NATCHITOCHES – Tioga’s trailblazing high school sports administrator and successful basketball coach Kathy Holloway, who became a national icon in prep sports, is the 2026 winner of the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award presented by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
The first female president of the Louisiana High School Coaches Association and of the National High School Athletic Coaches Association, Holloway has retired but continues to serve her community, the LHSAA and national high school athletics in several capacities.
Saturday, June 27 at the Hall of Fame’s 2026 Induction Ceremony in Natchitoches, she will become the 25th recipient of the Dixon Award since its inception in 2005, and will be enshrined in the Hall as the fourth female Dixon winner.
She joins Pineville native Sue Donohoe (2017), an NCAA basketball administrator; Alexandria native Marie Gagnard (2019), a renowned pro tennis official; and Opelousas native Joan Cronan (2020), the venerable women’s athletic director during the Pat Summitt era at Tennessee, in the subset of women who have been honored.
The Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award has been presented annually by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s 35-member Hall of Fame selection committee to an individual who has played a decisive role as a sports leader or administrator benefiting Louisiana and/or bringing credit to Louisiana on the national and international level.
It is named in honor of the 1999 LSHOF inductee, an entrepreneur and innovator who is credited as the key figure in bringing an NFL franchise to New Orleans, and the development of the Caesars Superdome, highlighting an array of sports-related endeavors.
Holloway’s selection was formally announced Thursday morning by Louisiana Sports Writers Association president John Marcase and Doug Ireland, chairman of the Hall of Fame. Holloway emerged from a ballot showcasing 27 noteworthy nominees for the Dixon Award.
She will be among the 12-member 2026 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Class headlined by eight “competitive ballot” inductees announced in September.
The Class of ‘26 is headlined by that star-studded group: Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame 2025 inductee Sylvia Fowles, NFL stars Joe Horn, Todd McClure and Pat Williams, Major League Baseball All-Star Jonathan Lucroy and legendary basketball coaches John Brady, Mike McConathy and Dewain Strother.
Alexandria native and LSU baseball hero Warren Morris will receive the Louisiana Sports Ambassador Award, earning enshrinement into the LSHOF. His walk-off home run won the 1996 College World Series for LSU and resulted in the Bolton High School product becoming a lifelong spokesman for college baseball, the CWS and LSU.
LSU graduate and New Orleans native Gil LeBreton and multi-faceted Shreveporter John James Marshall are going into the Hall as the 2026 winners of the LSWA’s Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism.
The 2026 Induction Class will be celebrated June 25-27 in Natchitoches. Opportunities to purchase admission for the four ticketed events are available at the LaSportsHall.com website through the www.LaSportsHall.com/induction26 link.
A 2012 National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee, Holloway was elected to the Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.
In 2021, the NHSACA created the “Kathy Holloway Women of Inspiration Award” to be presented annually to a female “that has promoted female athletics by either coaching, serving, supporting or leading high school female athletic programs that focus on changing lives and inspiring women to strive for greatness.” The first recipient of the award was Holloway.
A standout basketball player at Poland High in Rapides Parish, Kathy Stewart Holloway had a highly successful coaching career at Tioga High. She led THS to 10 playoff appearances and two trips to the Sweet 16, a pair of state runner-up finishes.
She coached four high school All-Americans: Jan Nugent (1969-72), Kay Ford (1972-75), Julie Wilkerson (1976-79) and Tara Curtis (1984-88). Ford and Wilkerson played at Louisiana Tech and Curtis played at LSU.
Holloway still serves on the LHSAA Hall of Fame selection committee and is the longtime director of the Upward Basketball program at Pineville’s First Baptist Church, along other continuing roles of service.
The Class of 2026 will be showcased in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum, operated by the Louisiana State Museum system in a partnership with the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. The striking $23 million, two-story, 27,500-square foot structure faces Cane River Lake in the National Historic Landmark District of Natchitoches and has garnered worldwide architectural acclaim and rave reviews for its contents since its grand opening during the 2013 Hall of Fame induction weekend.
The 2026 LSHOF Induction Celebration is slated to kick off Thursday, June 25, with a press conference and free public reception. The three-day festivities include two receptions, a free youth sports clinic, a bowling party in Alexandria, a Saturday luncheon and a Friday night riverbank concert in Natchitoches. Purchases for four ticketed events, culminating with the Saturday night, June 27 Induction Ceremony, along with congratulatory advertising and sponsorship opportunities, are available through the LaSportsHall.com website.
Adding to the 402 sports competitors currently enshrined, 24 winners of the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership award and 77 recipients of the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism, there are 503 current members of the Hall of Fame.
The Induction Celebration weekend will be hosted by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Foundation, the support organization for the Hall of Fame. The LSHOF Foundation was established as a 501 c 3 non-profit entity in 1975 and is governed by a statewide board of directors.
For information on sponsorship opportunities, contact Foundation President/CEO Ronnie Rantz at 225-802-6040 or RonnieRantz@LaSportsHall.com or Foundation Director of Business Development and Public Relations Greg Burke at 318-663-5459 or GregBurke@LaSportsHall.com . Standard and customized sponsorships are available.
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