The Covington High School Athletic Hall of Fame held the 43rd annual Induction Ceremony on Saturday, December 20, 2025. This year’s Hall of Fame inductees included: Nathan Dunn, Class of 2015, Anna Dunn-Sturgis, Class of 2017, Samantha Whiteman, Class of 2019, and Honorary Inductee, Michael Schaffer, Class of 1966.
2025-26 INDUCTEES
INDUCTEE: SAMANTHA WHITEMAN – CLASS OF 2019
Samantha Whiteman, known as Sammi in the Covington Community, graduated from Covington High School in 2019 after she had established herself as one of the elite players in Buccaneer history as a basketball player.
Sammi, the daughter of parents Nikki and Jason Angle, and Andy and Nicole Whiteman, played high school basketball in Covington for all four years where she was coached by Covington Athletic Hall of Famer, Jim Meyer. During her career, Sammi earned so much recognition; 2018-19 D-IV Ohio All-State Player of the Year, 2018-19 District 9 Player of the Year, 2017-18 D-IV All-Ohio Second Team. She helped the Lady Buccs win a district championship and reach the regional semi-final in 2018 and throughout her four years she also helped lead the teams to 20 wins in three straight years and finished with a 75-26 career record.
Individually, Sammi set many career and season records in the program’s history. The career records she set were 1893 points scored, 266 steals, 353 assists, 734 field goals, and 100 games played. The season records she set were 81.3% free throws, 24.5 points-per-game, and 231 baskets. She also set the record for the most points in a game by scoring 41 in victory over Bethel on January 30, 2018, and she tied Jessie Crowell with the most field goals in a game by connecting on 16 in the same game against Bethel.
Sammi then advanced to the collegiate level by playing at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee and Thomas More University in Crestview Hill, Kentucky. At Thomas More, Sammi helped the team win a National Championship in 2022 and finish National Runner-Up in 2023. She graduated in 2023 from Thomas More University with a Business Administration Degree.
INDUCTEE: ANNA DUNN-STURGIS – CLASS OF 2017
Anna Dunn-Sturgis, the daughter of Steven and Kimberly Dunn, graduated from Covington High School in 2017 and throughout her high school career she excelled in the sports of Cross County and Track.
In the sport of Cross Country, Anna was a four-time state qualifier in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. She was the Cross County Conference Runner of the Year in 2014 and conference Runner-Up in 2016. She also led the 2016 team to a conference championship, district championship, and regional championship – which put the entire team into the state tournament. That team finished in 7th place at state, the highest state placement for a Covington team in the history of girls cross country. Anna was an elite runner in her tenure as she finished her career 2nd on the records leaderboard with a time of 19:17 and is now third in the program history.
In Track & Field, Anna put forth a great career throughout her four years in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. She set the school record in the 1600 meter run with a time of 5:16, which was recently broken by Elyza Long. Anna still holds a school record in the 4×800 meter relay team with a time of 9:43.18. Her three teammate runners who helped set the record were Paige Boehringer, Ashlyn Plessinger and another Covington Athletic Hall of Fame member, Carly Shell. Overall, Anna was a two-time regional qualifier in 2016 and 2017.
After graduating, Anna attended Wright State University, where she continued her cross country and track careers at the collegiate level for four more years. She graduated from Wright State in 2021 with a Marketing Degree.
INDUCTEE: NATHAN DUNN – CLASS OF 2015
Nathan Dunn, who is the son of Steven and Kimberly Dunn, graduated from Covington High School in 2015 and during his four years as a Buccaneer he ran at a high level in Cross Country and Track.
The highlight for Nathan in Cross Country was when he became a state qualifier as a senior in 2014. He also finished second in the league of the Cross County Conference in 2014 and finished on the top ten of Covington’s record board with the time of of 16:41.
During his four-year career in the sport of Track, Nathan excelled at a high level in long distance runs. His highlights were winning a very tough 3200 meter run league championship in the Cross County Conference in 2015. He also performed well in another very competitive 1600 meter run in the Cross County Conference in 2015 by finishing second in the league.
After graduating in Covington, Nathan extended his career at Wright State University, where he graduated in 2020 with a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science. Throughout his collegiate career under coach Rick Williamson, Nathan was First-Team in the All-Horizon league in 2018 and 2019 and also second team in the league in 2016 and 2017. In the Horizon League he was the Runner of the Year in 2019 and set the school record in 8k Cross Country with a time of 24:20.
After graduating from college, Nathan continued his extremely hard work and determination in distance running, which led to him becoming a 2024 Olympic Trials Qualifier in the Marathon with an amazing time of 2:16:55. This made him the first athlete from Covington, Ohio to ever qualify for an Olympic Trials competition.
HONORARY INDUCTEE: MICHAEL SCHAFFER
Michael Schaffer is a 1966 graduate from Covington High School and an individual who put in so much time over the years and several sports programs benefited from his contributions.
Things began in 1967 when Mike started scouting other teams to help prepare Buccaneer football teams for future games. He had a short break for a few years, but returned in 1975 through 1998 to scout teams. His scouting helped lead the Buccaneers to the state championship game in 1979, the state semi-finals in 1980 and 1985 and the state playoffs in 1996. He also filled in the role for the Athletic Trainer in the school year of 1990-91.
Mike Schaffer adjusted from scouting to filming each football game from 1999 to 2024 so coaches would be able to review the game films and advance the execution the players needed to accomplish success throughout the seasons. Throughout the 26 years of the game videos recorded by Mike Schaffer, the Covington Buccaneers tallied an overall record of 206-85, won 14 league titles, and reached the state playoffs 22 times.
His impact on additional sports in Covington was due to his contributions while coaching at the youth, junior high and high school levels. In high school, her coached baseball in 1990 and coached junior high softball in 2015. Mike Schaffer coached youth girls basketball for grades third through sixth in 2009 through 2011.
During his time as an athlete in Covington, Mike Schaffer played football from 1962 through 1965 under coaches Howard Almond and Tom Steele. He earned honors as All-League honors in 1964 and 1965 and All-Area honors in 1965.
