- April 25, 2024
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It’s been a little more three years since Hannah Schaible walked across the stage and graduated from Dr. Phillips High in 2013, but the rising senior for the George Washington University women’s basketball team isn’t done being recognized for her remarkable career as a varsity athlete just yet.
Schaible, who won four state championships during her time with the Panthers’ girls basketball and flag football teams — while also competing or Dr. Phillips on the volleyball team in the fall — was inducted into Orange County Public School’s Metro Conference Hall of Fame last month.
The distinction puts Schaible in the elite company of other Dr. Phillips alumni such as former Major League Baseball star Johnny Damon and current NBA player Shane Larkin, among others.
Each year, athletic directors from around the county gather in April, ahead of the Metro Conference’s Awards Banquet in May, and among the topics of discussion are nominees for the hall of fame. Nominees can be former athletes, coaches or administrators and some years there are no additions to the group’s ranks — but with Schaible, who was nominated by Dr. Phillips athletic director Russell Wambles, it seemed to be a no-brainer.
“It was unanimous,” said Doug Patterson, the athletic director at Boone High School and one of the lead organizers for the Metro Conference. “We are looking for former athletes that stood out leaps and bounds above everybody — and that totally describes Hannah.”
That unanimous decision was made in April, and — after a bit of phone tag with Wambles — the news reached Schaible, who had just completed her junior season at George Washington.
“It was a Disney story — we shouldn’t have won that tournament."
Hannah Schaible, on winning the state championship in flag football in 2011
“That was really, really cool to hear,” Schaible said of learning of the unanimous decision. “At first, I really didn’t understand the magnitude of it. It’s the Metro Conference — it’s a bunch of schools and not just my alma mater.”
Even as she has fallen in love with her college of choice — along with living in the heart of Washington, D.C. — and continued her successful career as a scrappy guard for the Colonials, Schaible said she is still passionate about the athletic programs at Dr. Phillips.
“When I hear other people talk about that their high-school programs had this, that or the other, I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s great — but it’s not Dr. Phillips,’” Schaible said. “There’s not a sport that we’ve never succeeded in at Dr. Phillips.”
Schaible’s accomplishments and accolades are numerous and include a three-peat of state championships and two national tournament championships in girls basketball. Perhaps her favorite moment, though, was winning the flag football state championship in 2011.
“It was a Disney story — we shouldn’t have won that tournament,” says Schaible. “We didn’t even run routes to warm up, because we didn’t want the other team to realize we didn’t have anybody to throw to.”
Schaible still gives a big hug to Anthony Jones — her coach for girls basketball and flag football — whenever she is on campus. For now, though, she is focused on one more season with the Colonials under a new coach — Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame member Jennifer Rizzotti — and also looking ahead to starting her career after graduation, perhaps in sports marketing.
As she moves forward — in hoops and in life — the former Panther said she will continue to rely on the same qualities that got her where she is now.
“What has made me successful is that I’ve never lost that drive,” Schaible said. “Hustling on the floor, always wearing my kneepads, always wearing my mouthguard … I’ll give my foot, my arm — any part of my body — to go grab that ball.”
Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].
