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She moved from cheerleading
sponsor to coach in 1976-77 as the Centralia
Junior High School opened. For the next 29
years, Magoulias-Shafer coached four
different girls’ sports at CJHS.
From 1977 through 1984, she marked up two
SIJHSAA state titles (1981, 1982) and one
runner-up finish (1979) as basketball coach
with a total record of 82-16. She says CJHS
has the best junior high gym in Southern
Illinois.
As softball coach (1978 through 2004, with
exception of 1984 maternity leave),
Magoulias-Shafer totaled 287 wins against
125 losses. Her teams placed in the final
four (SIJHSAA) on 12 occasions with a state
title in 1978 (undefeated), and second place
finishes in 1988 and 1989. Third place
trophies were taken in 1979, 1980, 1982,
1985, 1986, and 2001.
Fourth places were garnered in 1993, 1996,
and 2003.
Magoulias-Shafer had no assistant
coaches in either sport for the first few
years. Later one assistant was the late Mel
Rutledge who devoloped a string of
highly-successful pitchers for the
Tigerettes. One such hurler was Centralia
Hall of Fame inductee, Angela Mick (1997).
She coached girls’ track for seven seasons
(1999 through 2005) taking five teams to
State. The 2002 team with the
record-breaking discus thrower, Jasmine
Matthews, took fourth place. She also
coached volleyball for two years, but this
was dropped as it was not sanctioned by the
SIJHSAA and was in conflict with
basketball.
There were no scholastic girls’ sports as
she was growing up, so Magoulias-Shafer
honed her skills through the excellent
Centralia Recreation Department with Howard
Cooksey as Director and Fay Vaccaro as City
League Softball Coach. Through these
experiences, she knew early on that she
wanted a career that involved sports and
athletics.
In the summer months away from CJHS, she
coached soccer, softball and little league
baseball. While
proud to be an inductee into the Centralia
Sports Hall of Fame, Magoulias-Shafer is
equally proud to have been a
part of so many children’s lives doing
something she loved.
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