Minium: ODU Inducts Five Worthy Former Monarchs into Sports Hall of Fame
Dr. Wood Selig, Old Dominion University's director of athletics, calls it "the most exclusive club on our campus." And the numbers back him up.
Less than one percent of all student-athletes and coaches make the Old Dominion Sports Hall of Fame. Only five members are inducted every year, and each year, ODU has more than 400 athletes.
You can garner great seats by making a large donation to the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation. But the only way to make the hall of fame is on the playing field, court or pool.
In every regard, this year's class earned it, including, Craig Wilkins, who was among the pioneers who helped the Monarchs establish their football program. He was among five members inducted into the Hall of Fame Saturday morning prior to ODU's homecoming game against Georgia Southern.
A brief look at all five ODU Hall of Fame Inductees.
CRAIG WILKINS
Wilkins was a four-year captain on teams that had a combined 38-10 record and took ODU into the FCS Top 10 in just three years.
When he ended his career in 2012, he did so as ODU's all-time leader in tackles, sacks, and fumbles recovered and was tied for the interceptions lead.
He said the lessons of discipline and hard work he learned from then-head coach Bobby Wilder continue to influence him today.
But he almost didn't end up at ODU.
A Washington, D.C., native, he was committed to Temple when the Owls pulled his scholarship offer late in the recruiting season. A former Maine fullback named Michael Zyskowski was hired by Wilder as an assistant coach just a day earlier and stopped to see Wilkins on his way to Norfolk.
"At the time, I referred to ODU as the school with the power point," Wilkins said.
The L.R. Hill Sports Complex was under construction and old Foreman Field was getting a makeover, and there were no facilities to show recruits. All ODU coaches had was a power point of how the facilities were supposed to look when finished.
Zyskowski, known as Coach Z, now scouts for the San Francisco 49ers, and scouted ODU's 49-21 victory last week at Coastal Carolina.
Wilkins still had an offer from Illinois that Coach Z convinced him to turn down.
"If Coach Z hadn't recruited me, I might not have come to ODU and might not be here to enjoy this moment," he said.
"All I remember when I saw Coach Z is a guy with muscles and big ears. But he and the other coaches all treated us like family. Coach Z and I are lifelong friends"
ODU's first game, a 36-21 victory over Chowan, is a game he says he'll always remember.
"To have that stadium packed, it was amazing," he said. "It's hard to explain, but to those of you who were there, you know how special it was."
He mentioned several of his favorite games during his acceptance speech, and two were victories over James Madison, a 23-20 win in Norfolk in 2011, when Wilkins blocked a last-second JMU field goal attempt, and a 38-28 victory in 2012 in Harrisonburg.
ODU finished first in the CAA in 2012, but because the Monarchs were moving up to FBS and Conference USA, the league childishly ruled all ODU teams ineligible for league championships.
The CAA did the same last year to JMU when the Dukes announced they were joining ODU to move up to the Sun Belt Conference.
"There's an asterisk next to our name for that season," he said. "For our only football conference champion for have an asterisk put on it because we transitioned to something better, it's BS."
He said he'll always be proud to have played on ODU's first team and its first conference champion.
"I have nothing but great memories of all of our coaches, our fans, my teammates, just everything that happened here," he said. "I'm so glad Coach Z recruited me and that I ended up here, where I belonged."
TERRY BELL
Baseball scouting was a lot different in 1980 than it is today. There was no Internet, and thus no online recruiting services. Most scouting was done face to face and by locals and often, great players went overlooked.
Fortunately for brothers Terry and Tom Bell, a scout who knew Old Dominion baseball coach Mark Newman had scouted them in their hometown of Kettering, Ohio. Newman called them and asked them to come on a recruiting visit.
"We got on a plane and flew here," Terry said. "We went to see the baseball facility and it was the old Larchmont field, and it was terrible.
"But then they took us to the beach. We looked at each other and said, 'yes, this is where we should play.'"
Both would go on to become standouts. Tom would be injured much of his senior year but Terry remained in good health and became an All-American.
In 1983, he batted .400 and had seven home runs and 63 RBI in 52 games. He was the 17th pick in the Major League Baseball draft and played for the Kansas City Royals and Atlanta Braves.
The Bell baseball tradition carried on at ODU long after they left. Willie Biondie, their grandmother's brother, moved to Virginia Beach to watch the Bell brothers play and continued to attend games right through last season.
Tom's son, Tommy Bell, was a standout shortstop on ODU's 2021 NCAA Tournament team who graduated last year and is a graduate assistant for coach Chris Finwood.
Terry said Newman, who since passed away, was a tough coach. Terry was named a preseason All-American as a senior and one afternoon, when he wasn't hitting very well in the batting cage, Newman walked up to him, nose to nose, and said: "All-American my (bleep)."
Bell choked up as he finished his short acceptance speech.
"The Bell boys brought it all on the field," he said. "They left it all on the field.
"The Bell brothers left their mark."
DAVID HORST
David Horst's introduction to Old Dominion University came when he an 11-year-old in tiny Pine Grove, Pennsylvania when he turned on the TV and watched the women's basketball team play in the NCAA Tournament.
His thought at the time was, "Who the heck would name a school after a trucking company?"
Nearly a decade later he came to ODU on a recruiting visit where he met men's soccer coach Alan Dawson. Horst said Dawson changed his life.
Horst went on to star for ODU, and graduate with a degree in civil engineering. He led the Monarchs to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
He was the 14th player taken in the 2008 MLS draft and went on to play 10 seasons professionally before a ruptured Achilles tendon forced him to retire.
He said rough-and-tumble back-yard sessions with his older brother, Steve, helped prepare him for his college career.
"There was a lot of crying and a lot of blood and when I complained to mom, she usually made me go outside and play again," he said. "You definitely toughed me up and prepared me for what was to come."
So, he said, were his years with Dawson.
"The soccer program coach Dawson was building, it just had this feel of a real family, it had a close-knit atmosphere," he said, and then turned to speak to Dawson, who was in the audience.
"Thank you for taking a chance on a kid from a one-horse town in Pennsylvania," he said. "You molded me into an athlete and a proper soccer player. Growing up, I dreamed of playing professional soccer. You gave me that additional support I needed to make it there."
He also thanked his entire family, including his wife and children in Medford, Oregon, where he runs the largest youth soccer clubs in southern Oregon.
"I don't know where I would be in life, where it I would be in my athletic career, were it not for the support of my family," he said.
"You're only as good as the team around you. And I've had a great team around me my whole life."
T.J. JORDAN
When ODU Athletic Director Dr. Wood Selig called T.J. Jordan to let her know she'd made the hall of fame, Jordan was in disbelief.
"I told him, don't play with me," she said. "I was a loss for words. I'm so thankful."
Her basketball playing days began when she was six or seven and her mom would tell her five older siblings to take care of her.
"We would be at the park and I would be on the Jungle Jim having the time of my life and they would be like, 'Come play with us. There's only nine. We've got to have 10,'" she said.
When she protested, they told her, "Just stand in that corner and when we pass it to you, just shoot it."
"I missed so many shots. I could not get it together. But they told me to just keep on shooting and I kept on shooting and here I am."
She was one of the best shooters in ODU women's basketball history. She holds the CAA and ODU 3-point record with 323 made shots. She was a three-time All-CAA choice and twice was named the CAA Tournament MVP.
She helped lead coach Wendy Larry's team to the Sweet 16 in 2008, beating Liberty and No. 4 seed Virginia before falling to No. 1 seed Connecticut in the regional semifinals.
She played professionally in Slovenia before becoming a mental health counselor. She now works for the Stockton, California, United School District as a special education resource specialist. She is married with three children.
A graduate of Portsmouth's Wilson High School, she acknowledged that as a freshman, "Coach Larry, I thought you hated me.
"But what I came to realize and understand was it was her pulling something out of me. Each time she would see if I stepped up to the challenge. Well, by the looks of it, it looks like I did. I thank you for allowing me to be me."
She thanked her mother and her siblings for their support.
"Nobody knows our story," she said to them. "But the fact that we're all here standing shows that God is great."
DEBBIE WHITE
Most people know that Nancy Lieberman and coach Marianne Stanley, who won three national titles at ODU, were pioneers in women's sports. Too few people know that so was Debbie White, who wasn't an athlete at ODU, but worked behind the scenes to help garner national attention for those teams.
She was the first female sports writer in the state of Virginia when she worked at the Daily Press from 1974 through 1977. She came to ODU in 1979, a time when women's sports received scant media notice, and was a part of the University's "external relations" department for 37 years.
She began at ODU as an assistant sports information director and left as a senior associate athletic director. A Williamsburg resident, she worked for the Atlantic 10 for a few years before retiring.
Along the way she served in NCAA, Naismith Hall of Fame and the U.S. Olympic committees and was a press moderator for the NCAA Women's Final Four for 21 years.
When she came to ODU, the West Virginia University graduate had no intention of staying.
"Truth be known, I really wanted to work at a football school," she said. "It finally happened. I just had to wait 29 years."
At one time, she oversaw marketing, ticketing, fundraising, special events, community relations, band, cheerleaders and the dance team.
"I worked for only two athletic directors at Old Dominion, Dr. Jim Jarrett and Dr. Wood Selig, both of whom supported me and encouraged," she said.
She thanked her family profusely, especially her husband, Steve, and father, Dick Harmison.
Her family members "are the real hall of famers," she said. "It's hot easy to understand the demands that college athletics puts on one's family, the many hours away from home. I tried not to miss too many school programs or too many games, but I know there were many nights away.
"My dad's career as a high school and college football coach demonstrated to me it's really important to do what you love every day of your life. At 96, he continues to be the greatest role model I've ever had.
"While I'm not a graduate of Old Dominion, I do love ODU. I love what we accomplished in my tenure here.
"I love that when many counted us out as underdogs, we turned the world upside down with stunning victories. I love that I was here for 31 of 32 of our national championships. I love that we led the way on gender equity, that we built outstanding athletic facilities and took a leap of faith by resurrecting football.
"I also love that ODU brought back Columbia Blue and that it renamed in for my dear friend Carol Hudson. But mostly I love that ODU welcomed me 43 years to go play a small role in an incredible athletic story."
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