The Albert Lea Tigers Athletic Hall of Fame committee has announced the 2018 Athletic Hall of Fame inductees for the banquet July 27 at Wedgewood Cove in Albert Lea, according to a press release. Social hour will begin at 5:30 p.m. with the dinner and inductions to begin at 6:30 p.m. Tom Jones, a 1980 Albert Lea graduate, will be the master of ceremonies for the night. There will be a silent auction with one of the items being a trackside experience from NASCAR at Kansas City Speedway in October. The following day there will be a four-person best shot golf event at 10 a.m. at Wedgewood Cove.

The 2018 inductees are Mike Callahan, Mark Indrelie, Chris Hall, Steve Nelson, Ed Stalker, Nora Turner, Amber Sickels and Laura Hillman.

The Tigers Athletic Hall of Fame was established in 2010 for the purpose of acknowledging athletes, coaches and state champion teams that have made a historical contribution to the Albert Lea Tigers athletic program.

Dinner and golf forms are now available at http://efal-us.org/TigerAthleticHallofFame.htm and are also available at Tiger City Sports, Motor Inn Co., Security Insurance Agency and Albert Lea Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Proceeds from the event go the Albert Lea Education Foundation for the sole purpose of lowering student participation fees. The event in 2016 raised over $8,000 and has raised over $45,000 since its inception.

 

Amber Sickels

Amber Sickels graduated from Albert Lea High School in 2001. While in high school she lettered three years in basketball, three years in softball, one year in volleyball and one year in cross country.

In basketball she was named Honorable Mention All-Conference as a sophomore and was All-Conference as a junior and senior. She participated in softball four years, earning three varsity letters as well as Honorable Mention All-Conference her junior year and All-Conference her senior year.

She continued her basketball career at University of Wisconsin-River Falls, where she played for three years before a broken ankle ended her career. In 2005 she returned to Albert Lea, where she is a third-grade teacher at Halverson Elementary School in the Albert Lea area school district. She, along with her husband, Derek, currently coach youth sports teams in Albert Lea.

 

Chris Hall

Chris Hall graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1983, where he participated in cross country, track and swimming. He was a four-time letterwinner in cross country and track for the Tigers. He captured Big Nine Conference titles in cross country his junior and senior year and was captain his senior season. He was part of a Tigers team that placed fourth in the state in cross country his freshman year and participated as an individual his junior and senior year.

Hall participated in track four years for the Tigers. His senior year he captured the Big Nine championship in the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs. He still holds the school record in the 3,200. He was a captain for the Tigers his senior season and participated in the state meet his junior and senior year. At state as a senior, he captured ninth place in the 1,600 and fifth in the 3,200.

After high school he was an All-American distance runner at University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse.

He began his coaching career at UW-Lacrosse and then moved on to University of St. Thomas, before getting his first head coaching job at University of Wisconsin-Stout in 1991. In fall 2001 he began his coaching career at University of Chicago, where he recently completed his 17th season as boys’ and girls’ track and field and cross country coach. Hall and his wife of 24 years, Satemeh, live in Chicago with their two children.

 

Mark Indrelie

Mark Indrelie graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1982 where he lettered in wrestling and gymnastics. As a sophomore he finished second in the state wrestling tournament. As a junior he captured the state championship, as well as being a part of the Albert Lea state champion team. As a senior he finished second again.

He wrestled one year at South Dakota before transferring to the University of Minnesota-Waseca, where he finished fourth at the nationals his second season. He finished his Tigers career with a record of 77-16-1. After graduation, Indrelie returned to Albert Lea in 1986, where he currently resides with his family and is a volunteer assistant coach with the Albert Lea High School wrestling program.

 

Mike Callahan

Mike Callahan graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1963, where he participated in wrestling. He completed his wrestling career with a mark of 48-4-2. As a junior he finished first in the district and regions and fourth in the state. As a senior he finished first in the district and regions and captured the state championship.

Callahan served his country in the Army during the Vietnam War, where he was awarded three Purple Hearts. Upon returning from Vietnam he completed studies in electricity and became a teacher in the construction program at what is now Riverland Community College, where he retired from after 27 years. Callahan has five grown children and resides in Albert Lea.

 

Laura Hillman

Laura Hillman graduated from Albert Lea High School in 2006, where she participated in hockey, soccer, swimming and diving, track and field, and golf. Hillman was a five-time All-Conference selection in hockey and was a three-time All-State Honorable Mention. In her six-year career with the Tigers she scored 230 goals and added 129 assists, setting the ALHS girls’ hockey record for career points, and was the 14th all-time point scorer in Minnesota girls’ hockey history in 2006.

She played varsity soccer for four years and made the All-Conference team as a freshman. In 2002 as a freshman she led the team with 11 goals and eight assists, finishing 20th in the state in scoring. She also participated three years in varsity golf, two years in track and field and two years in diving for the Tigers. Her junior year she was captain of the soccer and hockey teams. During her senior year Hillman was captain of soccer and hockey, along with track and field.

Hillman finished her hockey career playing three seasons at Gustavus Adolphus College before student teaching in Spain her senior year. At Gustavus each of the three years, the hockey team won the MIAC playoff championship and received an automatic bid in the NCAA tournament, fishing in the quarterfinal game of the NCAA Division III women’s hockey championship.

Since graduating college Hillman has been dedicated to Tigers athletics. For hockey, she served an assistant coach for five seasons, head coach one season, along with being a volunteer assistant this past season. Hillman has coached four seasons in the lower levels/varsity assistant of the girls’ soccer program and will enter her third season as head coach this fall. Hillman and her husband, Ryan, reside in Albert Lea. She is employed as a seventh-grade English teacher in the Albert Lea area school district.

 

Nora Turner

Nora Turner graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1979, where she participated in basketball, volleyball and track. She lettered four years on the varsity basketball team and was captain her junior and senior year. She also was named to the All-Conference team her junior year. She lettered twice in volleyball and was an All-Conference selection as well as a captain her senior year. She also lettered three years in track.

Her junior year she was Big Nine, sub-region and region high jump champion and participated in the state meet. She is second all-time in the high jump at Albert Lea with a mark of 5 feet, 5 inches.

Unfortunately for Turner, a knee injury in the first basketball game of her senior year ended her Tigers career. After high school she continued her volleyball career, playing two years at Winona State before transferring to Arizona State, where she graduated in 1983. Turner and her husband, Michael, have three daughters and reside in Monroe, Michigan, where she is a flight attendant for Delta Airlines.

 

Ed Stalker

Ed Stalker coached the Albert Lea Tigers baseball team from 1970 through 1980 and 1984-89. His teams had five 10-win seasons and captured Big Nine championships in 1974 and 1978 and a second-place finish in 1977. Stalker taught physical education and health in the Albert Lea area school district before retiring in 1991. He played baseball in the Southern Minny Baseball League from 1957 to 1961 and coached the Albert Lea entry in 1960. Stalker and his wife, Donna, have three children and reside in Vadnais Heights.

 

Steve Nelson

Steve Nelson graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1988, where he lettered in baseball and hockey. He was the captain of the hockey team his senior year and earned All-Conference honors for his junior and senior seasons.

After completing high school he was drafted by the Junior A North Iowa Huskies of the USHL. In his two seasons with the Huskies he had 59 goals and 41 assists and helped his team in winning the Junior A national championship in 1989. He was also selected to play in the North-South All-Star Game.

Nelson played four years of Division I hockey from 1990-94 for WCHA’s Colorado College Tigers, where he was named to the All-Academic team. He played for USA’s Team Colorado against Team Canada in the Mexico Festival Exhibition games and helped the Colorado College team win the WCHA league champion McNaughton Cup.

After graduating from Colorado College he moved to Rochester. Nelson and his wife, Amy, have three children who also participated in local hockey. He has been a volunteer with the Rochester Youth Hockey Association the past 22 years and is the lead skating and hockey trainer at Olmsted Medical Center-Sports Medicine and Athletic Performance.