Basketball, track and field, golf, football and baseball players are all represented in the first class to be selected for Vanderbilt’s new athletic hall of fame. A pair of administrators, a coach and a sportswriter will also go into the to-be-constructed hall of fame.

Vice Chancellor David Williams announced the class on June 26 during a news conference at McGugin Center. One of the hall of famers is Dan McGugin, legendary football coach and namesake of the building where the news conference was held.

The inductees will be honored Sept. 13 during a luncheon that will be part of the the first Hall of Fame weekend at Vanderbilt. Williams said a hall of fame facility is planned to open during the fall of 2009. He said it was “kind of strange” that Vanderbilt doesn’t already of an athletics hall of fame.

“We’ve had great athletic achievements, but no hall of fame,” he said.

The hall of fame will be constructed using funds raised as part of a $16 million capital improvement campaign, one of the largest in Vanderbilt athletics history.

Two hall of famers were present for the news conference, 1960s basketball star Clyde Lee and administrator June Stewart. Family members represented former athletic director (and then SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer) and journalist Fred Russell.

The inductees are:

Chantelle Anderson
Basketball
1999-2003

Chantelle Anderson is the most decorated women’s basketball player in Vanderbilt history. The 6-6 Vancouver, Wash., native is the Commodores’ only two-time Kodak All-American, the all-time leading scorer and was voted the school’s Female Athlete of the Year three times.

•    2,604 career points is first in school history
•    Kodak All-America 2002 and 2003
•    U.S. Basketball Writers Association All-America team 2002 and 2003
•    Associated Press All-America 2001 and 2002
•    Southeastern Conference Player of the Year 2002
•    First-team All-SEC 2001, 2002, 2003
•    Naismith Player of the Year finalist 2001, 2002, 2003
•    NCAA Tournament all-region team 2001, MVP 2002)
•    Senior CLASS Award finalist 2003
•    ESPN Awards Center of the Year 2002
•    Established school records for career field goals and field goal percentage
•    Was the No. 2 player selected in the WNBA draft in 2003


Peggy Harmon Brady
Golf
1968-1972

She came to Vanderbilt after graduating from Central High School in Shelbyville, Tenn., in an era when there was no varsity athletics for women. Out of the blue her sophomore year, Director of Athletics Jess Neely called to invite her to represent Vanderbilt in the Intercollegiate. Perhaps Neely noticed she had won the United States Golf Association Junior Championship.  While her pioneer story is inspiring, little did she realize that she was blazing a trail that her daughter, Chris, would follow decades later. They are the only mother-daughter All-Americans in school history.

•    1968 Enrolls at Vanderbilt after winning the USGA Junior championship
•    1969 Medalist at the Broadmoor Women’s Championship
•    1970 Receives surprise invitation from Athletic Director Jess Neely to represent Vanderbilt at the National Intercollegiate in Athens, Ga., where she placed third.  (She was a one-person team)
•    Named All-American by Women’s Golf magazine
•    1971 Medalist at the Intercollegiate, played at Singing Hills in San Diego
•    1972 Chose not to play in her third Intercollegiate “because I had a job waiting. If I had it to do over, I’d play in the tournament and let the job wait!”
•    Won the Tennessee State Women’s Tournament several times and has won numerous club championships despite becoming a weekend player due to job and family commitments.
•    Mother of Chris Brady, four-year star and All-America golfer at Vanderbilt under Coach Martha Freitag. Chris is currently playing professional golf.

John Hall
Football
1951-54

John Hall describes himself as an overachiever on and off the football field. The Knoxville, Tennessee native was an under-sized offensive lineman who became Vanderbilt’s first academic All-America in 1954, then enjoyed an enormously successful career that culminated as chairman and chief executive officer of Ashland, Inc., and president of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust.

•    1954 football team co-captain and first academic All-America in school history
•    1955 graduates Magna Cum Laude with degree in chemical engineering
•    Joined Ashland Oil in 1957
•    Elected to a vice president in 1966
•    Became president of Ashland Chemical Company in 1971
•    Elected executive vice president of corporation in 1974
•    Elected vice chairman of the board and chief operations officer in 1979
•    Elected chairman of the board and chief executive officer in 1981
•    Member of Vanderbilt’s Board of Trust
•    President of Vanderbilt Board of Trust 1995
•    Only Vanderbilt student-athlete elected to CoSIDA’s Academic Hall of Fame

Roy Kramer
Director of Athletics
1978-1990

A national champion football coach at Central Michigan University, Roy Kramer arrived in Nashville in 1978.  In a dozen years he energized Vanderbilt’s athletic department with new facilities and popular coaches. At the time of his retirement from the position as Southeastern Conference Commissioner, many regarded him as the most powerful man in college athletics.

•    Rebuilt Vanderbilt Stadium 1981
•    Oversaw $6 million renovation of McGugin Center
•    Chairman of SEC Athletic Directors
•    Regarded as a leader in establishing SEC policies
•    1984 SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament in Memorial Gym was the first sellout in league history
•    Vanderbilt hosted two NCAA First and Second Round NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournaments
•    Merged women’s and men’s athletic departments
•    SEC Commissioner highlights include expansion of the league from 10 to 12 members, creation of the SEC Football Championship, creator of the Bowl Championship Series, unprecedented league success, $1 billion network television contract
•    National Coach of the Year in NCAA Division II after Central Michigan won national championship
•    As a high school coach in Michigan, his teams won three state championships
•    Honored at the 2003 Distinguished American Sportsman (one of five so honored; the others were President George H. Bush, Bob Hope, Hugh Culverhouse, Charles O. Finley and Larry D. Striplin, Jr.)
•    Native of Maryville, Tennessee

Clyde Lee
Basketball
1963-1966

A tall and unpolished freshman from nearby Lipscomb High School enrolled at Vanderbilt in 1963 to play basketball for Coach Roy Skinner and Vanderbilt basketball was never the same again. Attendance boomed as fans flocked to watch “Colossal Clyde” Lee lead his team to 65 victories over three unforgettable seasons and establish himself as the standard by which all future Commodore stars would be measured. Old-timers call Memorial Gym’s second and third tiers “the balconies that Clyde built.”

•    Graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,691 points (three years), a total good enough to still rank No. 6 at Vanderbilt.
•    Consensus first-team All-America center in 1966
•    Two-time SEC “Player of the Year,” 1965, 1966
•    NCAA All-Tournament team 1965
•    Led Commodores to SEC title in 1964-65
•    Title team ranked No. 5 at end of year and a school all-time best No. 2 on Dec. 28, 1965
•    Was the No. 3 choice in the 1966 NBA draft, going to San Francisco
•    Had 11-year professional career
•    Set school rebounding records that may never be broken, averaging 15.5 boards in his career, hauling in 420 rebounds in a season, 1,223 caroms in his three years and 28 against Ole Miss in 1966.
•    Holds school record with eight 30-point games, his best a 41-point barrage against Kentucky in 1965.
•    First Vanderbilt student-athlete to have his jersey retired and one of only three.


Dan McGugin
Head Football Coach
1904-1934

The winningest football coach in Vanderbilt history and one of college football’s greatest innovators, Dan McGugin remains a legend more than seven decades after his death.

•    Elected to National Football Foundation Hall of Fame 1951
•    Overall record of 197-55-19
•    Ranks fourth in winning percentage among all-time NCAA football coaches with careers of 30 years (.762 behind Gil Dobie, Joe Paterno and Woody Hayes, two points ahead of Bear Bryant)
•    Ranks #20 in all-time NCAA victories at 197 and 22nd in winning percentage
•    Had four undefeated teams (1904, 1910, 1921 and 1922)
•    Eleven other teams lost just one game
•    Began his career sharing time between his law practice and coaching; later became director of athletics
•    One of the first collegiate coaches to promote intersectional rivalries, the first coach to pull guards in the interference, the first to successfully work the onside kick and one of the first to emphasize the forward pass
•    A native of Iowa and a graduate of the University of Michigan, he and Wolverine coaching legend Fielding Yost married twin sisters from Nashville
•    In 1922, after 18 years as head coach, Vanderbilt built and dedicated Dudley Field, a gleaming facility of 22,000 that was the largest stadium in the South.
•    When he retired in 1934, he was the dean of college football coaches in terms of length of tenure at one institution.

John Rich
Football-Baseball
1945-1951

John Rich remembers being on the verge of expulsion from Vanderbilt University in the late 1940s and being given an unexpected second chance by the dean of students. He never forgot that golden opportunity and through the years as his coal business grew, he says he has tried to repay his beloved university with his time, by sharing his resources and lending his expertise.

•    Arrived on campus in 1945 as a scholarship football player from Mississippi
•    Earned three varsity letters in baseball, leading the 1949 team in hitting as a third baseman
•    Founder of Delta Coals, Incorporated
•    Joined Board of Trust in 1988; trustee emeritus in 2003
•    Was a member of steering committee for Athletics Campaign
•    Provided leadership for major athletics projects including expansion of McGugin Center, 1982 construction of Vanderbilt Stadium and most recently the 2002 John Rich Football Training Complex.
•    Member of the Dean’s Council, Blair Patrons, Owen Associates and Friends of Children’s Hospital
•    Member of the National Commodore Club since its inception
•    Received Nashville Banner’s Commodore Award in 1984
•    Son Tate is a Vanderbilt football letterman


Fred Russell
Baseball 1925-1926
Nashville Banner 1929-1998

Fred Russell was one of the greatest sports journalists of the 20th century. Many admiring readers knew that. Fewer realized that he had played baseball for the Commodores. Russell covered and rubbed elbows with the legendary athletes of his day. His 25th anniversary at the Banner was celebrated with appearances by Jack Dempsey, Bobby Jones and Red Grange. The press boxes of Vanderbilt Stadium (1982) and Hawkins Field (2002) are named in his honor. Since his death January 26, 2003, his regular press box seat 9 at Dudley Field has never been quite the same.

•    Joined the Nashville Banner in 1929, working until the paper ceased operation in 1998 writing an estimated 12,000 columns
•    Vanderbilt’s Russell-Rice Scholarship is presented annually to a high school senior with outstanding promise in the field of journalism. It is co-named with another Vanderbilt sports writing legend, Grantland Rice.
•    Recipient of the first Grantland Rice Memorial Award in 1955
•    Jake Wade Award, 1966
•    U. S. Olympic Award for distinguished journalism, 1976
•    Distinguished American Award from National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame, 1980
•    Amos Alonzo Stagg Award from American Football Coaches Association, 1981
•    Haight Award, 1983
•    Red Smith Award from Associated Press Sports Editors, 1984
•    Member of Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame
•    Bert McGrane Award from Football Writers Association
•    Chair of the Honors Court of the National Football Hall of Fame
•    President of Football Writers Association of America, 1965-66
•    Southern Chairman of the Heisman Trophy Committee
•    National president of the Vanderbilt University Alumni Association


June Stewart
Administration
1973-1991

June Stewart joined the Vanderbilt athletic department in 1973 as a secretary in the sports information and National Commodore Club offices. By the time she retired 28 years later she was one of the most influential women in the Southeastern Conference.

•    1973 Joins Vanderbilt athletic department as secretary
•    1975 Named assistant sports information director
•    1977 Named women’s sports information director
•    1986 Promoted to senior women’s administrator
•    1990-91 Elected first female president of College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA)
•    1990-96 NCAA Women’s Basketball Committee
•    1991 Promoted to assistant athletic director for Sports Programs
•    1993 Promoted to associate director of athletics
•    1997 Inducted into CoSIDA Hall of Fame
•    1995-1998 Southeastern Conference Executive Committee
•    2001 Retired from Vanderbilt University
•    2004 Inducted into Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame
•    2007 Inducted into Tennessee Sports Writers Hall of Fame


Ryan Tolbert
Track and Field
1994-1998

A life-size photo of Ryan Tolbert dominates an entire wall of McGugin Center in recognition of her outstanding achievement as a track and field student-athlete. She is the only Commodore to ever win an individual NCAA championship.

•    Won the 1997 NCAA Outdoor 400-meters in a time of 54.54, a record at the time
•    Vanderbilt’s highest internal team honor, the Tolbert Cup, is named in her honor and goes annually to the varsity squad that has the best combination of athletic success, academic achievement and community service
•    Holds seven school outdoor records and three indoor marks
•    Second in NCAA Outdoor 400-meter hurdles 1996
•    Third NCAA Outdoor 400-meter dash 1997
•    Second NCAA Indoor 400-meter dash 1998
•    Second NCAA Indoor 400-meter dash 1997
•    Second NCAA Indoor 400-meter dash 1996
•    Fifth NCAA Indoor 1,600-meter relay 1998
•    U.S. National Team member, 1997 World Championships
•    U.S. team member, 1996 World University Games
•    U.S. Pan-American Junior team member, 1995


Bill Wade
Football
1949-1951

Bill Wade was Nashville’s All-American boy. He was president of his Vanderbilt freshman class, a whiz on the gridiron where he became the No. 1 pick in the National Football League Draft, on the cover of Look Magazine while a Commodore and later was the quarterback of the World Champion Chicago Bears. He was honored many times by many organizations, including the NCAA with its prestigious Silver Anniversary Award in 1976.


•    SEC Player of the Year in 1951
•    Second-team All-America in 1951
•    Threw for 1,609 yards and 13 touchdowns in 1951
•    First-team all-SEC (AP) 1951
•    The No. 1 pick in 1952 NFL draft by the Los Angeles Rams
•    Cover boy on the 1951 Look Magazine All-America team
•    Amazingly still ranks No. 8 among school’s career passing leaders despite throwing well less than half the attempts as the modern day quarterbacks
•    His 85-yard touchdown pass to Bucky Curtis in the 1950 Alabama game ranks as the school’s fourth longest
•    Threw five scoring passes against Auburn in 1950, still a school record he now shares with Jay Cutler
•    His 14-year professional career included leading the Chicago Bears to the 1963 World Championship.

Perry Wallace
Men’s Basketball
1966-1970

Perry Wallace would have become a premier Hall of Fame candidate even if he didn’t make Southeastern Conference history by becoming the SEC’s first African-American basketball player. Wallace was a star student-athlete who went on to an outstanding career in law and education.

•    First African-American basketball scholarship athlete in Southeastern Conference history
•    Jersey retired by Vanderbilt University in 2004, one of only three in school history
•    Attended Nashville’s Pearl High School where he stared on undefeated state championship basketball team, the first year Tennessee integrated its high school tournament. 
•    Sought by approximately 80 universities, mostly located in the north
•    Arrived on Vanderbilt’s campus in the fall of 1966
•    Still is the school’s second leading rebounder and ranks 35th in scoring, playing just three years from 1968-70. 
•    Named all-Southeastern Conference his senior year
•    Won the SEC Sportsmanship Trophy after a vote by the league players in 1970 and has been honored many times since leaving Vanderbilt. 
•    In 1996 the National Association of Basketball Coaches named him to its five-man Silver Anniversary All-America team.
•    2003 inductee into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. 
•    2004 “SEC Living Legend” honoree.
•    Graduated from Vanderbilt with a bachelor of engineering degree in electrical engineering and engineering mathematics
•    Earned his J.D. degree in 1975 from the School of Law at Columbia University.
•    Professor of law at The American University in Washington, D.C. since 1991. 
•    On the faculty of the University of Baltimore and was an attorney with the United States Department of Justice. 
•    Also served as a legislative analyst for Mayor Walter Washington of the District of Columbia and was a field representative for the National Urban League.


Contact: Rod Williamson, (615)322-4121
Rod.williamson@vanderbilt.edu