This award is presented an athletic administrator as a means of recognizing the outstanding achievements of interscholastic athletic administrators in the State of Florida, as well as honoring the distinguished achievements of those who have attained excellence and made a positive and dynamic impact upon the FIAAA, student-athletes, high school communities, coaches and colleagues.
The guidelines for this award can be found here.
The FIAAA is now accepting nominations for the 9th Hall of Fame Class. The nomination form can now be found on the FinalForms Awards page. To access this page, log into your FinalForms account at https://fiaaa.finalforms-amp.com/ (select the Members login button), when your account opens, choose the Awards option in the upper right corner next to your name. Scroll down to “FIAAA Hall of Fame” and select “Create Nomination”. If you do not have a FinalForms account or are uncertain if you have an account, contact Mike Colby at mlcolby50@outlook.com.
The inductees in the FIAAA Hall of Fame at the 46th Annual State Conference include three outstanding athletic administrators who have distinguished themselves, locally, statewide, and nationally. The inductees are:
2024 FIAAA HALL OF FAME
WALLACE “WALLY” KELLER
Following his graduation from Illinois State University, Wallace ‘Wally’ Keller embarked on a journey as a teacher, coach, and athletic administrator, a career spanning over forty years in the states of Illinois and Florida. While his service was certainly recognized close to home, where he is a member of the Wethersfield High School Hall of Fame, including an impressive 14-year tenure as head boys’ basketball coach where he achieved a school record of 250 wins, Keller’s impact in the sunshine state was significant during his outstanding twenty-plus-year career at Charlotte High School in Punta Gorda.
His contributions to the local community cannot be overlooked. For years, he was responsible for organizing and implementing an annual boat auction that benefited the Charlotte High School athletic program. Later, he played a crucial role in the rebuilding effort after Hurricane Charley devastated the Punta Gorda area. Charlotte High School has honored Keller with a pair of annual athletic events named in his honor: the Wally Keller Basketball Classic and the Wally Keller Track & Field Invitational, in addition to his induction into the school’s Hall of Fame.
Keller served the FIAAA in various capacities during his tenure with the organization, including a five-year term as the District 12 Director. He served as the Corporate Advisory Chair from 1995 to 1999, helping outline and create some of the organization’s first sponsorship programs, including the FIAAA Century Club. Keller was selected to serve as the President-Elect in 1999 and the following year as the 24th President of the FIAAA. He was awarded the Dr. Clarence Noe Outstanding Athletic Administrator of the Year Award in 1992 and the FIAAA Lifetime Member Award in 2019.
“A more deserving nominee would be difficult to find,” said FIAAA Hall of Famer Michael Colby.
JAMES “JODY” PHILLIPS
A passion for leadership and helping others was easily seen during his beginnings as a student-athlete at Ocala Forest High School, where later James ‘Jody’ Phillips would embark on a career centered on making an impact on the student-athletes and coaches of Marion County as a teacher, coach, and athletic administrator. Graduating from the University of South Florida in 1992, Phillips returned to Ocala as a teacher and baseball coach before transitioning into athletic administration in 2007 at his alma mater, Forest High School. There, Phillips created many new initiatives to drive both student and community engagement, such as starting a student-athlete leadership team, a community liaison committee, a single school-wide athletic booster club, and the Forest Athletics Hall of Fame. He also successfully launched new boys’ and girls’ lacrosse programs, the first of their kind in Marion County. During his tenure at Forest, the Wildcats were consistently recognized as one of the most respected athletic departments across the state, with thirteen of his teams making the state finals over his seven years as the school’s athletic administrator. The Wildcats were honored with the Mid-Florida Officials Association’s Lee Scruggs Award as the best athletic department in Marion County a total of six times between 2008 and 2016. Phillips’ teams were also recognized with the FHSAA Academic Team Championship from 2012 to 2014, as well as with the FHSAA Fred Rozelle Sportsmanship Award in both 2014 and 2015.
Phillips’ vision and service extended to his work on the state level through all three associations: the FHSAA, FACA, and FIAAA. He served on the FHSAA Representative Assembly from 2011 to 2015, as well as the Athletic Director Advisory Committee from 2010 to 2020, where he completed three terms as the chairman. Phillips also served the FACA in multiple capacities from 2008 to 2020 as both a district director and a member of the board of directors, where he was recognized with the association’s Meritorious Service Award in 2015. However, his leadership may have been most evident during his time as a member of the Florida Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, where he made an impact on nearly every corner of the organization. Starting his service as the District 6 Director in 2009, Phillips later served the organization as the chairman of several different committees before being selected to the executive board as a President-Elect in 2012. During that year, he oversaw the organization of the annual state conference and made monumental visionary changes to the structure and organization of the event, which can still be seen each year. In 2013, Phillips served as the 37th President of the FIAAA. A member of the state faculty for LTI502 for seven years, he was also called to present at the state conference twice in 2017 and 2018. He was recognized as the Dr. Clarence Noe Athletic Director of the Year in 2017, as well as with the FIAAA Lifetime Membership Award in 2023.
“You will be hard-pressed to find a better person and professional than Jody Phillips,” said FIAAA Past President, Russell Wambles. “His servant leadership and dedication to others are unmatched. Our organization will forever be better because of Jody’s impacts.”
