FORTVILLE — At Saturday night’s home boys basketball game, Mt. Vernon High School recognized inductees into the Mt. Vernon Athletic Hall of Fame.
Former student-athletes Johna Goff and Chad Kleine and former football coach Doug Peacock are the latest members of the Marauders’ Hall.
Goff was a 2000 MVHS grad who earned varsity letters in track and field (3), volleyball (4) and basketball (4).
She was most noted for her performance on the basketball court. A multiple all-county, all-conference, and all-sectional player, Goff averaged, as a senior, 24 points, four steals, four rebounds.
She was Hoosier Basketball Magazine All-State first team, Hall of Fame Classic Tournament MVP – leading the Marauders to the tournament title, as well as a 22-2 record and No. 2 ranking in the state. She was the 2000 Mini-Miss Basketball selection by HBM, a Ms. Basketball finalist and 2000 Indiana All-Star. She graduated with 1,379 career points.
After graduation, She went on to play basketball at Ball State and was the first Cardinal to earn Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year. She was later a first team All-MAC choice and is current No. 5 on the school’s all-time scoring list (1,635), No. 4 in assists (447) and No. 4 in 3-pointers (253).
After graduation at BSU, she served in the United State Marine Corps, where she earned several recognitions: Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with 2 Bronze Service Stars, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, NATO Medal – ISAF Afghanistan, National Defense Service Medal, Se Service Deployment Medal.
Still involved in athletics, Goff participated in the All-Marine and All-Armed Forces Women’s Basketball Teams (2010-2012), and participated in the CISM World Military Games in 2010.
She obtained a law degree from Western Michigan and is a practicing attorney with her own law office (Goff Law) in downtown Fortville. She served on the Mt. Vernon Education Foundation Board 2020-2022, and currently coaches the Mt. Vernon 4th and 6th grade girls basketball teams. Johna resides in McCordsville with her wife Joana and daughter Avery-Jo.
Kleine graduated from Mt. Vernon in 1991 and was a star for the Marauders in both baseball and basketball. He earned three varsity letters in each sport.
As a first baseman, Kleine was named second-team all-state and to the Indiana North-South All-Star game. As a senior, he was in the state’s top five in batting average and helped lead Mt. Vernon to its first 20-win season.
On the court, he was part of sectional championship teams as a junior and senior and regional championship team that made it to the Elite 8 as a senior, beating Richmond in the semi-state semifinals. He was an all-county choice and received an invitation to the Indiana Top 40 workout for the Indiana All-Star Team.
He went on to play basketball at Bradley University, earning a bachelor’s degree in General Sciences/Education. He played on Braves teams that won the Missouri Valley Conference in 1996, earned bids to the NIT in 1994 and 1995, and made the NCAA tournament field in 1996. He played in 120 collegiate games, averaging 7.3 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
He entered the insurance industry after college, starting with Principal Financial Group and moving to Nixon Insurance Agency, where he has been since 1997. He became the owner of Nixon Insurance in 2018 and sold his agency at the end of 2023 before joining the Envision Insurance Group. On the side, Kleine has a broadcasting career at Bradley University, where he began covering 5-7 televised games and now covers the radio broadcast for all men’s basketball games since 2012.
Kleine resides in Peoria, Ill., with his wife Christine and three children: Caitlyn, Cameron, and Charlie.
Peacock, a native of Charlottesville where he was an All-State and All-American football player at Eastern Hancock High School, was a teacher and coach at Mt. Vernon for 17 years.
He played for Lee Corso at Indiana University and obtained a bachelor’s degree in Education in 1979 and later a master’s degree at Indiana Wesleyan.
Prior to coming to Mt. Vernon, he coached at Eastern Hancock, New castle and in Florida, where he was part of the staff for the USFL’s Orlando Renegades.
Arriving at Mt. Vernon High School in 1994, Peacock led the Marauders to a 107-79 record and the first three sectional titles in school history in 1997, 1999 and 2006. He was selected the Hoosier Heritage Conference Coach of the Year five times, named the Indianapolis Colts Coach of the Week three times and earned the Indiana Coaches Association Coach of the Year honors twice.
He retired from coaching after the 2010 season and from teaching at MVHS in 2017.
He has remained an avid supporter of Mt. Vernon Athletics, following football closely and even giving a keynote address to the team at the community pep rally before their state championship game in 2021. He is currently the president and CEO of Peacock Wealth Group, husband to his wife Desa, three children Kyle, Kollin, and Kaylee, and the proud grandfather to five grandchildren.
