Mabel Miyasaki joins NHS Hall of Fame

For decades, Mabel Miyasaki was more than a familiar face at Niwot High School. She was its heartbeat. Whether she was working in the cafeteria, braving snowstorms to cheer from the stands, or sharing a laugh with students, Miyasaki left a mark on the school that has stood the test of time.

Now, at 100 years old, she is being honored as a 2025 inductee into the Niwot High School Hall of Fame.

Miyasaki's connection to Niwot did not begin in a classroom or on the sidelines, but as a mother looking for something steady during a time of change. According to her youngest daughter, Meri Miyasaki, Mabel first started attending Niwot sporting events shortly after her divorce, encouraged by a friend.

She quickly fell in love with the environment and eventually took a job in the school's cafeteria while Meri was still in junior high. "She continued working there long after I graduated," Meri said. "She just loved sports and being around the kids. That's part of what kept her young."

Mabel's passion for Niwot athletics and arts was not limited to one sport or season. She was known to attend games in all kinds of weather, even driving through a blizzard to catch a basketball game at Greeley West High School. "She wasn't going to miss out," Meri said.

Ron Stedman, a Niwot alum, former Niwot coach and family friend who met Mabel around 1980, remembers her as both a community figure and a personal inspiration. "She was kind of Niwot High School's cheerleader for many, many years," he said. "She showed up to boys and girls games, musicals, anything she could. She just loved the school and the people."

And while "cheerleader" might seem too light a word, Stedman said it captures the essence of her role, someone whose unwavering support and infectious spirit lifted everyone around her. "She wasn't just a lunch lady. She was somebody who touched a lot of lives," he said. "Her feistiness and her smile and her energy were infectious."

The feistiness showed up in more than just her school spirit. Stedman recalled one moment in the mid-1990s when Mabel, frustrated with speeding in her neighborhood, borrowed a Boulder County Sheriff's radar gun and stood in her yard clocking cars as they passed.

"There was little Mabel, all of four-foot-nothing, holding that radar gun with both hands," he laughed. "She waved at me as I drove by, thankfully at the speed limit."

Even after she began to experience memory loss due to dementia, Mabel continued attending events when possible. Stedman, who catered her 100th birthday party through his business When Taste Matters, was moved by the way she still lit up when she recognized people. "When she sees me, she points her finger at me and says, 'Ron Stedman, you. You are Ron Stedman,'" he said. "Even if she doesn't remember everything, she still remembers the feeling, she's still Mabel."

At the same birthday celebration, surrounded by family and friends, Mabel was told by Niwot High Principal Eric Rauschkolb and Assistant Principal Joe Brown that she would be inducted into the Hall of Fame. "She was very excited," Meri said. "She kept cheering for Niwot. Even though her memory isn't what it used to be, she understood how special it was."

Mabel's love for sports extended well beyond the high school gym. A lifelong baseball fan, she became known in Denver media as the "ultimate Rockies fan." Through her outgoing personality and natural warmth, she developed friendships with the team personnel, including the late Rockies president Keli McGregor, and even threw out the first pitch at spring training in 2010. She rarely missed an Opening Day and was known to bring food to the Rockies' grounds crew, always with her nails painted Rockies purple.

Through it all, Mabel has carried a quiet strength. She has lived with profound hearing loss since age five, she survived breast cancer in 1974, and she has undergone double knee replacements. But her spirit has remained remarkably intact.

"She just always comes out the other end with a great attitude," Meri said. "She's amazing."

For Meri and her siblings, Glenn, Gwendy, and Tammy, the Hall of Fame honor is more than a recognition of their mother's dedication. It is a reflection of how deeply Mabel became part of Niwot's story.

"She has left behind what I call a powerful, positive fingerprint," Stedman said. "And she has touched a lot of lives she probably doesn't even know she touched."

Miyasaki will be formally inducted into the Niwot High School Hall of Fame on Sunday, June 1, during the Night of Champions ceremony at Niwot High School, alongside fellow inductees Mike Moat and Elise Cranny.