Five Join WVU Sports Hall of Fame
By Shelly
Poe
Five outstanding Mountaineer athletes are among the 12th class of honorees in the WVU Sports Hall of Fame.
"This is another tremendous group of inductees who represent the great Mountaineer athletic tradition," said Athletics Director Ed Pastilong. The 2002 class brings the number of total inductees to 77.
Barney Gedwillis was WVU's best
distance runner before World War II and one of the premier runners
in the nation during the 1930s. As a senior, he participated
in the 1936 U.S. Olympic Trials at 5,000 meters; running with
a blister, he finished fourth, one spot away from a berth in
the Berlin Olympics.
Gedwillis, a letter-winner from 1932 to 1936 and team captain as a senior, set WVU school records in the mile (4:24.6) and two-mile (9:37.2) that stood for 32 years.
James Jett came to WVU on a football scholarship and left
as a four-year starter at wide receiver, a seven-time track All-American,
and an Olympic gold medalist.
The West Virginia state track athlete of the year in 1990, 1991, and 1992, Jett earned NCAA indoor and outdoor All-America honors at 50, 100, and 200 meters and finished as NCAA runner-up at 100 and 200 meters in 1992.
During his four-year football career, Jett totaled 11 touchdown catches and 1,384 receiving yards, ranking him eighth among WVU career leaders at that time. His 78-yard touchdown catch from Darren Studstill in his last game, against Louisiana Tech in 1992, set a stadium record. Also a return man, Jett finished with 3,076 career all-purpose yards.
Willie Akers, a basketball letterman
from 1958 to 1960, was a key participant on the great WVU squads
that earned the nation's No. 1 ranking in 1958 and advanced to
the NCAA finals in 1959. Those Mountaineer teams went 81-12,
winning two Southern Conference championships and two conference
tournaments with three NCAA appearances. Akers was named to the
SC all-tournament team as a senior. He averaged 7.2 points and
6.3 rebounds over his career and served as team captain in 1960.
The late Eddie Beach, the first Mountaineer to be chosen
in the NBA draft, was a WVU basketball letterman from 1947 to
1950. Beach scored 972 career points and was a vital part of
the 1947 team that ranked No. 1 nationally with an 18-1 record
before entering that year's National Invitation Tournament. He
was named team captain in 1950.
Rosemary Kosiorek Myers led the
Mountaineers to a 26-4 record and a No. 11 national ranking her
senior year. At the end of that 1992 season, the Mountaineers
received a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament. WVU advanced to
the Sweet 16 before losing to Virginia. She amassed 2,061 points
and 725 assists during her career.
Kosiorek received the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame. She was a Kodak All-American and a finalist for the Margaret Wade Trophy (given to the college player of the year). A three-time all Atlantic 10 pick, she was the 1992 Atlantic 10 player of the year and WVU's MVP and team captain.
Hoops
It's time to gear up for WVU basketball.
New head coach John Beilein has enjoyed success during his college
career, posting a 447-257 mark in 24 seasons. While he's confident
that he will return West Virginia to its winning ways, he's not
sure if it will happen overnight.
His 2002-03 club will include just one player, Josh Yeager, who
started more than 10 games last season.
You can see the team in action at their first regular season
game on November 22.
| Day | Date | Opponent | Time |
| Monday | Nov 4 | Latvia Select | 7 pm |
| Monday | Nov 11 | Team Nike | 7 pm |
| Friday | Nov 22 | Delaware State | 7 pm |
| Monday | Nov 25 | at Duquesne | 7:30 pm |
| Saturday | Nov 30 | James Madison | 7 pm |
| Tuesday | Dec 3 | Florida (Charleston, W.Va.) | 7 pm |
| Saturday | Dec 7 | UNC Greensboro | 4 pm |
| Saturday | Dec 14 | Wofford | 4 pm |
| Wednesday | Dec 18 | Western Carolina | 7:30 pm |
| Saturday | Dec 21 | Tennessee | 4 pm |
| Saturday | Dec 28 | at UNLV | 11:05 pm |
| Sunday | Dec 29 | Gardner-Webb (Las Vegas) | 8:35 pm |
| Saturday | Jan 4 | at St. Louis | 2:10 pm |
| Tuesday | Jan 7 | Miami | 7 pm |
| Sunday | Jan 12 | at Georgetown | 2 pm |
| Tuesday | Jan 14 | Pitt | 7 pm |
| Sunday | Jan 19 | at Boston College | Noon |
| Wednesday | Jan 22 | Marshall (Charleston, W.Va.) | 8 pm |
| Sunday | Jan 26 | Rutgers | 3 pm |
| Wednesday | Jan 29 | at Notre Dame | 7 pm |
| Saturday | Feb 1 | at Villanova | 2 pm |
| Saturday | Feb 8 | Syracuse | 4 pm |
| Wednesday | Feb 12 | at Pitt | 7 pm |
| Saturday | Feb 15 | at Rutgers | 4 pm |
| Tuesday | Feb 18 | Notre Dame | 7 pm |
| Saturday | Feb 22 | Seton Hall | Noon |
| Wednesday | Feb 26 | at Syracuse | 7 pm |
| Saturday | Mar 1 | at Seton Hall | |
Noon
Wednesday
Mar 5
Georgetown
7 pm
Saturday
Mar 8
Virginia Tech
2 pm
Wed-Sat
Mar 12-15
at Big East Tournament (New York)
All times are Eastern