Chadron State College Athletic Hall of Fame
Statton initially enrolled at Chadron State in 1965 after graduating from Finney High in Detroit. He then joined the Army, but returned to CSC in 1970 and was an all-district and honorable mention All-American offensive lineman for the Eagles in 1972. He earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degree from CSC.
After teaching and coaching in Nebraska and Iowa several years, he was a school administrator at Sturgis, S.D., and at Riverton, Wheatland and Cody in Wyoming. He was selected as the Wyoming Principal of the Year by the National Association of Secondary Principals in 1997 while working at Cody.
His wife, the former Patti Schmiedt, also graduated from CSC. After their two sons had graduated from high school, the Stattons spent two years in Egypt and two years in Bahrain with the American International Schools. They returned in 2004, and he was the principal at Big Piney, Wyo., when he died on Dec. 9, 2007.
