The Out-of-Door Academy honors its first Hall of Fame class

The story of athletics at The Out-of-Door Academy can’t be told without mentioning Shelley Stone. 

Stone was hired to teach physical education at Out-of-Door’s lower campus in 1989 and has had a hand in teaching and coaching countless students since. 

The former golf professional was the school’s first athletic director and coached golf, tennis, volleyball, basketball, softball, and cross country. She even helped pick the school’s colors and mascot. 

It was fitting, then, that Stone was included as part of the school’s inaugural Athletics Hall of Fame class, honored in a ceremony April 10. 

Stone was honored alongside former baseball and football player A.J. Strong, the 2018 state champion boys tennis team, and behind-the-scenes contributor Teena Humphrey. 

Starting from scratch

Stone believed in ODA before its upper campus was even constructed. 

Upon hearing rumors of the addition of the upper campus, which opened in 1997, Stone said she applied to be the athletic director of the upper campus and was hired on the spot. 

Though Stone was equipped for the job thanks to a degree in physical education from Bowling Green State University, she had more responsibilities than most athletic directors. 

Stone said Martha Duffy, the former ODA head of school, tasked her with picking up four members of the school's board of directors and driving them to the site where the school would be built. 

Image courtesy of The Out-of-Door Academy

“I had a Jeep Wrangler, and I drove them out here because there weren’t even roads,” Stone said. “It was dirt roads. When we got out this far, she was like, ‘Turn right,’ and I’m like, ‘Where? We’re on a dirt road.’ There was nothing here.”

However, Stone said once she saw the plans for Lakewood Ranch, she was all-in. 

Stone said there were just 12 students during that first year who played volleyball, boys basketball and girls basketball at the freshman level. 

With the gymnasium still unfinished, Stone had to find gyms to rent or parks with open courts for her athletes. 

Those were just some of the challenges she faced in her first years at ODA’s upper campus. 

One woman wonder

Low enrollment was a challenge Stone had to face. 

“When we first started, we were way out here,” Stone said. “Nobody wanted to come coach because there was nothing around.”

That meant Stone often had to step in when a coach was needed. 

One year, she couldn’t find anyone to coach the junior varsity boys basketball team, so she took the job. 

“The JV boys basketball team was a lot of fun,” she said. “I told them I wasn’t coming back the next year and they were like, ‘No, you’re our mom.’ They were really upset that I wasn't going to coach them the next year. I told them, ‘Don’t worry, I will find you a coach.’”

Another year, she set up a running program for the cross country athletes and took them to meets on the weekends. 

Image courtesy of The Out-of-Door Academy

In total, Stone coached volleyball, basketball, softball, cross country, golf and tennis while also serving as athletic director. 

Despite those obstacles, she didn’t have to wait long for her vision of athletics at The Out-of-Door Academy to materialize. 

Ashley Palmer was an early success story. She became the school’s first all-state athlete in 1998 in cross country. 

Gretchen Haynor and Laura Ahmes teamed up to win ODA’s first state championship in doubles tennis in 1999. 

The following year, Stone led the volleyball team to the regional semifinals in just its third year. 

“It happened fast,” Stone said of ODA’s athletic success. “The kids kind of thought, ‘Oh, this is typical, this is what happens, kids qualify for states.’ And we’re like, ‘No, this is not typical.’”

Stepping back

Stone would go on to coach athletes who would have standout success at the high school level, and some who would also go on to star for collegiate teams. 

However, she eventually had to allow herself to rest after seven years of going non-stop.

Stone was diagnosed with cancer in 1996, and endured chemotherapy treatments for the next eight years, eventually enduring through it while continuing to teach, coach and work. 

“I think it’s just part of who I am,” Stone said of her persistence. 

That battle led to Stone stepping down as athletic director in 2003, but she still coached teams in the years following, and even went to Manatee Community College to learn how to become a math teacher — a position she holds to this day. 

When I met with Stone on April 11, the morning after her Hall-of-Fame induction ceremony, she found time to speak with me in between leading games of handball during the school’s annual spirit day. 

“Those of us who are athletes are in charge of the game, then we get a couple who aren’t too sure about it to help us,” Stone said of spirit day. “Yeah, it’s quite the deal.”

For Stone, some things haven’t changed.