Friday, October 10th, 2008

UCLA inducts eight new members

Former athletes and coaches to be honored in Bruin athletics Hall of Fame

As a senior in 1995, All-American forward Ed O’Bannon helped lead UCLA to its most recent NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.

Now, ten years after he last suited up for the Blue and Gold, O’Bannon is headlining a new group: He will be one of eight new members inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in a private ceremony tomorrow.

O’Bannon leads a diverse group of athletes and coaches who were elected to the Hall by a committee of 22 members. The committee includes alumni, athletic supporters, Hall of Fame members, and several members of the UCLA Sports Department.

“(The inductees) are a nice mix of past and present,” said Brian Smith, assistant director of the UCLA Athletic Fund who is coordinating the induction event.

Three of the inductees, including O’Bannon, were selected in the first year they were eligible for the Hall. Current Hall of Fame bylaws dictate that student athletes can only be considered for the Hall ten years after last playing for UCLA.

John Godina and Dawn Dumble, both standouts in the shot put and discus, also last competed for UCLA ten years ago. Godina won five NCAA championships, while Dumble won four. Godina also owns a silver and a bronze Olympic medal in the shot put.

The other inductees include basketball player Kenny Washington, volleyball player and organizer Mike O’Hara, former men’s gymnastics coach Art Shurlock, tennis star Allen Fox, and former football lineman Hardiman Cureton.

Washington was a sixth-man on UCLA’s National Championship teams in 1964 and 1965. O’Hara, who was on the first Varsity men’s volleyball team at UCLA, helped promote the sport and was also the Vice President of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee.

Shurlock coached men’s gymnastics for 30 years, during which the team won two NCAA Championships. Fox won an NCAA singles title and a NCAA doubles title while helping men’s tennis to NCAA Championships in 1960 and 1961.

Cureton, who passed away several years ago, was an All-American at offensive guard in 1955. He played on both the offensive and defensive lines while at UCLA.

Friday’s invitation-only induction ceremony will take place in the UCLA Hall of Fame located inside the Morgan Center. Each of the eight new members (eight being the maximum number that can be elected in any given year) will have a commemorative plaque placed in the Hall. Their inductions will raise the number of members to 199.

“It’s a sellout event,” says Smith. “That just shows the support this inductee class has from friends and family.”

The seven living inductees will also be at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, where Smith says they will be introduced by public address announcer Chuck White at halftime. Cureton’s grandson will represent him in the ceremony.