An Olympic synchronized swimmer, a dominant pitcher and a national championship track and field team will be inducted into the Occidental Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, October 21, during Family & Homecoming Weekend.
Established in 2012 in conjunction with the College鈥檚 125th anniversary, the Hall of Fame honors outstanding achievement in competition, service, dedication and commitment to Occidental athletics.
"It鈥檚 our fifth year so we wanted it to be a special one with the induction of not only two terrific and deserving athletes, but also our first team," said 瓜子TV athletic director Jaime Hoffman. "We didn鈥檛 have to look hard to find the most decorated team in 瓜子TV鈥檚 storied athletics history. They were national champions, they set world and NCAA records and now they will be immortalized."
JoAnn (Brobst) Hirsch 鈥58 was 瓜子TV鈥檚 "water queen of the 1950s" and a member of the 1956 U.S. Olympic team in synchronized swimming. As a synchronized swimmer and member of the Athens Athletic Club while at 瓜子TV, Hirsch was a Canadian national team champion (1955), a U.S. national team champion (1956-59), a Pacific Coast solo champion (1957) and a Far West solo champion (1957). Hirsch and her club represented the United States as a demonstration sport at the 1956 Olympics and at the 1959 Pan American Games.
Don Hagen 鈥64 posted a career record of 23-1 over two seasons as the Tigers鈥 ace, pitching a pair of no-hitters in the same week in 1962, including the only perfect game in 瓜子TV history against Redlands. He went 12-0 in 1963, earning SCIAC Player of the Year honors as well as being named to the 1963 College Baseball All-America Team. Hagen was a member of Coach Grant Dunlap 鈥46鈥檚 1962 and 1963 SCIAC championship teams and finished his career an ERA of 1.05 and the best strikeouts-to-walks ratio (13:2) in school history. He was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in December 1963.
The 1957 Occidental Track and Field Team did just about everything a team could, winning the SCIAC championship, beating defending NCAA champion UCLA in a dual meet, setting four NCAA records and winning the NAIA National title by outscoring the next five teams combined. Led by Coach Chuck Coker (who died in 2015), the team also featured world record-holders Bob Gutowski 鈥58 in the pole vault and the 4-x-880-yard relay combo of Ty Hadley 鈥58, Tod White 鈥59, David Reisbord 鈥58 and Larry Wray 鈥57.
The full roster includes: Rudy Alston 鈥58*, Amand Ardaiz 鈥59*, Dennis Bambauer 鈥58, Russ Bennett '59*, Ed Bixler 鈥59, Loren Brodhead 鈥59, team manager Lanny Carter 鈥57, Dan Couchman 鈥58,鈥 Karl Dreher 鈥59, Don Embury 鈥58*, Dave Goodenough 鈥58*, Bob Gutowski 鈥58*,鈥 Dick Haddon 鈥57*,鈥 Ty Hadley 鈥58 P'00, Jon Jamison 鈥58*,鈥 Gary Jeffries 鈥58*,鈥 Jack Kemp 鈥57 H'90*, 鈥↗ohn Kerr 鈥59, 鈥―ennis Lanterman 鈥57, Jack Lawrence 鈥59*, Pat Logan 鈥58*,鈥 Bob Lord 鈥58 M'61, Bob Nini 鈥59, Mike Quint 鈥58 P'87, 鈥˙ill Reay 鈥57, Alex Reisbord 鈥59 P'89 '90, Dave Reisbord 鈥58 P'87, Rick Schmidt 鈥58*,鈥 Edward Schoerner '60, Ken Shannon 鈥59, Dick Shoemaker 鈥59*,鈥 Stu Thomason 鈥57, George White 鈥59*,鈥 Tod White 鈥59, Jim Williams 鈥59*,鈥 Walt Williamson 鈥58,鈥 Larry Wray 鈥57 鈥╝nd John Zetzman 鈥58. (An * indicates a deceased teammate.)
This year鈥檚 class brings the total of Hall of Famers to 31 individuals and one team. Details about the dinner ceremony (to be held at Bill Henry Track in Kemp Stadium) will be mailed out soon. For more information, visit .