With countless successes, come multiple awards. For former Ashland Eagle and Olympic gold medalist Katie Nageotte, her latest accolade is being inducted into the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame.

Nageotte joined an elite 2022 class of athletes and media members including former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar, 27-year Elyria High School volleyball Head Coach Carol Russo and Tom Hamilton, the Cleveland Guardians radio play-by-play broadcaster.  

“I’m really nobody special,” Nageotte said humbly about her most recent honor. “Yes I have this ability, but I had so many people help me achieve my potential.”

However, fellow hall-of-famers took time to disagree about her not being special.

After graduating from Ashland University in 2013 with two NCAA Division II national championships and three All-American selections, she went on to sign with Nike in 2019 before winning a gold medal in pole vaulting at the Tokyo Olympic games in 2021. 

On Tuesday, Oct. 18, family, friends and the heavyweights of the Northeast sports scene packed a  Marriott Hotel ballroom in downtown Cleveland to celebrate the achievements of the four 2022 inductees. 

John Telich, a 1975 Ashland College graduate and retired Fox 8 sportscaster, serves as the vice president of the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame.

“Katie’s story is inspiring,” said Telich. “She’s just someone you want to talk to.”

During his induction speech, Kosar mentioned their shared experience being from the Cleveland area. the adversity the gold medalist experiences being from Cleveland.

“We [Cleveland] really are at the butt-end of a lot of jokes,” said Kosar, who graduated from college in 1985 early so he could use an NFL draft loophole to play for his hometown Browns. “We take a beating at times.”

Even though Cleveland gets the short end of the stick, Nageotte shared during her induction speech how she feels about being from Northeast Ohio.

“When people ask where I am from they either laugh or groan or say some sort of ‘joke’,” Nageotte said. “It got to a point where I loved that. I started to embrace that because they just do not understand how awesome this city is.”

Her brother, Andy Nageotte, has been by her side since her journey began, supporting her every step down the runway as she vaults over every obstacle in her path.

“It’s really cool to see the grassroots that she’s come from. Middle school, high school, to where she is now,” Andy said. “Following the Olympics, she struggled and lacked confidence. She was able to rebound, find success and win the World Championships. It was awesome to see her overcome that adversity.”

Although she struggled after the Olympics, she took a big hit at the start of 2022 with the loss of former AU coach Jud Logan.

“He [Logan] was just the best motivating presence. When you were around him you just wanted to do well,” Nageotte said. “We always talked about how he chose Division II, he was good enough to go to any Division I school but he chose Ashland. If I could tell him one thing, it would be thank you.”

As Nageotte moves forward throughout her professional career, her goals have shifted toward making it to the 2024 Paris Olympics. There, she has a chance to be the second female pole vaulter to take home consecutive gold medals. 

“We will all be rooting for Katie in the games in 2024. Katie is the pride of Olmsted Falls, the best at what she does,” Hamilton said in his taped acceptance speech. “It felt like a piece of all of us was there with Katie. The pride we all felt that she even made it that far.”