Shallenberger, Boatman among ENMU Hall of Honors inductees

Two Clovis prep coaches expressed surprise and gratitude for their induction with nine others on Saturday into Eastern New Mexico University’s Athletics Hall of honors.

Ceil Boatman, the volleyball coach at Clovis Christian School for the last nine seasons, and Shane Shallenberger, Clovis High’s baseball coach, were recognized with the others during halftime of ENMU’s homecoming football game against Angelo State at Blackwater Draw.

“I was quite humbled by it,” Boatman said of her selection. “It’s something that as an athlete you dream that your abilities are good enough for something like that, but it’s humbling when you’re honored with all the other coaches and players.”

Boatman played volleyball at ENMU from 1979-82, leading the Zias in blocks in 1981 and 1982. She led the team in hitting percentage as a senior, helping the Zias to an 18-6 record.

She said her high school coach, Charles Maciel, helped her grow athletically and spiritually, and her coach during her last three years at ENMU, Gayle Stinnett, “took a bunch of kids and transformed us into a team.

“To be honest, it’s overwhelming,” said Boatman, who this year became a secondary principal at CCS. “I hope that what I’m doing now, working at a Christian school, and the things we’re doing as a staff, will be far more rewarding.”

Shallenberger, a Portales High grad, played just one season at Eastern, but it was a memorable one.

After two years at Cochise College (Ariz.) and one year at New Mexico State University, he returned to Portales to play at Eastern during the 1995 season. He set school single-season records for batting average (.430, broken in 2002 by Dallas McMann), hits (80), runs (57) and doubles (22).

Shallenberger also tied a school record with five hits in a game, and his season hits total was a Lone Star Conference record at the time.

“I had gotten married (his wife, Kathy, is also from Portales), so it was just better for my wife and I to move back to Portales,” he said about leaving NMSU for Eastern. “I had a fun year. It was the first year the baseball program (resurrected under Phil Clabaugh in 1992) has been above .500 (29-25).”

Shallenberger is entering his third season as the CHS baseball coach, and this year added football coaching duties. He works primarily with the sophomore program, and also works in the press box during varsity games.

“It’s a great honor,” he said of his selection for the Hall of honors. “I’m very grateful to be inducted into the Hall of honors, but I really didn’t expect it, especially this soon.”

Shallenberger, who spent the 1996 season as a graduate assistant under Clabaugh, has had previous high school coaching stints at Cobre and Gallup, also serving as a football assistant at both stops.

Others inducted on Saturday were Wayne Moore (ENMU women’s basketball coach, 1980-2002); Major Ron D. Milam (men’s basketball, 1989-91, killed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the Pentagon); Leigh Dalluge (women’s basketball, 1994-98); Ron Harkey (football and track, 1971-74); Donna Kinkead Patterson (rodeo, 1966-69); Rick Pickren Jr. (men’s basketball, 1988-90); Paddy L. Sheya (football, 1974-77); Wilber D. “Web” Smarnick (ENMU men’s basketball scorekeeper for more than 25 years), and Jennifer Doolittle Young (softball, 1997-98).