Six of Miami-Dade County's greatest coaches covering numerous sports were inducted into the Pro Athletes Outreach John Wooden Coaches Wall of Honor at a ceremony Sunday night (April 26) at Rusty Pelican restaurant in Key Biscayne.
Longtime Barry University men's basketball coach Cesar Odio was among the inductees. Odio, the winningest coach in Barry's history, was diagnosed with leukemia in March 2008, but it has since gone into remission.
''I'm happy to be here and I'm feeling much better,'' Odio said.
Odio has led the Buccaneers to 10 winning season in 14 years, including a 23-7 mark in 2006-07 when the Bucs captured their first Sunshine State Conference title. Odio has coached 17 All-Sunshine State Conference players including Ryan Saunders and Felipe Barrios in 2006-07. He has also had seven members on the SSC All-Freshmen Team and one All-American, Nick Ellingsworth-Perez, who was also named SSC Player-of-the-Year in 2004-05.
Under Odio’s direction, the Bucs have been one of the best defensive teams in the country. They have ranked in the Top-10 in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense numerous times. In 2002-03, they led the country in scoring defense at a paltry 53.2 points per game. They also finished fifth in the nation in field goal percentage defense at 38.4 percent.
South Dade baseball coach Fred Burnside, who had a long and successful career at Southridge, was among the headliners. Burnside led the Spartans to the state final three times in a six-year span, and has won 365 games, nine district championships and five Greater Miami Athletic Conference titles. In his first season at South Dade, Burnside has led the Bucs to a 14-10 record.
Belen swimming and diving coach Kirk Peppas, who had a minor stroke this past fall, also was honored. Peppas, who was forced to miss the state meet last year, was on hand to accept the award. Peppas has built the Wolverines into a perennial state champion, and has coached in Dade County for 32 years.
Also honored was Susan Stemmer, who has coached softball at the middle school, high school and travel-ball levels for 37 years in Dade. Among the many players that went on to star in college who Stemmer coached in travel ball were Southwest's Missy Penna, Braddock's Chrissy Owens and Sunset's Jenny Diaz.
Former Westminster Christian football and track coach Paul Warner and former Dade Christian and Florida Christian basketball coach Paul Humphreys rounded out the class. Humphreys led Dade Christian to the state final four in 1986. Warner led Westminster to multiple district titles in both sports.