Kris Hubbard and Kay Johnson have been rivals and best friends for 50 years.

Last week the two coaches were inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association together at a ceremony honoring coaching from across the country in North Dakota.

“It was nice,” said Johnson, an Ottawa Lake resident and Morenci softball coach. “There were 41 inductees. We were all introduced individually, then they read a two-minute bio on each of us.”

Hubbard, who has coached in some capacity at Whiteford since 1974, was grateful for the honor as well.

“It’s not only my award, but Whiteford’s award,” she said. “There has been a lot of quality athletes I’ve been privileged to work with.”

Coach Hubbard went to high school at Blissfield before Title IX set a new course for girls’ athletics in the nation. Her high school sports consisted of mainly gym class. At Western Michigan University, however, she played basketball, volleyball and field hockey.

After college she got a teaching job at Whiteford and was almost immediately named head coach of girls’ basketball, volleyball and girls track. In 1978 she stepped down from track and field to focus on the other two sports when a group of Whiteford girls came and asked her about coaching a fast-pitch softball team.

In 1979, she started the softball program. By 1984 Whiteford had its first of three state championship softball teams. When she was head coach, the Bobcats went 865-380-3. She has been a volunteer assistant for the last five years and 139 more wins.

She stopped coaching varsity volleyball in 1980 but held onto the basketball job until 2003. She’s still the winningest girls’ basketball coach in Tri-County Conference history.

Combined through four sports, Hubbard compiled a staggering 1,415-660 record in 81 varsity seasons of coaching. In the four sports combined, her teams won 24 TCC titles, 31 District championships and 15 Regional titles. She coached dozens of All-State athletes and a lot of girls that would go on to play college sports.

Johnson has enjoyed similar success at Morenci. She’s coached state champions in both track and softball and enjoyed a stellar career coaching volleyball and basketball. She also was Morenci’s athletic director.

This past spring, Johnson joined a select group of softball coaches to reach 1,000 career victories.

“I’ve never seen her lose her cool, on umpires or players,” Whiteford softball coach Matt VanBrandt said. “She always keeps it respectable and knows that staying calm and in control is what her players need modeled for them.

“I was in awe of the mutual respect that Kris and Kay have for each other, and anyone that has a chance to spend some time with either of them is a lucky or blessed individual.”