Sandpoint's Nieman to be inducted into Idaho Hall of Fame
COEUR d’ALENE — Former Sandpoint and University of Idaho star Alli Nieman is one of five people who will be inducted into the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame later this year.
Nieman will be joined by the late Corissa Yasen, a former Coeur d’Alene High School standout, Doug Nussmeier, ex-Idaho quarterback, Kristin Armstrong, Boise native and Olympic cyclist, and David Triplett, former Pocatello High athlete who went on to play football at Idaho and later coach at Capital High.
They will be inducted April 10 at the 48th annual North Idaho Sports Banquet at the Best Western Coeur d’Alene Inn.
Tickets are available at Les Schwab tire outlets, or by calling Dr. James Lynn at 762-1043.
Nieman is Sandpoint High’s all-time leading scorer in basketball with 2,046 points, and led the Bulldogs to a state runner-up finish in 1996. She also played on two state championship volleyball teams with the Bulldogs.
She went on to play four years of basketball and one season of volleyball at Idaho. She is the only Vandal to score 1,000 points and pull down 1,000 rebounds. She finished with 2,140 points and 1,005 rebounds, and was named Big West Player of the Week six times. Overall, Nieman ranks in the top 10 at Idaho in 11 career categories, six single-season categories, four single game categories and five home court categories, with multiple entries in many lists.
She was the Big West freshman of the year and a four-time first team all-Big West selection.
Yasen, a 1992 Coeur d’Alene High grad, was a 10-time state champion for the Vikings, including eight individual titles, and 13 state track medals overall.
Yasen was a nine-time NCAA track and field All-American and a 10-time Big Ten champion at Purdue, and she was the 1996 NCAA heptathlon champion. She was drafted by the Sacramento Monarchs of the WNBA in 1997.
Yasen passed away in 2001.
Nussmeier, from Lake Oswego, Ore., passed for 10,824 yards at Idaho. He was Big Sky offensive player of the year in 1992, and was drafted in the fourth round by the New Orleans Saints in 1994. He played four years with the Saints and one with the Indianapolis Colts. In 2000, he helped the B.C. Lions win the Grey Cup.
Nussmeier went on to become an assistant coach with the St. Louis Rams, Michigan State and Fresno State. Last season he was hired as quarterbacks coach at the University of Washington.
Armstrong became the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the time trial in 2008. In 2009, she won her second world championship in cycling.
All told, she has five national championships and four world championship medals, and is considered the most decorated female cyclist in U.S. history.
Triplett participated in football, wrestling and track and field at Pocatello High, graduating in 1962. He played football for Dee Andros at Idaho and started on the offensive line his last two years.
He taught biology at Capital from 1968-75, coaching football, wrestling and track, and also started a boys gymnastics team.