By JEFF HARRISON

For the News-Register

Two coaches who accomplished success working together and then continued to thrive separately have been selected to the District 12 Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022.

Kim Appolloni, who split her head coaching career between St. John Central and Martins Ferry, and Robert “Bubba” Kapral, who first served as Appolloni’s assistant before taking the Lady Irish program to even greater heights, are this year’s coaches who will be honored at the Pepsi District 12 All-Star Basketball Classic scheduled for Friday, April 8 at Buckeye Trail High School in Old Washington. They will be recognized between games of the girls/boys doubleheader which tips off that night at 6 p.m.

Two female athletes and two male athletes from schools in District 12 will also join the Hall of Fame that night.

Those individuals will be announced next week.

Here’s a look at the coaching honorees:

Kim Appolloni

(St. John/Martins Ferry)

Appolloni enjoyed successful head coaching stints at both St. John Central and Martins Ferry, amassing a combined record of 242-110.

She was the head coach at St. John Central for six seasons (1989-1994) and posted a 105-32 record, winning five OVAC titles (1989, ’90, ’91, ’92 and ’94) and lead the Lady Irish to one OHSAA Regional appearance. At SJC, she was the Eastern District and District 12 “Coach of the Year” in 1991 (21-2 record) and 1992 (21-3 record).

Starting in 1995, she enjoyed a tremendous 10-year run as head coach at Martins Ferry, amassing a 137-78 record.

Under Appolloni’s guidance, Ferry captured Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Class AAA championships in 1997 and 2002 and reached the OHSAA Division III Regional semifinals in 1998.

She was selected as the AP Eastern District and District 12 “Coach of the Year” in 2003.

Appolloni also spent several years as the athletic director at MFHS and after yielding the girls’ coaching post, spent several years as a boys’ assistant coach under Jeff Sabatino and Derek Edwards.

She received the OVAC’s Rich Saffield Girls’ Basketball Coaches Award in 2008 and was inducted into the Martins Ferry Athletic Hall of Fame in 2021.

A 1982 product of St. John Central where she was the school’s first 1,000-point scorer while receiving special mention all-Ohio Class A, first team all-OVAC, all-Eastern District and all-District 12 accolades (including District 12 Player of the Year), she went on to graduate from The Ohio State University in 1988 and earned her master’s degree from Marygrove College in 2004.

Robert ‘Bubba’ Kapral

(St. John Central)

While he was also a state championship-winning coach in track, Kapral spent more than 30 years coaching girls’ basketball.

After assisting Kim Appolloni for six years at St. John’s and being a part of five OVAC titles, he elevated to the head coaching post and enjoyed 25 years of hardwood success with a sparkling record of 391-176. During that time, the Lady Irish captured nine OVAC Class A championships (1995, ’96, ’99, 2000, ’01, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’16) and reached the OHSAA Division IV Regional Tournament in 2000-01 when SJC posted a school-record 23-2 record. Kapral was named the AP Division IV Co-Coach of the Year in 2000 and he was named District Coach of the Year five times.

Also tabbed the OHSBCA Girls’ Basketball Coach of the Year in 2007, Kapral coached in the OVAC Samuel A. Mumley All-Star Basketball Classic four times; coached in the OHSBCA North-South All-Star Basketball Classic in 2002 and the Pepsi District 12 Basketball All-Star Classic in 2016. He has received the OVAC Rich Saffield Girls Coaches Award (2012) and the OHSBCA Bob Arnzen Award.

In track, Kapral led St. John’s to the pinnacle on the girls’ side not once, but twice by winning the OHSAA Division III State Championship (2007/2008) on the heels of back-to-back runner-up finishes the two previous years (2005/2006). Overall, he coached 47 state place-winners, including 39 on the girls’ side and nine on the boys’ side.

During his 21-year track tenure, the Irish captured 13 OVAC Class A team titles (girls – 1991, ’92, ’93, 2002, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09; boys – 1991, 2009).

Kapral was a two-time OVAC Overall Coach of the Year (2008/2009); the OVAC Cal Giffin Memorial Track Service Award recipient and he was inducted into the Eastern District Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame (2019) and the OVAC Hall of Fame (2021).

In addition to his coaching success, Kapral – a 1978 graduate of Bethany College with a B.A. in Communications and a four-year letterman on the Bison track squad – is a member of the OVAC Hall of Fame Committee, the OVAC Basketball Committee and the OVAC Coach of the Year Selection Committee.

He worked in various capacities at The Times Leader for more than four decades, and also served as Executive Sports Editor of The Times Leader/Wheeling News-Register/The Intelligencer. Since retiring from coaching, he’s become a basketball referee.