Tankersley, Ritchie-Roberts, Johnson highlight 67th Annual Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame Ceremony
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Tankersley, Ritchie-Roberts, Johnson highlight 67th Annual Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame Ceremony
Five of the six inductees were born and raised in small towns throughout the area. All of the selections made an impact on Amarillo Independent School District (AISD) Scott Tankersley, the lone coach of the bunch was a successful football and baseball player at Caprock High School. Natalie Ritchie-Roberts eclipsed the 1,000-point mark in her four years at Texas Tech. Austin Johnson, a star basketball player from Palo Duro High School, also had a successful Big-12 career with Oklahoma. “So my goal now is just to help these boys and girls around our area get to live some of the dreams I got to live and do someof the things that IGot to do,” Johnson says. “It’s just such a blessing and I wear this [Hall of Fame] jacket with a lot of honor.”
Scott Tankersley (left), Natalie Ritchie-Roberts (center), Austin Johnson (right) (Zach Woodard)
As of last year, out of the thousands of athletes, coaches and media members in the Texas Panhandle, only 207 had been inducted.
There is a common thread between each group of inductees into the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame, last year five of the six members born and raised in small towns throughout the area.
For the Class of 2025, all of the selections made an impact on Amarillo Independent School District (AISD).
Scott Tankersley, the lone coach of the bunch was a successful football and baseball player at Caprock High School, despite being hearing impaired.
He then went on to become a state-championship winning coach with his alma mater, San Jacinto Academy and Bushland High School in multiple different sports, before calling it a career back in 2022.
His motivation to win was simple.
“The inner determination to prove people wrong,” Scott Tankersley says through his daughter & interpreter Tiara. “[Other people] think that deaf people can’t do anything, and it’s always ‘no’s,’ I was taught to overcome the ‘no’s.’ You just have to pull through, prove that you can do it.
Scott Tankersley, Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame Inductee #208 (Zach Woodard)
Natalie Ritchie-Roberts, who eclipsed the 1,000-point mark in her four years at Texas Tech, left Amarillo High School with one of the greatest achievement in AISD basketball history, the most points scored by any player.
Despite all of her success, she never thought her career would lead to an induction into the Hall of Fame.
“Your whole goal when you’re playing is just to have fun and then it’s to work hard,” Ritchie-Roberts says. “Towards the end of my senior year, that’s when I realized I could possibly break the scoring records. It’s just such a blessing and I wear this [Hall of Fame] jacket with a lot of honor.”
Natalie Ritchie-Roberts, Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame Inductee #209 (Zach Woodard)
Austin Johnson, a star basketball player from Palo Duro High School, who had the most points scored on the boys side when his career was done, also had a successful Big-12 career with Oklahoma.
He then played professionally overseas before coming back home to Amarillo.
He is the current athletic director at Ascension Academy where he helps the younger generations of athletes get to do the things he did.
“Be on ESPN, get paid money to play basketball,” Johnson says. “So my goal now is just to help these boys and girls around our area get to live some of the dreams I got to live and do some of the things that I got to do.”
Austin Johnson, Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame Inductee #210 (Zach Woodard)
Three separate journeys. Three separate legacies. These inductees now share more than just a school district, they share the title Panhandle Sports Hall of Famer.
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