CRHS Athletic Hall of Fame 2026 Induction Ceremony: Once a Pirate, Always a Pirate

There are some moments when you are reminded that being a Pirate is about much more than what happens on a playing field.

This weekend, Crystal River High School brought back a tradition that had been missed for nearly two decades: the Crystal River High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

For generations, Crystal River has celebrated outstanding athletes, coaches, and teams who helped build the Pirate athletic tradition. But the formal Hall of Fame had been dormant for many years. This year, Principal Phill McLeod and new Athletic and Activities Director Mark Lee decided it was time to bring it back, with plans for the tradition to continue in the years ahead.

Coach Lee, the master of ceremonies, put it beautifully: “Bringing the Athletic Hall of Fame back to Crystal River High School means preserving our history, honoring those who built our Pirate tradition, and inspiring those who will carry it forward.”

That spirit was evident throughout the weekend.

I had the privilege of attending both Friday night’s football game, where the 2026 inductees were recognized at halftime, and Saturday evening’s formal induction ceremony in the Crystal River High School Cafetorium.

The evening could not have started more appropriately than with Coach L. Earl Bramlett being the first to be inducted.

Coach Bramlett came to Crystal River in 1985 after previously serving as head football coach from 1972 to 1976. He returned in 1985 and remained through 1999, compiling a 126-85 record and taking his teams to the playoffs seven times. His 1996 team went 11-2 and advanced to the third round of the playoffs.

But his legacy went far beyond wins and losses. Coach Bramlett served as an athletic director and educator, was a strong advocate for Title IX, served on the FHSAA Board of Directors, and was recognized as Florida Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2007.

Pirate Stadium was renamed Earl Bramlett Stadium in 2009, and in 2016, it became Bramlett Stadium in honor of both Coach Bramlett and his wife, Cathie.

Coach Bramlett passed away in November 2024 at the age of 86.

Former player Russ Baldner presented his induction, reminding everyone that Coach Bramlett had a personal connection to each of the inductees being honored that evening.

He then asked the question that has become part of the Bramlett legacy: “WHAT’S THE WORD?”

The room responded, “PRIDE!”

His daughter, Megan, accepted the honor on behalf of her father and spoke about how much Coach Bramlett was inspired by his students and players, regardless of whether they won or lost. She also reminded everyone of the important role her mother, Cathie, another CRHS athletic coach, played in his life and legacy.

Then came that question again.

“WHAT’S THE WORD?”

“PRIDE!”

Lanna Hough-Wentworth was the second inductee. A 1997 graduate, Lanna was a standout softball player who contributed as a pitcher, catcher, and shortstop during an important era in Pirate softball history. She was part of the generation that helped establish Crystal River softball as a force at the state level, including the 1997 team that advanced to the state tournament.

Former CRHS softball coach Mike Hampton introduced Lanna, speaking about her determination and grit. Lanna’s remarks reflected not only on her own accomplishments, but on the teammates, coaches, and friendships that made those years so meaningful.

She spoke about the importance of sisterhood and teamwork, reminding us that the greatest athletic memories are rarely created by one individual.

The third inductee was one that was particularly special to me and my family.

Cliff Dyer, a member of the Crystal River High School Class of 1997, was a standout swimmer whose accomplishments took him from the Pirate pool to Indian River State College and then to Florida State University. Competing at the NCAA Division I level and the 2000 ACC Championships.

Perhaps the most meaningful part of Cliff’s story came after his competitive swimming career. He came home to become a coach and educator at Crystal River High School, eventually leading the Pirate Swim & Dive program to seven district championships. His leadership helped move more than 12 student-athletes onto collegiate rosters across NCAA Division I, II, III, and NAIA levels.

Thomasine, my wife, had the privilege of being Cliff’s seventh-grade teacher. She later coached him in swimming, and over the years, he became a lifelong friend of our family.

Thomasine introduced Cliff that evening, speaking about his determination as a young swimmer, his willingness to work, and the way he eventually became the kind of coach and educator who invests in others.

Today, Cliff serves as an assistant principal at Crystal River High School.

Clayton Trenary was the fourth individual inducted. A 2002 graduate, Clayton earned 12 varsity letters across baseball, football, track, and weightlifting. He was an All-Suncoast football player and was named the 2000 St. Petersburg Times All-Hernando/Citrus Football Player of the Year and the 2001 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Football Player of the Year.

On the baseball diamond, he had an extraordinary senior season, batting .602 with 12 home runs and 61 RBIs. He helped lead Crystal River to the Class 3A state semifinals and earned first-team All-State honors as a catcher.

His accomplishments eventually led to his being selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 2002 Major League Baseball draft.

Charles Brooks, another former CRHS Athletic Hall of Fame inductee, presented Clayton’s induction.

The final induction recognized an entire team: the 2019 Crystal River High School softball team.

That team finished 20-7, won district and regional championships, and advanced all the way to the FHSAA Class 6A State Championship Game, ultimately finishing as state runner-up.

Their postseason run included dramatic extra-inning victories and shutouts, including a 2-0 semifinal victory over Rockledge.

Jaden Vickers was named the 2019 Class 6A Pitcher of the Year and earned first-team All-State honors. Alyssa Hamilton was named second-team All-State. Today, Alyssa has returned to Crystal River as the head softball coach.

Coach Deon Copeland, who led that team, presented the honor. Five players and three coaches were able to return for the ceremony.

The Hall of Fame weekend also included another exciting addition to the Pirate tradition.

Crystal River High School unveiled a new Pirate Hall of Fame digital interactive smart showcase in the fieldhouse trophy room. The interactive display provides another way for students, families, alumni, and visitors to learn about the people and teams who helped shape Crystal River athletics.

It is a fitting bridge between the past and the future. The stories of yesterday’s Pirates are now being preserved in a format that today’s students can explore and tomorrow’s Pirates can continue to build upon.

You can explore the new interactive Pirate Hall of Fame showcase here: https://site.rocketalumnisolutions.com/home/6850be860f12ec94e21f3917

Five inductees. Five very different stories. One common thread.

They were Pirates.

And once a Pirate, always a Pirate.

And if Coach Bramlett were there to put a final exclamation point on the weekend, I think we all know what he would ask.

“WHAT’S THE WORD?”

PRIDE.

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High School Swim Team Receives Rip Current Prevention Training

As a swim coach, I have always believed that teaching young people to swim is about much more than learning the four competitive strokes. Swimming is a sport, but it is also a life skill.

That is one reason I was especially pleased recently when the Crystal River High School Swim & Dive Team participated in rip current and water safety training with Citrus County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Thomas Fletcher.

The training was conducted in cooperation with Citrus County Parks & Recreation and the Bicentennial Park Pool. It gave our student-athletes an opportunity to learn about a danger they may encounter outside the controlled environment of a swimming pool.

Rip currents are powerful channels of water that flow away from the shoreline through the surf zone.

For competitive swimmers, the pool is a familiar and controlled environment. We have lane lines, walls, starting blocks, lifeguards and coaches. Open water is different.

The students were taught how rip currents form, how to recognize warning signs and, most importantly, what to do if they or someone else becomes caught in one.

Citrus County Fire Rescue Chief Craig Stevens explained that one of the most important messages was also one of the simplest.

“Rip currents do not pull a swimmer underwater, they carry a swimmer away from shore,” Stevens said.

That distinction is important because panic can quickly make a dangerous situation worse.

A swimmer caught in a rip current may realize they are making little or no progress toward shore or may actually feel themselves being carried away from the beach. The instinctive reaction is often to swim directly back toward shore. But fighting the current can quickly lead to exhaustion, even for a very experienced swimmer.

The students were taught to remain calm and, when able, swim parallel to the shoreline until they are out of the current. Once clear, they can use the waves to help return to shore.

If they are too tired to swim, the lesson is equally important: stop fighting the current, float and signal for help.

The training also addressed one of the most dangerous situations of all: trying to rescue someone else.

If you see someone in trouble in a rip current, your first instinct may be to jump in and help. But entering the water without proper training or equipment can turn one person in trouble into two.

That is why this training is important for more than just competitive swimmers.

I also want to recognize the community partners who helped make this opportunity possible.

Citrus County Parks & Recreation Aquatics Supervisor Maci Kepler helped coordinate the training between Citrus County Fire Rescue and the Crystal River High School Swim & Dive Team. Her efforts helped bring together the people and resources needed to provide this valuable training to our students.

I also want to recognize County Commissioner Holly Davis for her assistance in identifying and coordinating the grant opportunity that provided 100% of the funding for approximately $13,000 in Slipstream equipment needed to conduct this important public education and water safety training.

That is a tremendous example of what can happen when community partners recognize a need, identify resources and work together to address it.

The equipment is an investment not only in this particular training, but in the ability of Citrus County Fire Rescue to continue providing water safety education to our community.

Chief Fletcher and Citrus County Fire Rescue deserve tremendous credit for being willing to share their expertise with our young people and for making public education part of their mission.

Chief Stevens told me, “Anytime we can share knowledge with our citizens that may help them protect themselves or someone else, it is time well spent.”

Our schools cannot and should not try to teach everything by themselves. We have firefighters, healthcare professionals, law enforcement officers, businesses, colleges, nonprofit organizations and countless community members who have knowledge and experience that can complement what students learn in the classroom.

Sometimes the most important lessons are the ones that will never appear on a test.

For our Crystal River swimmers, there were no stopwatches, race results or medals involved in this particular lesson.

Instead, they learned what to do when the water doesn’t behave the way they expect it to.

Hopefully, none of these young athletes will ever need to use what they learned from Chief Fletcher.

But if they do, knowing how to recognize a rip current, remaining calm and knowing how to respond could make all the difference.

After all these years around swimming, I still believe one of the greatest things we can teach a young person is to respect the water.

And sometimes, the best way to teach that lesson is to bring the right people together, provide them with the right tools and let them share what they know.

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A New School Year Begins with a First Library

There are few things more rewarding than watching a young child discover the magic of a book.

This past week, the Citrus County Education Foundation held its first “First Library” reading event of the 2026-27 school year. It is the first of six opportunities this year to bring community members into our classrooms to read with some of our youngest students.

Community members from across Citrus County participate in these special events. Civic organizations, community leaders, library staff, first responders, educators and others take time to walk into a classroom, sit down with students and share a story.

And then something especially important happens.

Each student gets to take that book home.

One of the special opportunities I have through my involvement with the Citrus County Education Foundation is being able to participate as one of those readers. This time, I had the opportunity to read with Ms. Cayley Zeris’ Pre-K class at Citrus Springs Elementary.

The book we shared was Biscuit Goes to School, a sweet beginner reader written by Alyssa Satin Capucilli and illustrated by Pat Schories. There is something pretty special about sitting in a classroom with young students, reading a story, answering their questions and watching their faces as the story unfolds.

But the real magic begins when they take that book home.

The First Library initiative has roots going back decades. It originally began through the generosity and vision behind Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and, over the years, evolved into the Citrus County Education Foundation’s own First Library initiative.

Today, it continues to make a meaningful difference in the lives of Citrus County children.

The program focuses on Pre-K and kindergarten classrooms in our public schools. The goal is simple but important: to help make sure every child has an opportunity to develop a love of reading and has books of their own at home.

The need is real.

Research has shown a significant difference in the amount of one-on-one reading children experience before entering first grade. Children from middle-income homes may enter first grade having experienced more than 1,000 hours of one-on-one reading, while children from economically challenged families may have experienced fewer than 100.

That is an enormous gap before a child has even started elementary school. We cannot control every circumstance into which a child is born, but we can work together to help close that gap. That is what programs like First Library are about.

When students receive a book of their own to keep and share with their families, it gives children and parents another opportunity to read together at home. It creates another learning experience and can help establish a positive family tradition around books.

CCEF shares research highlighted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation that demonstrates the importance of reading proficiency by third grade. Students reading at or above grade level by third grade are significantly more likely to continue successfully through school, graduate and eventually enter the workforce.

A book may seem like a small thing. For a child, it can be the beginning of something much bigger.

Since October 2013, the Citrus County Education Foundation has partnered with Citrus County Schools to bring First Library into our classrooms. What began with Pre-K classrooms has grown to include kindergarten, reaching children during some of the most important early years of their educational journey.

I believe this is a great example of what can happen when a community decides that education belongs to all of us.

Our teachers cannot do it alone. Our schools cannot do it alone. Parents cannot do it alone.

But when schools, families, community organizations, businesses, foundations and volunteers work together, we can create opportunities that extend far beyond what any one organization could accomplish by itself.

First Library is just one example.

The Citrus County Education Foundation strategically partners with Citrus County Schools on numerous initiatives designed to support students, teachers and lifelong learning. These partnerships provide opportunities and resources that strengthen the educational journey of our children.

And First Library would not be possible without the generous support of its community partners: Duke Energy, Suncoast Credit Union, Citrus Libraries, Black Diamond Foundation Inc., Citrus County Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club of Inverness, Altrusa International Citrus County, Dollar General Literacy Foundation and In Loving Memory of Deborah Kamlot-Wright.

As a school board member, I am especially grateful for the people who give their time to walk into a classroom and read a book to a child, and for the community partners who help make those moments possible.

Sometimes we look for complicated solutions to complicated challenges.

Sometimes the answer begins with something remarkably simple:

A teacher. A child. A community volunteer. And a book.

This past week, Citrus County children began building their own first library.

Our hope is that those books will not simply sit on a shelf. We hope they will be opened, read, reread and shared with parents, grandparents and siblings.

Most of all, we hope they become the beginning of a lifelong love of reading.

Because when we give a child a book, we are giving them much more than a story.

We are giving them a door to another world, a chance to imagine, an opportunity to learn and perhaps the first chapter of a lifetime of possibilities.

To learn more about the Citrus County Education Foundation and its many programs supporting Citrus County students and schools, visit www.citruseducation.org.

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