“Ernie” Quigley, born in Newcastle in 1880, is our first inductee in the Pioneer category.
Quigley was a gifted multi-sport athlete, lettering  for the Kansas Jayhawks in football, basketball, baseball, and track and field.  While at Kansas, he played under the tutelage of Dr. James Naismith, the founder of the game of basketball.
However, it was as a coach and official that Ernest was most noteworthy.  He served as head football coach for  Central Missouri State and at Kansas Wesleyan University.  He then served as Athletic Director at St. Mary‘s College for ten years.
He turned to officiating football, baseball and basketball iand became a National League umpire in 1913, a position he held for twenty-five years.
Quigley once estimated that he officiated 400 NCAA football games, nearly 5400 Major League baseball games, and 1500 NCAA basketball contests.  He worked three Rose Bowl games, and six World Series, including the 1919 Black Sox series.  He refereed several NCAA basketball tournaments and the 1936 Olympic  basketball finals.
He also served as Athletic Director at the University of Kansas and was a member of the NCAA football rules committee.
In 1961, Quigley was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of  Fame.