Iowa Western Announces 2024 Hall of Fame Class
Iowa Western Announces 2024 Hall of Fame Class
COUNCIL BLUFFS – Iowa Western Athletics has announced its newest Hall of Fame inductees. The 2024 class was chosen by the Reivers Hall of Fame committee and will be officially inducted at the September 27th banquet in the Iowa Western Student Center. The event will begin at 6:30 pm and tickets are $25. Contact Jill Feigenbutz at jfeigenbutz@iwcc.edu to purchase tickets.
2024 Inductees
Chamea Butcher, Women's Soccer – Iowa Western Women's Soccer's all-time career and single-season goal scorer and points leader, Chamea (Palmer) Butcher scored 59 goals over her two-year career, setting the season mark with 33 in 2010. A two-time NJCAA All-American, Palmer tallied 148 points for the Reivers and scored the golden goal in the district championship to send the team to nationals in 2010.
After two years at IWCC, Butcher moved on to Ashford University, recording 10 goals and 4 assists for the Saints in 2012, earning her First Team A.I.I All-Conference honors.
Bradi Wall, Softball – A 2011 NJCAA 1st Team All-American, Bradi Wall helped the Reivers to a 90-29 record over her two-year career. As a sophomore, Wall batted .458 while posting an Iowa Western record 31 doubles that still stands today.
Her 93 hits in 2011 were good for 4th most in a single season at the time while her .504 on-base percentage was tied for the highest OBP in school history until it was broken two years later. Wall still owns the top spot for career doubles with 49, tied with Toni Dance (2008-09), and is top 5 in career hits (158), career assists (179), single-season assists (111), and career hit-by-pitches (27).
Following her time at Iowa Western, Wall spent two years at the University of Iowa where she started 106 of 107 career games for the Hawkeyes.
A member of the Canadian Women's National Baseball Team in 2009, 2011, and 2012, Wall earned the bronze medal at the 2012 IBAF World Cup in Edmonton. Wall was also selected as the recipient of the Jimmy Rattlesnake Award, presented annually to a player who shows great performance and sportsmanship.
Jake Waters, Football – The greatest quarterback in Iowa Western Football's 15-year history, Jake Waters owns virtually every passing record at IWCC while leading the Reivers to the 2012 NJCAA National Championship in a 27-7 victory over Butler CC.
The 2012 NJCAA Offensive Player of the Year, Waters went 244 of 333 (73.3%) for 3,501 yards and 39 touchdowns to just 3 INTs, leading an offense that averaged 62.8 points per game that season. Over his Reiver career, Waters threw for 6,270 yards and 67 touchdowns, accounting for 18% of all passing yards and passing touchdowns in IWCC history.
Following his decorated Reiver career, Waters spent two seasons at Kansas State University where he started all 26 games for the Wildcats. Waters broke career records for completion percentage, passing efficiency, total offense per game, and passing yards per attempt. He also finished 2nd in K-State history in career touchdowns, ranked third in passing yards and passing yards per game, and fourth in completions and total offensive yards (6,766). Waters was named a Maxwell Award and Davey O'Brien Award Semi-finalist his senior season.
The Council Bluffs native has spent the past four years as an assistant coach at Iowa State University under Matt Campbell, currently coaching quarterbacks.
Aaron Wimberly, Football – The Reivers all-time leading rusher, running back Aaron Wimberly is the only 2,000-yard running back in Iowa Western's 15 years of football with 2,037 yards on the ground. He also leads all rushers with 23 career touchdowns. His 329 career attempts were the most in school history until Bryant Williams broke that record with 340 this past year.
In 2012, Wimberly, along with fellow inductee Jake Waters, helped the team to the program's first NJCAA National Championship, rushing for 1,150 yards and 13 touchdowns that season.
After Iowa Western, Wimberly played for two seasons at Iowa State University, leading the Cyclones in rushing in both his junior and senior seasons. He ended his ISU career with 1,209 rushing yards and 9 touchdowns on 288 carries.
James Bankhead, Basketball Coach – The longest-tenured coach in Iowa Western history, James Bankhead enters his 28th season as an assistant basketball coach this year.
Coach Bankhead joined the men's basketball staff in 1996 under 2017 HOF inductee Jim Morris and helped build the Reivers into a nationally recruited and respected program. In his 24 seasons working with the men's team, Iowa Western was ranked in the NJCAA Top 20 at some point during 14 of those years, accumulating 537 wins, and Bankhead was a part of all three NJCAA D1 Men's Basketball National Tournament bids. During his tenure, the Reivers had 99 former players move on to continue their playing careers at four-year institutions, 75 of those to NCAA Division I programs.
Bankhead spent four years with the women's program from 2019-2023, helping the Reivers to an 88-27 record with a pair of ICCAC Region 11 titles and a trip to the NJCAA Women's D1 National Tournament in 2021.
Ammon Bennett, Soccer & Golf Coach – In 2003 Iowa Western announced the start of the Reiver Soccer program. Ammon Bennett was tasked to lead both the men's and women's teams, and over the next five years, he built both programs into national contenders.
Coach Bennett accumulated a combined record of 151-39-15, winning six ICCAC Region 11 Titles and a pair of Women's NJCAA Runner-up finishes at nationals in 2006 & 2007. 22 players were named to the All-Region XI 1st Team, and Lativa Harash, Kira Lazenby, Katie Long, and Kim Olsen earned NJCAA All-American honors under Coach Bennett.
Bennett was also responsible for starting up the men's and women's golf programs, leading those teams for three years and making a pair of NJCAA National Tournament appearances. Shanna Miller became Coach Bennett's first ICCAC Region XI Champion.
After Iowa Western, Coach Bennett spent five years at Utah State University Eastern, going 53-29-10 and were the 2017 Region XVIII runner-up. Currently, Coach Bennett is the Head Women's Soccer Coach at Casper College in Wyoming.
Dr. Don Fenster – Longtime Iowa Western contributor Dr. Don Fenster has been a part of the Iowa Western Foundation Board for the past 16 years. The 2007 Iowa Western Investment in Excellence Award Winner has donated to the Black Tie Harvest For Scholarships, the Reiver Athletic Booster Club, Show Choir, and the Iowa Western Alumni Association, and has donated popcorn for all Reiver athletic events for many years. Dr. Fenster also volunteers on the Dental Hygiene Advisory Board, Lighter than Air, and VIP, the Iowa Western Volunteer Group.