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MOSCOW, Idaho – Idaho Vandal Athletics will induct six individuals and one team into the Idaho Vandal Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the 2024 Induction Class.
Highlighting the class is Tara VanDerveer, the all-time winningest basketball coach in NCAA history, who began her head coaching career at Idaho in 1978. Also included in the class are Three-time Big Sky Tennis MVP Marianna Petrei, two-time First-Team All-Big Sky Soccer Player Kavita Battan (Cowan), WAC Golf Champion and individual NCAA Championship Qualifier Leilanie Kim (Rorrer), Sprint record holder Patrick Williams, and former all-time leading basketball scorer and Vandal baseball player Chuck White.
Joining the individual honorees is the 1988 NCAA 1AA semifinal Idaho Football team.
The honorees will be officially inducted at the Teamworks Ticket Inc. 2024 Vandal Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Friday, Sept. 13. VanDerveer will not be able be able to attend because of prior engagements, but plans are in the works to bring her to Moscow to honor her later in the year arranged around a women’s basketball game.
Tickets for the induction ceremony are on sale now. Tickets cost $100 and include a no-host cocktail social at 6 p.m. with a dinner and program to follow at 7:15 p.m.
The honorees will be recognized on the field during the Vandal Football game on Sept. 14 against UAlbany.
Click here to reserve your spot for the Hall of Fame dinner.
Kavita Battan (Cowan) – Soccer 2013-16
Battan was a star player on Idaho’s first two Big Sky Championship teams. She was a two-time First-Team All-Big Sky honoree and earned All-Tournament team and Second-Team All-Region honors in 2015.
Her name still peppers the Idaho record book, where she sits in the top five in career goals, single-season goals, career points, single-season points, career and single-season game-winning goals.
She represented the USA in the World University Games in 2017 where she scored a goal against Mexico in the consolation semifinal.
Battan was the first Vandal soccer player to play professional soccer. She played for Swedish Division I Club Skövde KIK in the spring of 2018.
She now resides in the Vancouver, Washington, area where she works in real estate and married former Idaho football player and Vandal football radio analyst Trent Cowan.
Leilanie Kim (Rorrer) – Women’s Golf 2011-15
Kim was without a doubt one of the best women’s golfers in Idaho history, winning a WAC Individual Championship and was just the second Vandal ever to advance to the NCAA Championship.
Kim was the 2014 WAC Player of the Year and WAC Individual Champion. In 2015, she finished T4th at the Big Sky Championship to earn a trip to the NCAA Regional in South Bend Indiana. In tough conditions at the NCAA regional, she closed with a third-round 70 to finish in eighth place to earn a spot at the NCAA Championship. She remains the only player in Big Sky Conference history to advance out of the NCAA Regional to the final site.
She closed her career with 10 top 10 finishes and 24 top 25 finishes, including six top 10 finishes her senior year alone.
She now resides in Tennessee with her husband and two children.
Marianna Petrei – Women’s Tennis 2015-19
Among the most dominant women’s tennis players in Big Sky Conference history, Petrei never lost a regular-season Big Sky Conference match. Going 42-0 in four seasons with every match played at the No. 1 spot for the Vandals.
In 2018, she became the only Vandal to ever play in the NCAA Singles Championship where she won her first-round match to advance to the round of 32.
With Petrei at the No. 1 singles spot, Idaho won three consecutive Big Sky Tournament titles. Her overall dual record was an astounding 70-11 in four years. She set the Big Sky record by earning 10 Big Sky Player of the Week honors.
Petrei now resides in Boise.
Tara Vanderveer – Women’s Basketball Coach 1978-80
Although she was a Vandal for only two seasons, Vanderveer’s impact on Idaho women’s basketball and the entire world of hoops is immeasurable. She was hired by Kathy Clark as the first full-time coach in Idaho women’s basketball history. The first four seasons in Vandal women’s hoops saw just one winning season with a combined record of 26-48. She immediately turned the program around.
Her first win came in the Cowan Spectrum in a 70-68 overtime win against Northern Montana College (now Montana State University – Northern) and she led Idaho to a 17-8 record in year one and a 25-6 record in year two, including a 10-2 record in the NW Empire League. The Vandals earned a trip to the AIAW Division II Nationals (the precursor to the NCAA).
After just two seasons, she was hired as the head coach at Ohio State in 1980 where she coached for five seasons before taking over the head coaching position at Stanford in 1985. The rest is history. 1,203 career NCAA wins, three national championships, 13 final four appearances, five National Coach of the Year honors and an Olympic gold medal (1996).
While VanDerveer moved on to greatness in her career, the foundation she laid was key to Idaho women’s basketball. The Vandals went on to play in three straight AIAW DII Nationals, advanced to the 1985 NCAA Tournament and win the 1986 WNIT Championship under Pat Dobratz.
Chuck White – Men’s Basketball 1960-63
When White finished his Idaho basketball career, he was the leading scorer in Vandal history with 1,319 career points, despite the lack of a three-point line. His record would stand for another 13 years before Steve Weist surpassed him in 1976. He also held the single-season scoring record and the single-game mark as well.
His senior year, with teammate Gus Johnson, White and the Vandals went 20-6 on the year in the final season before the start of the Big Sky Conference.
White’s athleticism was on show on the baseball field as well where he batted .284 his senior season. He was eventually drafted by the NBA’s San Francisco Warriors and the MLB’s Baltimore Orioles.
Maybe his biggest impact came as a coach. White coached for 45 years in the Alaska high school ranks where he racked up 921 career wins and 18 state championships with a .802 winning percentage. He eventually coached future Vandal football standout Mao Tosi. He coached at Adams State College from 2010-15.
He passed away in 2019 at the age of 78.
Patrick Williams – Track and Field 1987-90
The fastest man in Vandal history. Williams, a native of Jamaica, holds the school record in the 55-meter (indoor) and the 100-meter dash (outdoor) and is second on the all-time list in the 200-meter in both the outdoor and indoor record books. He also holds the Big Sky Conference 100-meter record and is in the top 10 all-time list for the 55-meter dash and 200-meter dash indoor list.
In 1990, he made his biggest splash, making the final in the 100-meter and the 200-meter. He faced some of the best sprinters in the world and finished eighth in both races. Both finals included future Olympic silver medalist Frank Fredericks, and future Olympic bronze medalist and NFL wide receiver Michael Bates. The 200-meter final was won by four-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson.
He was an 11-time Big Sky Champion, including eight individual championships. He continued running in his home country of Jamaica until 1992.
He now resides in Oregon.
1988 Vandal Football
One of the best Vandal teams in history, one of only two teams to advance to the FCS/IAA semifinals, the 1988 Vandal team included future NFL players John Friesz, Mark Schlereth and Marvin Washington and were led by head coach Keith Gilbertson.
The Vandals lost an early-season game at Montana, but went on to rattle off nine consecutive wins, including a 38-19 first-round playoff win over Montana at the Kibbie Dome. The Vandals finished 7-1 to tie the Grizzlies for the Big Sky Championship. Idaho was the No. 1 seed in the IAA Championship.
The Vandals picked up a 38-30 win over Northwestern State in the quarterfinals before falling to eventual champion Furman on the road in the semifinals, without Friesz and seven other starters who were injured.
Idaho finished the season with an 11-2 record, tied for the highest win total in school history and the first Vandal team every to win more than nine.
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Source link : https://govandals.com/news/2024/8/15/administration-vandal-athletics-announces-2024-hall-of-fame-class.aspx
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Publish date : 2024-08-15 21:32:28
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