Joel Eskelsen
Coach Joel Eskelsen presented the 2018 awards for the Big Piney Athletic Hall of Fame.
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Coach Lehr
Big Piney High School Principal Jeff Makelky gives the award to Coach Bill Lehr. Joel Eskelsen is at the podium.
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Standing Ovation
The audience gave Coach Lehr a standing ovation during his recognition.
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Ross Copeland
Big Piney Athletic Hall of Fame 2018 award: Ross Copeland - All State Athlete in football and basketball (Class of 1978)
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RJ Thompson
Big Piney Athletic Hall of Fame 2018 award: RJ Thompson (Class of 2005) - football, track, basketball standout.
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Clint Gilchrist
Clint Gilchrist (Class of 1982) received the Big Piney 2018 Distinguished Alumni award.
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Jodi Eskelsen
Jodi (Eskelsen) Druckenmiller (Class of 1992) received the Big Piney 2018 Distinguished Alumni award.
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Jeff Makelky
Big Piney High School Principal Jeff Makelky spoke during the awards ceremony.
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2018 Big Piney Hall of Fame Induction ceremony held
Honoring distinguished Puncher athletes and alumni
by Pinedale Online!
September 23, 2018
The 2018 Big Piney Hall of Fame Banquet and Induction Ceremony was held the evening of Saturday, September 22nd at the Southwest Sublette County Pioneers Senior Center in Marbleton, Wyoming. The event coincided with Big Piney Homecoming activities.
This year a long-time coach, 2 former athletes, and 2 Distinguished Alumni were recognized. Long-time football and track coach Bill Lehr received recognition for more than three decades of coaching for football and track at Big Piney High and Middle schools. Athletes honored were three-sport standout R.J. Thompson, and All-State Athlete Ross Copeland. Lehr. Receiving Distinguished Alumni recognition were Clint Gilchrist from the Class of 1982 and Jodi (Eskelson) Druckenmiller from the Class of 1992 for their efforts over the years and contributions to their communities.
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Big Piney Athletic Hall of Fame: Coach Bill Lehr (1985 – 2018)
Upon his arrival in 1985, Coach Bill Lehr’s effect on the athletic programs of Big Piney became apparent. He was immediately hired as an assistant football coach to go along with his Middle School counseling position. For the next thirty-three years Bill Lehr helped guide Puncher teams to great successes. His involvement with the teams was outweighed by his involvement with each of his student/athletes as individuals.
Coaching and counseling were not the only positions that found Lehr actively involved. For three years he served as the Athletic Director for the Big Piney Middle and High School. Officiating was another aspect of this man’s career as he officiated countless MS and JV basketball games. As a track official, Lehr served as the starter for many high school meets in the area.
For a number of years he served on the Wyoming Sports Officials Board of Directors.
In 2004, The Wyoming High School Activities Association honored him with their Official of the Year Award for track.
For more than 25 years, Coach Lehr was an assistant football coach for the Punchers. During his span with the teams, the Punchers won in excess of 150 games including six state championships. For his work, Coach Lehr received the Wyoming Coaches Associations Assistant Coach of the Year on two occasions. He was awarded the AFLAC Assistant Coach of the Year Award. Coach Lehr was also selected to serve as a coach for the 1999 Shrine Bowl. For his tenure as a football coach, the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame honored Coach Lehr with their Career Achievement Award.
For over three decades, Lehr was involved in coaching the track teams at Big Piney. He assumed the role of head coach in 2009 and led both the girls’ and boys’ teams to state honors. His 2016 and 2017 girls’ team were state runner-up and this past season, his Puncher girls brought home the first-ever Wyoming State Championship for girls’ track. He started and coached the Puncher Indoor season for three years. The Wyoming Coaches Association honored him twice with Assistant Coach of the Year awards. At this past summer’s conference, Coach Lehr was named the WCA Coach of the Year for girl’s track. During his many years as a track coach, the Puncher boys and girls racked up over twenty conference championships, seven state runners-up trophies and six state championships.
Coach Lehr was also active in the Wyoming Coaches Association serving as secretary for the organization for two years. In 2015, the Wyoming Coaches Association honored Coach Lehr by inducting him into the Wyoming Coaches Hall of Fame. A year later in 2016, the National High School Athletic Coaches Association honored him as one of seven finalists for a National Coach of the Year Award.
After nearly fifty years of service, fourteen of which were in Nebraska, the old coach has finally hung up his cleats!
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Big Piney Athletic Hall of Fame: Ross Copeland (Class of 1978)
Ross Copeland was an instrumental part of the successful athletic programs of Big Piney High School in the late 1970s. As a participant in both basketball and football, Copeland earned a total of eight letters and was a member of the Big Piney High School Letterman’s Club all four years.
As a basketball player, Ross Copeland received the Jesse Gault Memorial Award as the most promising underclassman. That award turned out correct as Copeland earned All-Conference honors during both his junior and senior years.
Ross’s football leadership and talents are also evident in his accolades during his four years. He received All-Conference Honorable Mention as a sophomore and improved on that honor by being selected to the All-Conference as both a junior and a senior. Coaches across the state of Wyoming recognized his abilities and named him to the All State Team as a senior. His teammates and coaches also recognized his importance to the team by naming him one of the Co-Captains of the Punchers in both his junior and senior seasons.
As a senior and co-captain, Ross Copeland helped lead a talented Puncher team to an undefeated season and state championship trophy. His play earned him a spot on the south team at the annual Shrine Bowl. Upon graduation, Copeland extended his playing days for an additional year at Westminster College in Salt Lake City.
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Big Piney Athletic Hall of Fame: RJ Thompson (Class of 2005)
Graduation in 2005 ended the brilliant career of Puncher athlete RJ Thompson. During his career, RJ was a standout in three sports and helped lead the teams to top finishes in each sport.
As a football player, Thompson was a two-time Rocky Mountain All-Conference selection. RJ topped that honor by being named to the Wyoming Coaches Association’s All state team in both his junior and senior seasons. During his four years as a Puncher, his team and teammates won a team record thirty-three games including three RMC championships and two Wyoming State Championships. As a result, RJ was selected to the Super 25 team by the Casper Star-Tribune. He ended his football career by being named to the South squad for the annual Shrine Bowl football game in the summer following his graduation.
As a track athlete, RJ Thompson was a 2A Wyoming State track meet qualifier. In his senior year, Thompson qualified in three events and placed as high as fourth in the shot and sixth in the triple jump. These finishes helped propel the Punchers to a third-place finish at the 2005 state meet.
As a basketball player, RJ Thompson earned All-Conference honors as a senior and was a part of two RMC championships. This high scoring big man was honored by being selected to play in the Wyoming Coaches Association North-South All-Star game.
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Big Piney Distinguished Alumni: Clint Gilchrist (Class of 1982)
Graduating as Valedictorian of the Class of 1982, Clint Gilchrist set out on a life that would take him places and present challenges that makes him a Distinguished Alumni of Big Piney High School. Graduating from the University of Wyoming with a degree in Electrical Engineering, young Gilchrist found employment as a civilian contractor for the United States Navy at the submarine base in Bremerton, Washington. He spent ten years working there as a computer programmer on sonar research for torpedoes. In 1996, Gilchrist left the Navy and returned to his Big Piney roots in Wyoming.
Cashing in his government retirement account, Gilchrist invested with his sister in an office supply store she had started in Pinedale a few years earlier. Becoming self-employed, he figured he was either going to sink or swim with their business together. By offering computer sales and repair, he soon became locally known as "the computer guy." The business went through some very hard times as they squeaked by, month to month to pay the bills. Their perseverance and hard work paid off as the business finally began turning a profit. The gas and oil boom of Sublette County provided an even better opportunity for the business, and the siblings opened a second office supply store in Big Piney. In 2014, they passed the 20-year mark of the business that has provided employment opportunities for many family members and friends. The business is still in operation today.
With his background in computers, Gilchrist was excited about the prospects of internet and what it could mean to the locals and businesses in Sublette County. Working with Wyoming.com, he put up modems in the back of the Pinedale and Big Piney office supply stores so the local communities could dial up and hear the "ding-you’ve got mail." In 1997, he partnered with Dawn Ballou to create the website Pinedale Online. Their Pinedale Online was the first strictly online news for Sublette County and celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2017.
Clint’s interests in history led him to become involved with local history programs and projects. He helped the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale with their computer needs and became an indispensable volunteer with their programs and history projects. He helped start the Museum’s "Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Journal" and has been involved with many other publications of the Museum.
Serving on the Sublette County Historic Preservation Board for over twenty years and as its President for many of those years, Gilchrist has helped lead projects that include scanning 5000 historical pictures of Sublette County, a ten-year project to survey, inventory, and document historic homesteads in Sublette County, and restore the fire lookout tower on Deadline Ridge in the Wyoming Range.
While serving on the Sublette County Historical Society board, Gilchrist traveled to New York City and successfully obtained a number of rare fur trade documents of the 1800s including letters written by famous fur trade era names such as William Sublette and William Drummond Stewart. Clint also helped start the Sommers Homestead Living History Museum, the Lander Trail-New Fork River Crossing Historical Park, and the restoration project of Trappers Point historic site in Sublette County. The latter was renovated and rededicated this past year celebrating its 50th Anniversary. For these efforts and many more, Clint Gilchrist was honored with a Preserve Wyoming Award presented by the State of Wyoming Historic Preservation Office.
In 2017, Clint Gilchrist was selected to be the new Executive Director of the Museum of the Mountain Man for the Sublette County Historical Society. After being self-employed and his own boss for many years, Gilchrist says it is his first "real" job since working for the Navy. It is the culmination of a lifetime passion for history and the achievement of turning a free-time hobby into a professional career. As Executive Director of the Sublette County Historical Society, Mr. Gilchrist works on the message and goal that all of Sublette County should care about its history and the preservation of our cultural heritage.
Clint’s involvement in and success of his projects surely reinforces the expression, "If there is a will, there is a way."
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Big Piney Distinguished Alumni: Jodi (Eskelsen) Druckenmiller (Class of 1992)
Jodi Eskelsen graduated from Big Piney High School in 1992. As a student, Miss Eskelsen was highly involved in athletics and academics. She was a member of the National Honor Society. As an athlete, Jodi was twice named to the All-Conference selection in both volleyball and basketball. In track, Jodi qualified for the State meet and placed in each of her four years. As a senior, this athlete earned All-State honors in both volleyball and track.
After graduation, Jodi Eskelsen enrolled at Black Hills University and graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Tourism and Industry Travel Management.
Employment was waiting for Jodi upon graduation at the New York Cotton Exchange. Her office was on the 5th floor of the World Trade Center #5 in the Wall Street District of New York. Jodi’s duties there included writing and proofreading informational and educational brochures. She credits her English teacher, HT Graham, for the ability to be able to perform those duties that others there could not.
A number of issues and friends led Jodi to change her course in life. Separating herself from the world of finance and greed, Jodi turned to humanitarian efforts and to pet grooming. She donated much of her time to various causes most of which involved pets. She did, however, include adopting seniors in the New Jersey area in which she lived. Taking these "old" friends to the store, to doctor appointments, or just listening to their stories and helping them whenever needed. With encouragement from these friends, Jodi joined CAPS - Companion Animal Placement Services.
Almost immediately Jodi was put to the test. From her home in Hoboken, New Jersey, she could see and feel the aftermath of 9/11 across the Hudson River. For days, she volunteered to search homes for pets that were orphaned on that dreadful day. Some of which lost their owners who worked in World Trade Center #5. A few years later, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. The call was made and Jodi left her home and family by traveling to search out pets that were left behind in the devastation there. Not a pretty site as she remembers now.
Jodi has fostered hundreds (if not thousands a friend says) of pets over the past years. She and her family have welcomed cats, dogs, birds, and hamsters into their lives even in times that have not been the best. In 2016, Jodi was diagnosed with breast cancer and went through the treatment. At the same time, she helped a friend who was also going through cancer treatment saying it is better to focus on their needs than fret about my own. Through her husband John’s leadership role in the Elks Foundation, Jodi heads the "In Need Committee" that volunteers and raises funds for the needs of the people in Franklin, Tennessee.
This humanitarian survivor, along with her husband John and two daughters, Rose and Remy - animal lovers as well, live in Franklin, Tennessee where she is still active in grooming and fostering pets in need.
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