Florida High School Athletic
Hall of Fame Members
The Florida High School Athletic Hall of Fame was founded in 1991 to recognize and preserve the heritage of high school athletics in Florida, to keep alive the tradition and spirit of high school athletics in Florida and to honor those persons who through distinguished achievement have excelled in one or more high school athletic programs sponsored by the Association and its member schools. Seven members of the Bolles community have earned this prestigious honor.
Chris Bono '92
Induction: 2004
Christopher Bono was the first wrestler and the third student-athlete to be inducted into the Florida High School Athletic Hall of Fame. He has been an ambassador for Florida wrestling at the high school, collegiate and international levels.
Bono was a three-time FHSAA wrestling champion for The Bolles School in Jacksonville, and placed fourth in his seventh-grade and freshman years. He posted an overall record of 181-12 throughout his varsity wrestling career, and was the captain of the 1992 Class 2A State Championship team. Bono had success in freestyle competition as well, becoming a Cadet National Runner-up and a Junior All-American. He earned All-State honors in 1990 and 1991 in football for Bolles and was a starter on the 1990 Class 2A State Championship team. Bono also played baseball, and was selected as the best all-around multi-sport athlete upon his graduation.
Bono's success continued in college at Iowa State University, where he won the 1996 NCAA 150-pound title and was a three-time All-American. He was the NCAA runner-up in the 150-pound bracket in 1997, and his 130 career wins ranked him fifth on the school's all-time victory chart. Now the assistant head coach at Iowa State, Bono is still active as a competitor, finishing as the runner-up in his weight class at the 2004 U.S. Senior Nationals to clinch a qualifying spot for the 2004 Olympic Team Trials in Indianapolis in May. He won a bronze medal at the Pan American Championships in 2002 and placed third at the U.S. Freestyle National Championships. Bono is a two-time World Team Trials Champion and was a 2002 U.S. World Team member.
Corky Rogers
Induction: 2005
Charles "Corky" Rogers was inducted in 2005 while still active as one of the most successful coaches in the nation. At the time of his induction, his 326-65-1 career record placed him within the top 20 still-active coaches and the top 50 all-time coaches in the nation. Rogers capped a 45-year career following the 2016 season that produced the most wins, state titles, championship game appearances, Hall of Fame inductions and collegiate players of any coach in Florida. Rogers passed away in February 2020, leaving a lasting legacy of success through hard work. Rogers' impact on the game and more importantly, the young people he guided, is peerless.
Rogers was born in Bay City, Mich., and graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville in 1961. He was a three-sport athlete, playing for the Generals' 1960 mythical state championship football team and the 1961 baseball state championship team. He was also a basketball player. Rogers earned a scholarship to play football for Bobby Dodd at Georgia Tech. He received a degree in industrial management in 1968. Rogers then moved to the NFL, where he played briefly for Don Shula with the Baltimore Colts.
Rogers spent three years as an assistant football coach at Ribault High School in Jacksonville before taking the head coaching position at Robert E. Lee in 1972. He recorded 10 straight district titles from 1977-1986 and coached LeRoy Butler, who went on to become a four-time All-Pro safety for the Green Bay Packers.
In 1989, Rogers took the helm of the football program at The Bolles School in Jacksonville. His wing-T offense has led the Bulldogs to seven state championships and two runner-up finishes that span three classifications. Rogers' success has catapulted him to the top of the list of Florida's winningest high school football coaches. He took over the top spot with his 314th win in September 2004, surpassing fellow Hall of Fame member Gene Cox. Among the Florida high school coaches with more than 300 wins, Rogers is the only coach with fewer than 100 losses.
Rogers is a member of the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame and is a lifetime member of FACA. He was a 2002 nominee for the NFL High School Football Coach of the Year award, and was the head coach of Team USA for the NFL Global Junior Championship IX in Jacksonville in 2005.
Gregg Troy
Induction: 2007
Gregg Troy has been a successful swimming coach at the high school, collegiate and international levels, coaching his athletes to their highest potential. He retired as head coach at the University of Florida in 2018. In his 20 years at UF, his athletes won 43 individual national championships, 177 SEC titles and garnered 1,145 All-America honors.
While at Florida, he has also coached 47 Gator Olympians who total 78 appearances at the last five Olympic Games. Under his tutelage, those athletes totaled 23 medals, including 11 gold.
The Bellefonte, Pa. native is a graduate of Sarasota High School, and earned a bachelor's degree in history and government at Texas Christian University in 1972. He also earned a master's degree in history education at Jacksonville University in 1987.
Troy began his 20-year career at The Bolles School in 1977 as a history teacher and swimming coach. During his tenure, Bolles won 15 boys state championships (10 consecutive) and 11 girls state titles (nine consecutive), as well as several mythical national championships. Troy left Bolles in 1997 to become the head women's swimming coach at the University of Florida, where he led the team to an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. A year later, he became the men's coach as well, and was named the 2000 SEC Men's Coach of the Year.
His impact on the world stage has been impressive. Troy has coached 81 Olympians (34 at Bolles). He served as head coach of Team USA at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and Team Thailand in 1992, with his other two Olympic stints being as an assistant coach (1996, 2008). His international experience also includes time with World Championship teams, Pan American teams and teams competing at the Pan-Pacific Games. He also served as an assistant coach at the 2017 FINA World Championships.
Chipper Jones '90
Induction: 2012
Chipper Jones was a standout baseball player at every level he competed in. Jones retired as a player in 2012 after 19 seasons in Major League Baseball, all with the Atlanta Braves. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018.
Jones began his high school baseball career at Taylor High School, where he pitched a one-hitter as a freshman. He went to The Bolles School as a sophomore, where he was a two-way player. He chalked up a 6-3 record with 87 strikeouts and a 1.89 ERA as a pitcher while hitting a .391 batting average with seven home runs, earning First Team All-State honors. In 1989, he played football and baseball, winning First Team All-State honors in both sports and winning a state championship in baseball. He also notched the Tournament MVP honors and held an 11-1 pitching record with a 0.81 ERA in 84 innings pitched, and 107 strikeouts. In his senior year, the Bulldogs were the state-runner up while Jones compiled a 7-3 record with a 1.00 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 79 innings on the mound, while hitting .488 with 14 stolen bases.
Jones won the Gatorade Circle of Champions Florida Baseball Player of the Year, Regional Baseball Player of the Year and Runner-up National Player of the Year. He was the first pick of the 1990 Major League Baseball draft by the Atlanta Braves.
Professionally, Jones won the 1999 National League MVP and in 2002 was the only third baseman in history to reach 100 RBI in six consecutive years. In April 2011, Jones reached the 2,500-hit plateau and on Aug. 31, 2011, slammed his 450th career home run.
Don Suriano
Induction: 2014
Donald Suriano started the baseball programs at Ridgeview and Fleming Island high schools and was most successful at the Bolles School, where he won three state championships and enjoyed coaching fellow FHSAA Hall of Famer Chipper Jones. His head coaching record stands at 559-234 with three state titles over the course of 28 seasons, and he guided his teams to 17 district titles, 10 regional crowns, 10 Final Four appearances and a state runner-up finish.
Suriano is passionate about giving back to the game through time invested in youth clinics, coaching conventions and mentoring fellow coaches. In 793 games, he was never ejected once and has always made a point to impress upon his athletes the importance of sportsmanship.
Suriano is a five-time Florida Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year and has had 60 of his players move on to collegiate or professional baseball.
Aside from the victories and the accolades, he is most remembered by his former players as a teacher -- and he wouldn't want it any other way.
Matt Morris
Induction: 2018
The legendary Matt Morris was inducted into the Florida High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018 after being part of more than 100 FHSAA state championships as both a coach and an athletic director.
As an athletic director at Allen D. Nease High School and The Bolles School, Morris has led his athletic programs to five national championships, 78 state championships, 30-plus state runner ups and almost 200 district titles. In addition, he has also overseen more than $8 million in facility upgrades at Bolles.
A member of several FHSAA committees designed to enhance education-based athletics in the state, Morris started Nease's first-ever wrestling program during his tenure there (1993-97). He won a district title in just the second season of the program, while completely overhauling the athletic program as athletic director. Prior to his arrival at Nease, the school had never won a state title in any sport. During his time spent in St. Augustine, they earned two state titles in cross county and one state championship in golf.
In 2000, Morris was named athletic director of The Bolles School. Five years later, Sports Illustrated ranked Bolles ninth out of 38,000 high school athletic programs in the country. His program was the only school with a student population under 1,000 to make the top ten. Off the field, he has overseen an athletic program that has won the Floyd E. Lay Sunshine State Cup All Sports Award 14 times.
The former three-sport athlete in high school also found success as a high school wrestling coach, guiding 13 individuals to state championships, nine to state runner-up finishes and 21 state placers for a total of 43 medal winners. Morris has racked up 300-plus career dual-meet victories, and as a result, was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2010. Aside from wrestling, the former University of Georgia varsity wrestling captain has also spent his three-plus decades in high school athletics coaching football and golf.
Elise Bush
Induction: 2019
Elise Bush was inducted into the Florida High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019 after three-plus decades of winning girls volleyball championships for the The Bolles School in Jacksonville.
Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Bush arrived at Bolles in 1983 as the junior varsity basketball coach. After coaching basketball and softball for a few years, she took over as the head coach of the girls volleyball team. In 31 years (1986-2017), Bush racked up 696 wins, captured 25 district championships and made an astounding 20 appearances in the FHSAA Final Four.
The biggest on-court accomplishment for the former Florida Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year was winning the Class 2A FHSAA State Championship in 1989. The University of North Florida graduate also coached two FACA Player of the Year winners, seven student-athletes who were named All-State and helped more than two dozen players go on to play at the collegiate level.
In addition to her legendary coaching career, Bush led Fletcher High School in Neptune Beach to the 1976 Class 4A FHSAA State Championship as a student-athlete in girls basketball. She also played in the 1975 volleyball Final Four.
In her spare time, Bush was instrumental in improving volleyball in Florida, serving for many years on the FHSAA Volleyball Advisory Committee. In the Jacksonville community, she helped found the Jacksonville Junior Volleyball Association, giving girls from all over the community a chance to participate in the sport she loved. She also partnered with Bishop Kenny coach Suzanne Winkler for over a decade to raise money for the Donna Foundation, which provides financial assistance and support to those living with breast cancer.