'Proud of the hard work I put into it'

SANDPOINT — The many records, honors and downright gaudy statistics speak for themselves, and are a large reason why standout Sandpoint athlete Alli Nieman will be enshrined into the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday night.

Another big reason, one that won’t win any awards or show up on any stat sheets, was Nieman’s exceptional work ethic, which led to a prolific athletic run as a record-breaking basketball star at both Sandpoint High School and the University of Idaho.

Nieman, a 31 year-old counselor at Timberlake Junior High, is one of five members of the class of 2010, which includes former Idaho quarterback Doug Nussmeier, the late Corissa Yasen, a track and basketball star at Purdue, former Idaho guard David Triplett and Boise cyclist Kristin Armstrong.

When asked how it felt to be enshrined she uttered the usual responses about being honored and flattered, and said it was nice to be recognized in the same breath with other great athletes. But greatness doesn’t happen by accident, and is usually the byproduct of a lot of behind-the-scenes effort.

“I’m most proud of the hard work I put into it,” she recalls of her career. “The people that I met, teammates and coaches, and the relationships that were built.”

As a youth in Sandpoint, she used to go to the gym and launch jumper after jumper with her dad Jim Nieman, who was a basketball coach at the time. Jim would go on to coach her in rec league, junior high and high school, with a front row seat as Nieman dominated at every level.

“I loved growing up in Sandpoint; an awesome place to grow up,” remembers Nieman, whose mom still works at Nieman’s Floral and Music on Cedar St., the family’s longtime business. “There was a lot of support from a lot of people.”

In four seasons at Sandpoint, Nieman rewrote the basketball record books, garnering 19 individual game and career records, including most points scored with 2,046. She set the state tournament scoring record with 83 points in three games, and was not only the Idaho State Player of the Year, but a three-time USA Today All-American and two-time AAU National Tournament All-American.

As crazy as it sounds coming from one of the greatest female basketball players in the history of the state, hoops may not have been Nieman’s best sport. She was a first-team all-state volleyball player all four years at Sandpoint, IEL Player of the Year twice, and was named the A-1 State Player of the Year in 1996. She tried to play both sports as a freshman at Idaho, even managing to make the Big West All-Freshman volleyball team, but the logistics were simply too difficult, so she settled on her first love — hoops.

The success didn’t wane a bit when she swapped Bulldog red and white for Vandal black and gold. She was named the Big West Freshman of the Year in 1997, and never looked back, dominating the conference for four years. She is the Idaho career scoring (2,140) and rebound (1,005) leader, establishing marks that may stand for a while.

Jim Nieman recalls being at a press conference when Alli was on the verge of breaking the all-time Vandal scoring record, and says the incident speaks volumes about his daughter.

“A reporter asked her what she was going to do when she broke the record, and she said ‘hustle back on defense,’” recalls Jim, noting her mental attitude was maybe her biggest strength. “She didn’t let things bother her. Even when she got all of the attention of the defense, and the physical beatings, she always kept her composure.”

This marks the third Hall of Fame induction for Nieman, who also resides in the SHS Hall of Fame (2005) and the University of Idaho Hall of Fame (2008). She joins fellow Sandpoint luminaries Jim DeMers, Cotton Barlow and Jerry Kramer in the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame ceremony will be held Saturday night at the Best Western Coeur d’Alene Inn, in conjunction with the 48th annual North Idaho Sports Banquet.