Nancy Ellis was the sixth woman coach in the state of Arizona to be selected to the Hall of Fame. Nancy was a member of the first Arizona State University Softball team in 1967. After playing 4 sports and graduating at ASU, Ellis went to California to coach at Orange High School. Her girls at Orange won the 1970 California softball title. Shortly after that and still early in her career, Ellis managed to get the Mesa School District to add softball to the AIA girls athletic schedule. Her first team at Mesa won the first Arizona softball title ever held. In 1981, Coach Ellis moved over to the new Mesa District School, Dobson. Coach Ellis also has a long and distinguished career of coaching badminton with several divisional and region titles to her credit. Coach Ellis, along with colleague Kyle Sawyer at Dobson, were both finalists for the National Coaches Association's Coach of the Year in 1998. Nancy was the 2002 Softball Coach of the Year for the National High School Athletic Coaches Association. Nancy's softball teams eventually won 570 games in her 4 decade career. Nancy's Dobson Mustangs were the Arizona State 5A Softball Champions in 1990. The Mustangs beat a very good Tucson High team 2-1 in the final.