American Heritage’s Karen Stearns wins Herald’s Broward County Lifetime Achievement Award
Karen Stearns knew American Heritage had a good foundation in place when she took over as athletic director in 2013. By then, she had been at the school for 15 years already, coaching cheerleading, and working in admissions and compliance.
All she wanted to do was keep building on what the Patriots already had accomplished.
With 34 team state championships in her decade as AD in Plantation, Stearns exceeded any of the expectations she could have envisioned. Now, as she steps away, she’s the recipient of the Miami Herald’s Broward County Lifetime Achievement Award.
“We just wanted to make our school and our family population proud,” said Stearns, 58. “That was never the goal to be like anyone else.”
Her tenure started with two hires, transforming American Heritage’s marquee program. First, she promoted Mike Rumph — now an assistant recruiting director for the Miami Hurricanes — to become the Patriots’ football coach. and then she hired Mike Smith to be the school’s athletic trainer.
Smith is now football coach after Patrick Surtain, who succeeded Rumph, left to become a defensive assistant with the Miami Dolphins.
American Heritage had never won a state title before Stearns took over. Now the Patriots have won five and are perennially one of the top programs in the entire country. They even set a South Florida record by having six players selected in the 2021 NFL Draft. Only Bradenton IMG Academy — a school featuring players plucked from across the country — has ever had more players picked in a single NFL Draft.
Players like those, however, only represent a sliver of American Heritage’s accomplishments. Dozens of players go on to the Division I level every year — across several sports — and several others leave with a degree from a prestigious academic school.
“It’s truly an academic program and I say that proudly because all the national merits and when college coaches come in they’re like, This is easy to come here because we know what the expectations academically are, so they’re not worried to recruit any of our kids and our kids know that they have to be ready,” Stearns said. “One of the best things to hear is when our student-athletes come back to visit — and a lot of them do — and they tell us going to college is sort of like going to American Heritage and it made it easier for them.”
The Patriots’ other newfound signature program is girls’ basketball and its transformation into the class of Broward started with one of Stearns’ hires, too.
When coach Greg Farias started in 2015, American Heritage had never won a state title. The Patriots won their first in 2018 and have now won five in a row.
At the same time, American Heritage’s traditional programs have thrived, too. The girls’ golf team has won six state championships — plus three individual titles — and the girls’ soccer program has won five. The boys’ golf, boys’ soccer, softball, girls’ tennis, and boys’ swimming and diving teams have all won multiple state championships in the last 10 years, too. The Patriots have also added 57 individual state titles in the last decade, including 17 each for the boys’ and girls’ track and field programs.
American Heritage now collectively boasts 80 team state championships, including three won in the last year.
“We’ve always had a strong athletic program, that’s for sure, and I think with some of the changes in staffing we just collectively came together as a strong unit,” Stearns said. “The great thing at American Heritage is obviously academics is No. 1, but we’ve always wanted to have equally strong fine arts programs and athletic programs, and I think we’ve done that for a long time.”
Although she is moving out of the area and to Sebring for her husband’s work, Stearns will continue to work for the school remotely as its compliance officer.
After more than two decades with the Patriots, she could only go so far.
This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
