On Tuesday, NC State announced the establishment of an athletics hall of fame. The inaugural class will be selected this summer and you can submit your own nominations through GoPack.com. Here are the particulars:
A maximum of six (6) individuals shall be elected in a given year; except that, up to ten (10) members may be elected to each of the first three induction classes. The election of a team or unit (e.g. tennis doubles team, swimming relay team) shall count as one (1) against the maximum number of annual inductees. Consideration will be given to the number of male and female inductees and the number of inductees by sport in each, annual induction class.
Student-Athlete Inductees
Any student-athlete who has competed for NC State shall be eligible for consideration, provided that five years has passed since the completion of his or her eligibility. Graduation from NC State is not required for election. The following criteria should be considered as a guide in electing outstanding student-athletes (not listed in order of importance):
1. Olympic medal winner or member of Olympic medal winning team
2. Individual or team national champion
3. Individual or team conference champion
4. World record holder
5. National record holder
6. Conference record holder
7. NC State record holder
8. National team selection
9. First Team All-America selection
10. First Team All-Conference selection
11. National or state hall of fame member
12. National player or coach of the year honor
13. Conference player of the year honor
14. Letter winner in multiple sports
15. Academic All-America and Academic All-ACC honors
16. Distinguished post-University career in athletics, business or public service.
So we can elect up to 10 people in each of the first three classes. Who should go in the inaugural class? Some candidates:
1. David Thompson
2. Everett Case
3. Kay Yow
4. Ted Brown
5. Torry Holt (possible NFL hall of famer)
6. Philip Rivers
7. Roman Gabriel
8. Rollie Geiger:
NC State has won 70 ACC team titles since Geiger arrived in 1979. His teams have accounted for 56 percent of those championships. He has won 32 ACC Coach of the Year awards in track and cross country.
He's not eligible yet, but damn.
9. Don Easterling (men's swimming head coach, 1970-95; 12 straight ACC titles 1971-82)
10. Bob Guzzo (12 ACC reg season wrestling titles, 13 ACCT titles, 12 top 25 finishes at NCAAs; State never finished higher than 2nd in ACC prior to his arrival)
11. Cullen Jones (NCAA champion in 50 freestyle, Olympic gold medalist 2008)
12. Tab Thacker (1984 NCAA heavyweight champion in wrestling, 4-time ACC champ)
13. Bill Cowher
14. Rodney Monroe (became school's all-time leading scorer)
15. Chris Corchiani (set NCAA and ACC assist record)
16. David Fox (NCAA champion in 50 freestyle, Olympic gold medalist 1996)
17. Steve Rerych (Olympic gold medalist in 400 and 800 freestyle relays, 1968)
18. Dick Fadgen (NCAA champion in 200 breaststroke and 200 butterfly, 1956)
19. Sylvester Terkay (1993 NCAA heavyweight champion, winningest wrestler in NCSU history)
20. Tab Ramos (All-ACC selection three times, member of three US World Cup teams, National Soccer Hall of Fame member)
21. Sam Okpodu (all-time leading goal scorer)
22. Andrea Stinson (2000 point club)
23. Chasity Melvin (2000 point club, led State's only Final Four team)
24. Genia Beasley (women's hoops all-time leading scorer)
25. Linda Page (2000 point club)
26. Dan Plesac (played 18 MLB seasons)
27. Turtle Zaun (school single-season RBI record, tied for school single-season HR record)
28. Mike Caldwell (ACC all-time leader in shutouts and complete games)
29. Sam Esposito (led State to only College World Series appearance)
30. Dick Christy
31. Jim Ritcher
32. Ronnie Shavlik
33. Julius Hodge
34. Tommy Burleson
35. Sammy Ranzino
36. Tim Clark
37. Carl Pettersson
38. Charmaine Hooper (women's soccer's all-time leading goal scorer)
39. Jimmy V
40. Norm Sloan
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In an effort to give some balance between revenue and non-revenue sports, I think I'd go David Thompson, Everette Case, Kay Yow, Roman Gabriel, Steve Rerych, Tab Ramos, Don Easterling, Ted Brown, Rodney Monroe, Chasity Melvin.
Who ya got?