Butler County Sports Hall of Fame: Meet 2026 inductee Jence Rhoads
Jence Rhoads expanded her family’s basketball legacy growing up
A 2007 Slippery Rock High School graduate, Rhoads became an all-state basketball player for the Rockets and Butler County's all-time girls basketball scoring leader with 2,170 points. But she was also all-state in soccer and became a member of the United States handball team.
All of those achievements and more have landed her in the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame.
Rhoads will join Kelly Coffield, Brad Mueller, Melinda Rhoads, Jeff Schnur, Mike Seybert and William “Bee” Thoma at an induction ceremony at Butler County Community College’s Founder’s Hall. The ceremony will take place at 6:30 p.m. April 25. Individual tickets ($35) or for tables of eight are available at butlersportshall.com.
Rhoads’ father, the late Robert “Posey” Rhoads, played college basketball at Wake Forest and was the boys basketball coach at Slippery Rock. Her mother, fellow BCSHOF 2026 inductee Melinda, played college ball at Slippery Rock.
“Definitely grew up in a 100% basketball family,” Rhoads said. “But soccer was actually my first sport. I began playing in leagues in Slippery Rock and Harrisville when I was 4.”
Rhoads scored 100 goals in high school and became Slippery Rock’s all-time leading scorer. She netted the game-winning goal in overtime of a state quarterfinal game.
“That was my own golden goal,” she said. “After I scored, I turned around and all my teammates were running at me. There was a dog pile … such a vivid memory.”
Rhoads led the Rockets’ basketball team to the District 10 title. As a senior, she played varsity basketball with freshman twin sisters Kourtney and Karly.
“Three Rhoads sisters on the floor at the same time, that was pretty cool,” she said. “I know I scored a lot of points, but being the point guard, I enjoyed setting up my teammates for success.
“I scored when my team needed me to, but I was more proud of my assists.”
The same held true during her collegiate basketball career at Vanderbilt.
Rhoads was a four-year starter at point guard for the Commodores, tallying 1,000 points, 500 assists and 500 rebounds. Vanderbilt reached the NCAA tournament in all four years of her career there.
The Commodores won the Southeast Conference tournament her sophomore year.
“That was a grind, playing every night against teams like LSU and Alabama and getting all the way through.”
After college, Rhoads played professional basketball for three years in Finland and Romania before returning to the states.
She was ready for another transition in life.
Her mother attended a reunion of the U.S. Olympic handball team she played for, and there was talk of a tryout program starting up in Alabama.
“My mom told me about it. My life had become stagnant, and I missed the competition,” Rhoads said. “I decided to go for it.”
So she moved to Alabama, earned her masters and doctorate in kinesiology from Auburn University and tried out for the national handball team.
After three days of two-a-day workouts, Rhoads was invited into the national team pool and wound up playing for seven years.
“I remember how physically sore I was after those tryouts, doing muscle movements I've never done before,” she said. “But those years of playing soccer came in handy there.”
Rhoads played center back in handball — facilitating play similar to point guard in basketball — and was named the best center back at a tournament in South Korea. She also played on the United States team that defeated Canada to qualify for the Pan American Games in Peru.
Rhoads is now director of learner success for Ziplines in Alabama, guiding people toward their careers.
“I'm still assisting, setting up others for success,” she said. “I still love doing that.”
She also loves entering the county hall of fame with her mother.
“It's only fitting,” Rhoads said. “She's played such a big part in my journey. This is an exciting night for us.”
