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In this file photo, former Ben Lomond High boys basketball coach Evan Excell is hoisted on players' shoulders after the Scots won the 1986 3A state championship.

Standard-Examiner File Photo

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Former Ben Lomond High athletic director and boys basketball coach Evan Excell is pictured during his time as executive director of the Utah High School Activities Association.

Photo supplied, Utah High School Activities Association

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Students at Ben Lomond High can probably be forgiven if, in the year 2022, they don’t know who Evan Excell is. Pretty soon, they might see his name on the school’s gymnasium floor.

Ben Lomond High plans to name the basketball court in its still-new gym after Excell, a former teacher, basketball coach and athletic director at the school from 1978-94.

Anyone in Ogden and the surrounding area who knows Excell probably knows him because of his time coaching boys basketball.

The Scots won the 3A boys basketball state championship back in 1986 with a star-studded team including standout Kurt Miller that ran up and down the court, sometimes scoring 100 points on teams in an era before the 3-point line had arrived.

Excell also coached the girls track and field team to the 1987 state championship.

After Ben Lomond, Excell became the executive director of the Utah High School Activities Association and held the position from 1994-2008.

The hope is there will be a floor naming ceremony the same night as a basketball game this season, with Excell and other alumni in attendance.

In conjunction with the court naming, the Ogden School Foundation is launching an endowment fund in Excell’s name with an initial fundraising goal of $200,000, the purpose of which will be to support Ben Lomond student-athletes and activities. Ben Lomond High administrators would control disbursement of the endowment money.

The Ogden school board approved the court naming and the creation of the endowment fund during its May 19 board meeting, according to meeting minutes posted on the district website.

BLHS is one of several high schools in Utah with more than 50% of its students receiving free or reduced lunch, according to state education figures.

“One of the things Ben Lomond struggles with is participation. A lot of that has to do with financial constraints,” administrator Ed Morris said. “We’d want money to have more kids participate in sports and pay fees for kids or meet whatever needs the kids need.”

Morris, the principal of the Malan’s Peak School in Ogden, is heading a committee that’s trying to raise awareness about the court naming as well as solicit donations for the endowment fund.

Excell’s former players and colleagues say the honor of naming the court after him is appropriate.

“He’s done so much for so many kids and stuff at that school, not just basketball, as a teacher and coaching other sports,” said Eddie Green, a member of the 1986 state title-winning basketball team. “And then going to the state office and working there and continuing to make high school sports in Utah safe and important for everybody, if anybody deserves it, it’s him.”

While he pointed out the athletic successes of the basketball teams, Morris noted that most members of Excell’s teams did well after high school, too.

“Most of us have Bachelor’s degrees, some of us have Master’s degrees,” Morris said.

Morris said the endowment fund isn’t exclusive to “athletics,” rather all “activities” because that fits with how Excell operated.

“Evan’s thing was always we want everyone to participate, they were pushing three-sport and four-sport athletes,” said Jerry Bovee, an assistant athletic director at Utah State who was formerly Weber State’s athletic director. “The day of specialization had not hit, it was, ‘Come to everything.'”

Bovee has the distinction of having played basketball for Excell at Ben Lomond and working with Excell at the UHSAA. Bovee said the court naming is a nice way to honor Excell and that the endowment fund is more of a way “for us to give back” to the school.

As part of the committee’s fundraising and awareness efforts, there will be an event at Ben Lomond High at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 12, before the Scots’ first home football game. This will be called “Gathering of the Clans,” where the committee hopes to gather alumni to tour the recently built athletic facilities at the school.