BOULDER - The eighth class that will be inducted into the University of Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame this November 11 will include 10 Golden Buffalo luminaries who represent seven different sports, including CU’s all-time winningest coach, two of her top recruits, the school’s first successful professional golfer, its most decorated volleyball player, two of its most fiery and tough running backs along with perhaps CU’s most exciting athlete, as well as posthumously honoring America’s first international world class skiing star.
The 2010 class will be the largest inducted into the Hall since it was conceived in 1998, as the 10 former Buffaloes will join 37 individuals and the entire 1959 ski team which have been enshrined to date. Every decade between the 1950s and 2000s are represented. Click on each picture below for a capsule look at those being inducted as the eighth class of CU’s Athletic Hall of Fame: [go to official press release to see pictures|| Click here for Kelly's write up].
The class will feature a celebration of women’s basketball, as Ceal Barry, who guided the Buffaloes to 427 wins in 22 seasons between 1983 and 2005, is being inducted in her first year of eligibility (five years must pass for an athlete or coach to be considered). Retiring as CU’s all-time winningest coach in any sport, she is currently CU’s associate athletic director for student services and the school’s senior woman’s administrator. Thus it is only fitting that she will be joined in CU’s Hall of Fame by her first and last top recruits, Bridget Turner and Tera Bjorklund. Turner was a member of CU’s first NCAA tournament team in 1988, Bjorklund the star on CU’s last to make an appearance in 2004; between the two, they led the Buffs to six appearances in the NCAA’s “big dance.” The CU record book is still awash of the accomplishments of this pair; both finished their careers as CU’s second all-time leading scorer at the time of their graduations.
Ken Charlton, who led the late Sox Walseth’s Buffaloes to back-to-back Big 8 Conference titles and two straight NCAA tournament appearances, is set to be enshrined. Often going out and scoring 20-plus points a day or two after having his knees drained of excess fluid, he was CU’s all-time leading scorer at the time of his graduation with 1,352 points in just three seasons. Walseth often referred to him as, “the finest offensive player I ever coached.”
Three football All-Americans are in the class, two of the toughest and fiercest competitors in Bob Stransky (’57) and Eric Bieniemy (’90), with the third perhaps the most exciting athlete to ever wear a CU football and track uniform, Cliff Branch (’72). All three were members of CU’s All-Century Team, selected in 1989 to commemorate the school’s first 100 years of football.
Both Stransky (1,097 yards) and Bieniemy (1,628) finished second in the nation in rushing their senior seasons; Bieniemy finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting. In the platoon era, Stransky not only was a prolific halfback, he was a passer, a receiver, a return man and defensive back; his two interceptions in the ’57 Orange Bowl were two of the most important plays in CU’s 27-21 win over Clemson, the Buffs’ first-ever bowl win. Bieniemy ended his career as CU’s all-time leading rusher (3,940 yards) on the strength of 22 career 100-yard rushing games-both still CU records. His leadership played as big a role as his on-field performances in CU’s success and run to the 1990 national championship and back-to-back Big 8 titles that year and in 1989.
Branch was one of those rare players that created a buzz in the stands, whether it was Folsom Field, an opponent stadium or any track complex. With 10.0 speed in the 100-yard dash, he remains one of the fastest athletes in the history of CU athletics. He touched the ball just 141 times in his two-year football career, but amassed 2,507 yards on those touches, or just under 18 yards every time he got his hands on the football. And his blazing speed led him to set several CU sprint records on the track that still stand today.
The most decorated player in CU women’s volleyball history, Kelly Campbell, goes into the Hall still the owner of countless marks in the CU record book, including 23 of 27 career, season and match assist records. She was a four-time All-Big 12 performer, twice earning All-America mention in addition to being an Academic All-American as a senior in 1999. CU’s and the nation’s all-time career assists per game leader with 14.45, a number that still remains today as the second highest figure in the NCAA.
CU’s first alum to strike it big as a professional golfer, Dale Douglass, will be just the second golfer to enter CU’s Hall (joining Hale Irwin). Douglass has played in 1,043 professional tour events (599 on the Champions Tour which he still participates occasionally at the age of 74). He excelled in the days when college golf featured dual matches rather than tournament play, leading CU to a 30-9 record in dual meets during his career (he owned a personal record of 33-6); he placed fifth, seventh and eighth in three Big 7 Conference championship meets.
Buddy Werner is the final member of the group; he will be inducted posthumously as he died in 1964 in an avalanche in Switzerland while preparing to film a ski movie. Considered by most if not all ski historians as America’s first international skiing star, he won four NCAA individual titles skiing for the Buffaloes in the early 1960s. He was also an Olympian and compiled a long list of accomplishments in the World Championships.
The group will be inducted in the Hall of Fame Thursday night, November 11, be part of the parade at the Pearl Street Stampede the next night and will be introduced at halftime of the next day’s CU-Iowa State football game.
Check out the press release announcing the 2010 Hall of Fame Class
With Piper’s first birthday coming up and the in-laws visiting, we utilized the holiday weekend to work around the house. And we accomplished quite a bit if I don’t say so myself …
