SPOKANE, Wash. –A volleyball All-American and a basketball conference player of the year, neither of whom ever missed a start in their respective careers, join the longest-serving women's coach and administrator in Whitworth history as the latest class to the Whitworth Heritage Gallery Hall of Fame.
Kaimi Rocha, George Valle and Jo Ann Wagstaff will be inducted as the 34th class of the Heritage Gallery. The ceremony takes place on Saturday, October 12th in the Hixon Union Building at 9:00 am. The ceremony includes a breakfast and reservations can be made by calling 509-777-3224. The cost is $15 per person.
Kaimi Rocha started all 106 matches of her Whitworth volleyball career (2008-11) after arriving from the island of Maui, Hawaii. She was a two-time Northwest Conference Player of the Year as a junior and senior in 2010 and 2011 after leading the Pirates to a pair of league titles. Whitworth played in the NCAA Division III tournament each season. Over the course of her career, she pounded 1,190 kills and averaged 3.17 kills per set. Rocha added 1,137 digs, becoming a rare 1,000-1,000 player in Whitworth history. She averaged 3.03 digs per set. She was a three-time first team All-Northwest Conference honoree and a two-time first team AVCA All-Region selection. As a senior in 2011, Rocha earned second team All-America status from the AVCA.
George Valle seemed to never leave the court during a Pirate basketball career that ran from 2012-13 through the 2015-16 season. He started all 116 games of that four-year span and averaged 12.4 points per game, finishing with 1,440 points in his career. At the time of his graduation, Valle ranked seventh in Whitworth history in points scored during a career. As a senior, when he averaged career-highs of 16.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, Valle earned Northwest Conference Player of the Year and first team All-West region from D3hoops.com. He was a Josten's Award finalist for Division III Player of the Year and earned recognition as a third team Academic All-American. Over his four seasons, the Whitworth basketball team won four NWC titles, went to four NCAA Division III tournaments and finished with an overall record of 100-16.
Jo Ann Wagstaff became Whitworth's women's tennis coach in 1985 and continued in that role through 2014. Over the course of 30 seasons, Wagstaff's teams won 326 tennis matches and Northwest Conference titles in 1991, 1997 and three in a row from 2009 through 2011. She coached two NWC Players of the Year – Tanya Jones in 1992 and Rachel Burns in 2011. Her 1997 squad played in the NAIA national tournament and the 2009 and 2010 Pirates competed in the NCAA Division III national tournaments. In 2009 Whitworth ended Linfield's record 106-match winning streak. Wagstaff was named NCIC/NWC Coach of the Year in 1991 and 2009 and NAIA District 1 Coach of the Year in 1987. She was the NCAA West Region Coach of the Year in 2009 as well. Wagstaff also served 25 years as an assistant and associate Director of Athletics before retiring from that role in 2019. She was the Pirates' interim Director of Athletics twice. Overall, Wagstaff served the Whitworth athletics department for 34 years.
The class of 2024 will join a group of 113 individuals and eight teams already enshrined in the Heritage Gallery. The current class, along with all previously-inducted Heritage Gallery members attending the event, will be recognized at halftime of the Whitworth – Willamette football game that afternoon.
The Whitworth Heritage Gallery Hall of Fame was created in 1989 by the (then-named) Whitworth Crimson Club and inducted its first class in the fall of 1990.
