recognize the accolades and accomplishments of the many great athletes, coaches, teams, and supporters of Bonners Ferry High over the years, community members established the Badger Athletic Hall of Fame in 2024. This year, the board choose to elect the following five individuals and the 1990 and 1991 Bonners Ferry High track & field teams into its 2025 class on Saturday, Nov. 15
Gladys "Gramma Badger" Richardson
Gladys was born in North Dakota and attended school in Potlatch, Idaho, before moving to Porthill in 1949. She later settled on the South Hill in Bonners Ferry, where she worked as a jury commissioner and bailiff for Boundary County for more than 20 years before retiring.
However, Gladys was much more than her job.
Her unwavering support of grade school and high school athletics earned her the nickname “Gramma Badger.” Everyone knew to keep her seat, located behind the home bench, open in the gym. She spent countless days at the fairgrounds watching summer baseball and youth county sporting events. In recognition of her dedication, the award "Outstanding Female Underclassman" is named in her honor, and alumni basketball tournaments carry her name as well. Gladys, who passed away in 2017, will always be remembered as Bonners Ferry’s first true super fan.
Gladys "Gramma Badger" RichardsonRoland Hall
Roland grew up in Paradise Valley, Idaho, where life on the farm helped shape him into a champion. Milking his cow, T-Bone, every day gave him legendary grip strength — a skill that became his secret weapon on the wrestling mat.
Roland was a two-sport athlete at Bonners Ferry High, playing football on the 1970 District Championship team and excelling in wrestling. In 1971, competing at 171 pounds, he became the Badgers' first-ever state wrestling champion, back when Idaho had only one classification. He went on to wrestle at Grays Harbor College in Aberdeen, Wash. before transferring to Washington State University in Pullman, where he graduated magna cum laude in Veterinary Medicine and met the love of his life, Linda.
After college and military service, Roland returned to Bonners Ferry and, in 1982, opened the Bonners Ferry Veterinary Clinic. For more than four decades, the clinic has served animals and families across the community and has proudly supported Badger athletics — a practice that remains strong today.
Roland and his wife Linda raised two sons, Aaron (’03) and Adam (’06), and are blessed with daughter-in-law's, Desiree and Christine. They love being “Grandpa and Grandma” to their grandchildren, Theo, Natasha, Charley, and Maximus. In his free time, Roland enjoys hunting, fishing, spending time with his horses and mules, and traveling with Linda to visit their grandchildren.
Roland HallJudith “Judy” Linehan High
Judy grew up in Genesee, Idaho, where she loved playing basketball, riding horses, and spending time with family and friends. She went on to play basketball and field hockey at the University of Idaho in Moscow and Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Mich., graduating in 1972 with a degree in physical education and a minor in mathematics.
In the fall of 1972, Judy began her career with the Boundary County School District, teaching girls’ physical education, serving as cheerleader advisor, and coaching girls’ track & field — the only girls’ sport at Bonners Ferry High at the time. With the passage of Title IX that same year and the support of school administration, Judy, along with other female coaches in North Idaho, began working to organize more athletic opportunities for girls. By the fall of 1973, volleyball became a reality, and the following year, girls’ basketball was implemented — opening the door for countless young women to compete in athletics.
After a period devoted to raising her family, Judy returned to Bonners Ferry High in 1991 as a seventh-grade math teacher, a role she held for 20 years before retiring in 2012. Over her more than 35 years with the district, she coached volleyball, basketball, and track & field at both the junior high and high school levels.
Judy and her husband, Art, have three children — Jeff, Jessica (Neil), and Jacob (April) — and four grandchildren. She considers herself blessed to have worked with amazing colleagues, administrators, and generations of Badger athletes, including the children of students she taught in the 1970s.
Judith "Judy" Linehan High
Kathy (Tucker) Zech
Kathy was born and raised in Bonners Ferry, graduating from Bonners Ferry High in 1978. She was a standout multi-sport athlete, participating in band, volleyball, basketball, and track & field, which was her true passion. Kathy was state champion in the 220-yard dash, setting the Idaho state record with a time of 25.55 seconds, and was a also state champion in the 440-yard dash... all in addition to anchoring state championship relays. Throughout the years, her name was all over the Badger track & field record board, with two relay records broken just as recently as two years ago. She still holds the 100-, 200-, and 400-meter records to this day. While a Badger, Kathy was named the "Track Athlete of the Year" four years in a row.
These achievements earned her a track scholarship to the University of Montana in Missoula, where she continued running while earning a B.S. in Physical Therapy with a minor in Accounting. After graduation, she worked at a hospital in Missoula, where she met her husband, Richard. The couple married and moved to Sandpoint, where Kathy continued her career in private practice physical therapy and pursued competitive and recreational sled dog racing.
In 1995, Kathy and Richard took a remarkable sabbatical and bought a sailboat, traveling from Hawaii to Vancouver Island, along the Washington and B.C. coasts, up to Sitka, Alaska, where they explored many waterways in between.
In 2003, the couple moved to Wellington, Kansas, to care for Richard’s parents. In 2015, however, Kathy and Richard returned home to Bonners Ferry to be near family and friends. The pair has two children, Gretchen and Spencer, and four grandchildren. In her free time, Kathy enjoys fishing, boating, swimming, camping, traveling, reading, playing with her dogs, and living life to the fullest.
Kathy (Tucker) ZechTom Wofford
Tom grew up in Mullan, Idaho, where he was a three-sport athlete and later competed in football and track & field at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, N.M. He came to Bonners Ferry in 1975 with his wife, Eva, and began teaching math while coaching football, basketball, wrestling, and eventually, the boys’ track & field program.
Coach Wofford guided the Badgers to back-to-back state track championships in 1990 and 1991, earning recognition as Idaho’s "Track Coach of the Year". For several years, Tom juggled many roles as the Bonners Ferry High assistant principal, athletic director, and head coach for both football and track & field — a true testament to his dedication to students and athletics.
After 22 years in Bonners Ferry, Tom continued his career in Salmon, and then Lewiston, where he served as assistant principal at Lewiston High for eight years. Even then, he remained closely connected to student-athletes, volunteering in both the football and track & field programs.
Tom and his wife, Eva, raised two children — Kris, a proud Bonners Ferry High graduate, and Kale, a Salmon High graduate — and today he especially treasures time with his two grandchildren, Maddie and Sam, which often means visiting them in Florida. These days, Tom still cheers on local athletes, enjoys golf and time outdoors, and loves being “Grandpa.” 
Tom Wofford
1990 Bonners Ferry High Track & Field Team
The 1990 Bonners Ferry High boys track & field team captured the school’s first state title since 1975, when the football and track & field teams both won state championships. That season, out of 146 possible points in a dual meet, the Badgers scored at least 117 points in every meet, outscoring league opponents Lakeland, Kellogg, Priest River, Wallace, and St. Maries by a differential of 489 to 97. At the district championship meet, they dominated once again, winning by more than 100 points. At the state championship meet, Ed Cowin led the Badgers by winning the 3200-meter run with a time of 9 minutes, 55.8 seconds, which ultimately helped drive a balanced Badger attack that secured the A-2 State Championship title.
The 1990 Bonners Ferry High track & field team at the A-2 State Championship meet. Pictured back row, from left are Josh Litterell, Jeff Nearing, Jim Tompkins, Ted Klarich, Mike Ferguson, Dan Rice, Lee Klarich, Travis Hinthorn, Pat Alt and Mike Mark. Front row, from left, are Jon Taggart, Billy Perkins, Jake Greenslitt, Andy Howe and Ed Cowin.1991 Bonners Ferry High Track & Field Team
The 1991 Bonners Ferry High boys track & field team successfully defended their state championship, capturing back-to-back A-2 state titles. Leading the way were state champions Dan Rice, Lee Klarich, and Pat Alt. Rice won the triple jump with a school-record leap of 45 feet, 4.75 inches, Alt claimed a state title in the discus throw with a mark of 138 feet, 4 inches, and Lee Klarich won the 3200-meter run in a time of 9 minutes, 55.27 seconds.