Athletic Hall of Fame

List of 4 items.

• Jaime Barnes Cleary

  Jaime helped start the Cleveland Iron Maidens, the Women’s Rugby Football Club in West Park, in 2002. She wanted to grow the sport for younger girls, and Saint Joseph Academy agreed to offer rugby as a club sport. Twenty-seven student-athletes signed up for the inaugural season in spring 2007. The program was given Varsity/Junior Varsity status after only two years. In four years’ time, the Seniors who had ended their Freshman Rugby season in 2007 without a single win finished their high school rugby careers in 2010 with a State Championship, making rugby the first State Championship title won by any Jaguar team. A total of seven Varsity State Championships were won between 2010 and 2017, and Saint Joseph Academy won its first-ever National title in 2016 under Jaime’s leadership.

• Kelly Gallagher ’09

  Kelly comes from a family of runners and was only five years-old when she completed her first road mile race. She ran cross country and track all four years at Saint Joseph Academy, earning eight Varsity letters and serving as captain of both teams her Senior year. She was a member of the Varsity team that qualified for the State cross country meet all four years and was named All-District and All-State Academic in cross country every year. She was named All-Region for cross country during her Sophomore year and was an individual State qualifier. She was a Regional qualifier for the 4x800 in track all four years. After college, Kelly coached cross country and track at Saint Joseph Academy, St. Ignatius High School, and Gulf Coast High School in Naples, Florida.

• Anne “Annie” Grove ’14

  Annie fulfilled her dream of starting a rowing program at Saint Joseph Academy, thanks to the support of her family, the 21 student-athletes who initially signed up, several dedicated coaches, and the St. Ignatius Crew Program, which let the newly formed girls team borrow its fleet. She rowed all four years during the spring season and two years (as a Junior and Senior) during the fall season. A highlight of her high school career was taking first place—alongside Kelsey O’Donnell ’14—in the 2014 Women’s Lightweight 2x as Seniors, earning them an invitation to the 2014 SRAA Nationals and the 2014 U.S. Rowing Youth Nationals. Annie continues to be an active member of Cleveland’s rowing community, including serving as an assistant coach at Saint Joseph Academy.

• Al Wagner

  Al Wagner has faithfully supported athletics at Saint Joseph Academy for nearly 30 years. He attended the games of his daughters, Megan Wagner Harden ’97 and Colleen Wagner Moennich ’99. He began coaching the Freshman Basketball team in 1995 at the request of Don Kostell, the Athletic Director at the time. Over the course of his tenure with the Jaguar Athletic Program, Al devoted 15 years to coaching basketball, including serving on the coaching staff in 2022 when the team advanced to the OHSAA Division 1 Regional Final (Elite Eight). He was also recruited to help the Golf team by longtime coach Maureen Fallon Adler ’79 and spent six years with that program. Understanding the value of teamwork is what Al considers to be the most important aspect of sports.