In a ceremony on April 16, Coach Fred Willis and Dashia Grigsby, Class of 1989, will be inducted into the 2015 Class of the Cincinnati Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame. Three Coaches and eight living athletics will be inducted, and four athletes are Posthumous Honorees.
For more information about the ceremony go to CPS 2015 HOF.
Fred Willis’s coaching career at Withrow spanned the years from 1974-2005. He was voted 1983 Enquirer Coach of the Year for Basketball and Track & Field. His teams won District Basketball Championships in 1983 and 1990, and he was recognized as Southwest Ohio District Basketball Coach of the Year in 1983 and 1990. He coached several boys & girls District Championships in Track & Field. He was inducted into the Communiplex Hall of Fame in 1987. His 1989 and 1990 Girls Basketball teams were voted City Champions by the Cincinnati Enquirer. His 1991 Boys Track & Field team won the District Championship and went on to a runner-up finish at the 1991 Division I Regional Meet. In January 2000, he was presented an Outstanding Service Award by the Greater Cincinnati Basketball Officials Association. He was voted the 2000 Enquirer Girls Track & Field Coach of the Year. There are other Conference championships in Girls Basketball and Girls and Boys Track & Field too numerous to mention along with many Conference Coach of the Year Honors bestowed on him during his career at Withrow. Two of the his former Basketball players, Dashia Grigsby, Withrow Class of 1989, and Regina Williams, Withrow Class of 1984, have also been inducted into the CPS Athletic Hall of Fame. He currently serves as Boys and Girls Track & Field Coach and the Director of Athletics at Riverview East Academy.
An outstanding basketball player, she is one of the few Withrow players to have her number retired in honor of her outstanding accomplishments during her career playing for the Tigers. As a junior, she was voted First Team All-Eastern Metro Conference and Honorable Mention Enquirer All-City and All-Southwest District. As a senior, the Enquirer recognized the Withrow Girls Basketball Team as City Champions. She was voted Player of the Year in the Eastern Metro Conference, First Team All-City, Southwest Ohio District Player of the Year and First Team Division All-State. She signed a full Scholarship offer to continue her basketball career at Grambling State University. She transferred to Sullivan Junior College where she was recognized as a Junior College All-American and a member of the Sullivan J.C. “1,000 Point Club”. She finished her career as a scholarship player for the University of Cincinnati and was voted Great Midwestern Conference “Newcomer of the Year” in 1993.
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