Hall of Fame: Novak leaves his ‘paw print’ on trio of Brandon Valley athletic programs

Name a sport, and Scott Novak probably played it. 

“The class of 1981 played every sport together,” says Novak, one of three individuals gaining induction into Brandon Valley High’s Athletic Hall of Fame this year. “We all played basketball, football, track, baseball and tennis together from a young age, and I’m proud that so many of my teammates were dedicated, great guys that made a lasting impression on me.”

Although Novak only played one season of football for the Lynx, he was a fixture on the rosters for boys’ basketball, track and field, and cross country. In the summer, you could find him at the local tennis courts or baseball diamond.

“We didn’t ‘specialize’ back then and play just one sport, we all played multiple sports,” he said. “It seemed like all my classmates went from one sport season to the next and we all supported each other.”

For a relatively small senior class, Novak was one of a number of student-athletes who went on to play collegiately. He cites Lane Snell, Dennis Clark, Craig Anderson and Curt Carstens all going on to play football. He and John Moorlach both played college hoops, while Mike Richardson played baseball and Scott Peterson ran track.

He credits his coaches for their guidance, Lyle Pearson in basketball, Lyle Claussen in track and cross country, and Jim Van Gerpen in tennis.

“These coaches were very dedicated and great teachers, who helped mold my coaching career,” he said.

Tennis, which became a high school sport in his senior year of high school, is ironically the sport that Novak went on to have a successful career in.

“I was able to play a high school tennis matches, but then had to choose – track or tennis,” he recalled. “I chose track because we had some relay teams that were the best in the state and I didn’t want to let the guys down.”

From Brandon Valley, Novak went to Northern State University in Aberdeen, where he played four years of college tennis and two years of college basketball. 

He stepped into the role of high school and college coach before accepting a position as a Division I college tennis coach for 20 years at both Clemson University and the University of South Alabama.

He presently runs the Mobile Tennis Center, which is tagged as the world’s largest public tennis facility with 60 courts, that have brought in tennis stars like Andre Aggassi and Andy Rodick.

As a college tennis coach, he led several teams ranked in the Top 10 of D-1 college tennis, coaching seven NCAA tennis All-Americans. 

As a tennis player himself, he held the No. 1 ranking in singles and doubles in the state of Alabama, and was previously inducted into two tennis halls of fame, one in South Dakota and the other in Mobile, Ala.

He and his wife, Lorraine, are a daughter, Whitney, who is a freshman at Millsaps College, where she plays college basketball. It’s clear the “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in this family,” as Whitney is a three-time, all-state high school basketball player and has eight state high school tennis championships to her credit.