04/12/2026
šµš” Cascade High School Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2026 š”šµ
Joe Callahan ā82
Chelsea Goedken ā04
Ginny Horsfield
Nate Schmidt ā02
The newest Hall of Famers will be formally inducted during a ceremony at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Cascade on Saturday, September 26. Biographies of each of them are below.
Joe Callahan ā82
A standout pitcher who helped establish Cascadeās reputation as a contender in Eastern Iowa high school baseball, Callahan used his right arm to author several chapters of program history. Callahan became the first Cascade baseball player to earn All-State recognition multiple times, picking up second-team honors from the Iowa Newspaper Association in both his junior and senior seasons. A five year-contributor to the baseball team, Callahan stepped into his own beginning with his sophomore season, when he hit .300 and went 10-3 on the mound while earning the squadās Most Improved Player award. The improvement continued as a junior, when Callahan earned his first All-State honor while leading the Cougars to the Big Bend Conference championship. Callahan was a perfect 15-0 on the mound that summer, with an earned run average of just 0.71 while striking out more than 100 opposing batters. At the plate, he flirted with a .400 batting average. As a senior, he again collected fifteen victories on the mound and averaged a strikeout per inning pitched, with 123 of each. At one point in his senior campaign, Callahan had rung up a string of 25 consecutive pitching victories. Those ā82 Cougars put together a season for the ages, winning their program record 28th game of the year in a come-from-behind substate victory over Davis County to advance to the State Tournament for the first time in the programās history, with Callahan picking up the win on the mound. Callahan was again named All-State following the season, and also represented Cascade at the All-Star Series put on by the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association. After his high school career wrapped up, Callahan continued to dominate the diamonds of Dubuque County on the area semipro circuit. Over a nearly two-decade career playing for Bernard, Cascade, and Dubuque, he amassed more than 150 pitching victories. He won Most Valuable Player awards in three different tournaments, plus was named the Outstanding Pitcher of the Cascade Tournament in 1996. He was inducted to the Dubuque County Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015. Beyond the diamond, Callahan was a three-year letterwinner for the Cougar basketball squad. He currently lives in Dubuque with his wife and fellow Cascade alumnus, Gina. They have three grown children and seven grandchildren around the Midwest.
Dr. Chelsea Goedken, DC ā04
A multi-sport star with a wide range of talents, Goedken staked out uncharted territory for both Cascadeās basketball and track programs. A starter on the Cougar girlsā basketball team from the beginning of her freshman season, she and the team made huge leaps in her sophomore campaign in 2002. Goedken helped lead Cascade to its first ever State Tournament appearance that season, with the Cougars eventually advancing as far as the State semifinals with a 25-2 record, which was the best in program history to that point. She was named to the All-Tournament Team, becoming the first Cougar girlsā player to be so honored. She was also named All-State for the first time, with both the Des Moines Register and Iowa Newspaper Association including her in their second teams. Over the next two seasons, she would rewrite the school record books, becoming the first Cougar girl to score 1,000 career points on her way to the program records for scoring, scoring average, rebounds, blocks, steals, field goal percentage, free throws (made and attempted), and games played. She is the only player in program history to ever shoot more than 60 percent from the field for an entire season, and one of just three players to average a double-double for a season. By the time her career was over, she was a three-time All-Conference selection, two-time Dubuque Telegraph Herald Area Player of the Year, and three-time All-State honoree. Off the court, Goedken reached an even higher echelon as a member of the Cougar track team. As a senior in 2004, she claimed the Class 2A State Championship in the discus, becoming the first ā and to date only ā field event champion in Cougar girlsā history with a personal best throw of 125ā 8ā. She also qualified for State in the shotput, an event where she set the school record during her senior season. One of the most diversely talented athletes to ever wear a Cougar uniform, Goedken was also an honorable mention All-State selection in softball and an All-Conference pick in volleyball. After graduating from Cascade, Goedken earned degrees from Iowa State University and the Palmer College of Chiropractic. She lives in Omaha, where she has been a practicing chiropractor for the past 14 years.
Ginny Horsfield
One of the longest-serving coaches in the history of Cascade High School, Horsfield helped guide three different programs over more than fifty varsity seasons. A three-sport athlete during her time at William Penn University, the former Ginny Burds arrived at CHS in the fall of 1978, and immediately took the reins of the Cougar volleyball and girlsā golf teams. Horsfield is likely best known for leading the latter program for 32 seasons. She led a trio of teams to the State Tournament, where both the 2004 (3rd) and 2005 (2nd) squads finishing among the top three in the state. The 2005 campaign also saw the best individual finish for one of her golfers, as Kim Weber claimed the Class 2A individual State crown. Beyond those State-qualifying squads, her teams also claimed four regional championships, four district titles, and six conference crowns across her career. Horsfield was twice named her districtās Coach of the Year. Following her retirement in 2011, she was also recognized as the National Federation of Coaches Associationās Coach of the Year. In 2013, she was enshrined into the Iowa High School Golf Coaches Associationās Hall of Fame. Away from the links, Horsfield had three different stints guiding the Cougar volleyball squad over a total of fifteen varsity seasons. She was the head coach of Cascadeās softball team for an additional nine campaigns, compiling more than 150 career victories. A total of fifteen of the athletes she coached earned All-State recognition. She also coached volleyball and basketball at the freshman and junior high levels while serving as one of Cascadeās most revered physical education teachers. Horsfield was a founding member of the Cascade High School Athletic Hall of Fame Committee, a panel she has served for the past seven years. She and her husband, Randy, divide their time between Peosta and Florida. She has one adult daughter and two grandsons.
Nate Schmidt ā06
One in a line of several prolific post players from the history of Cougar boysā basketball who have now entered the Hall of Fame, Schmidt piled up both statistics and accolades on the hardwood in the early 2000s. A three-year starter for Hall of Fame coach Al Marshall, Schmidt was just the second Cascade player to ever score more than 1,000 career points. He proved to be one of the most consistent scorers in program history, as the first Cougar to amass 350 or more points each over three individual seasons. As a junior, he was an All-State selection of both the Iowa Newspaper Association and the Des Moines Register as he helped lead the Cougars to the State Tournament. In Des Moines, he recorded a double-double in the opening round game on his way to averaging 17 points for the tournament, which earned him a spot on the All-Tournament Team. The Cougars earned 3rd place in that seasonās Class 2A field, the programās best-ever finish to that point. He was again an All-State selection as a senior as he nearly averaged a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds per contest. At the time of his graduation, Schmidt was second on Cascadeās career scoring and rebounding list, while establishing a school record for career blocks which stood for fifteen years. From Cascade, Schmidt continued his success at Wartburg College, where he was twice named All-Iowa Conference, including being the leagueās Most Valuable Player in 2005. He helped lead the Knights to consecutive conference titles 2005 and 2006, earning All-Region honors from both D3Basketball.com and the National Association of Basketball Coaches in each season. Schmidt is also a member of Wartburgās 1,000 point club, continues to hold the program record for blocked shots in a season, and remains among the program leaders in career rebounding, blocks, and games played. He was inducted to the Wartburg Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018. Beyond basketball, Schmidt was a three-year starter at quarterback for the Cougar football team and four-year letterwinner in golf. In football, he was a three-time All-District selection, receiving first-team distinction as a senior when he set new school records for passing yards in a game, season, and career, as well as passing touchdowns in a season. Schmidt spent more than a decade in law enforcement in Dubuque County before relocating to South Carolina, where he currently works in shipping.
