This is the first in a series of articles profiling the 2021 inductees into the Knoch High School Sports Hall of Fame

JEFFERSON TWP — Dream big.

That is Kelly Meyers Coffield's message to her kids. That's what she did.

And she's landing in the Knoch High School Sports Hall of Fame as a result.

A two-time team captain and MVP in girls volleyball and track and field at Knoch, the 1995 Knight graduate will be one of seven inducted Sept. 3 during the school's home football game against Freeport.

“I'm surprised and I'm honored,” Coffield said of her selection. “This award is a bit of a culmination of my big dreams because it's where they all began.

“For that, I'm so grateful.”

Coffield played for legendary Knoch volleyball coach Diane Geist. She was a two-time all-section player and was named best defensive player her sophomore season.

The Knights reached the playoffs every year she played, but never won a section title.

“North Allegheny was in our section and we always finished second to them,” Coffield recalled. “We never beat them. But we always had good teams.

“My most vivid volleyball memory, strangely, was from a loss. We dropped a playoff game against a team we figured we would beat. It was a crushing defeat and we were all emotional.

“Coach Geist always had a tough exterior. She was not very emotional. After that loss, she cried. It showed me how much she cared. That seemed to soften the blow a little bit,” Coffield added.

She ran the 100, 200 and 400 meters in track, also participating in the 4x100 relay. Coffield earned silver and bronze medals at the 1992 Keystone State Games.

“The 400 was my best event,” she said. “For a couple of years, I figured track would be my college sport. But I got a few injuries there.

“Once I knew it'd be volleyball, I didn't run track my senior year.”

Coffield was recruited by numerous Division II and III collegiate volleyball programs. But that wasn't her dream.

“I wanted to play Division I so badly,” she said. “I was an invited walk-on at Pitt, guaranteed a roster spot, but no scholarship.

“It was a gamble. My parents were blue-collar people. They couldn't afford to pay for me to attend Pitt for four years. I asked them to give me one year. If it didn't work out, I'd transfer to a smaller school.”

Coffield recalled a tournament at George Washington University early in her freshman season. Her parents made the trip to watch her play.

Before play began, then-Pitt volleyball coach Cindy Alvear called Coffield into her office.

“I was scared to death,” Coffield said. “I thought I was getting cut from the team, with my parents there, how embarrassing this was going to be ... then she tells me that my play had been good enough to earn a full scholarship.

“Coach Alvear knew my parents would be there and thought I'd want to tell them that night. I will never forget that moment.”

A defensive specialist, Coffield went on to become a four-time Big East Academic All-Star and served as the Big East representative to the NCAA Leadership Conference.

“I wound up playing in every set of every match all four years,” she said. “I was very proud of that.”

She also became the first female to be named University of Pittsburgh Senior of the Year in 1999. She had her name engraved on the walkway between the Cathedral of Learning and Heinz Chapel.

That walkway has since been redone and Coffield has the original stone at home.

“There are so many amazing names on that walkway and here I am, a mother of four, with my name among them,” Coffield said.

Former Mars soccer standout Ellie Coffield, now a freshman on Pitt's team, and current Mars soccer player Piper are two of her children.

Coffield has been a world history and psychology teacher at Fox Chapel High School for 20 years.

“I love it,” she said. “I just want my kids to go after what they want in life. You can never dream too big.”