Marshall University Athletic Hall of Fame Elects Class of 2009

John Wade, Football, 1993-97, was elected but cannot attend the induction banquet, which is required to enter the Athletic Hall of Fame. Wade is currently a center for the Oakland Raiders in the National Football League.
The Raiders play a final exhibition on September 3 and will open the regular 2009 NFL season a week later.
Hunter was selected in a separate election for former Marshall standouts who participated for the Herd Pre-1960s. One former Marshall athlete a year is selected from this list which starts in 1960 back through the late 1893, when the first recorded Marshall athletes were documented.

There are three other elected members to the Marshall Hall of Fame besides Wade who currently play in the NFL who have not yet been inducted to date, due to pro football schedules conflicts. They are Randy Moss, Football/Track, 1996-97, of the New England Patriots, Chad Pennington, Football, 1995-99, of the Miami Dolphins and Byron Leftwich, Football, 1998-2002, of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame committee is considering a possible spring banquet for these NFL players.

The tickets for the September 4 banquet will be available through the Big Green Scholarship Foundation. Calling 304-696-4661 in the Huntington area or call toll free 866-443-7310 for banquet tickets, $30 each. The dinner will be in the Don Morris Room of the Marshall Memorial Student Center, located at Fifth Avenue and John Marshall Drive on the MU campus.

On Saturday’s “Game Day,” the inductees will have new tiles unveiled in the “Hall of Fame Walk of Fame” in the Marshall Hall of Fame Cafe’. The HOF Cafe’ is at Third Avenue and Ninth Street in downtown Huntington. That event begins at 11 a.m. The new members of the Hall of Fame will then spend the pre-game tailgate as special guests of the Marshall M-Club at the Bobby Pruett Plaza, on the southwest corner of the stadium. The M-Club is an organization of all former athletic participants at Marshall.

The new Hall of Fame members will be introduced to the Herd fans at the Marshall opener with Southern Illinois on Saturday, September 5. Kickoff is 4:30 p.m. and tickets for the game can be ordered on-line at www.HerdZone.com or calling 1-800-THE HERD.

Here are biographies on each of this year’s newly elected members of the Marshall University Athletic Hall of Fame:
 

* Rogers D. Beckett, Football, 1996-99. Rogers Beckett was first team All-MAC in both 1998 and 1999, when he was also team captain. He played in the East-West Shrine Game at the end of the MU season, when Beckett was named a third-team All-American by The Sporting News. Beckett finished sixth all-time with 11 career interceptions and 16th all-time at MU in tackles with 304, all while serving as Vice President of the Student Government at Marshall in 1999-2000. In 1996, MU won the Southern Conference and I-AA National Championship with a MU best, 15-0 season. In 1997, the Herd was 10-3 and won the MAC in the team’s first year at the I-A level, including reaching MU’s first bowl in 50 years in a 34-31 loss to Ole Miss in the first Motor City Bowl. MU won the MAC again in 1998, went 12-1 and won MU’s first-ever bowl with 48-29 win over Louisville of C-USA. The Herd finished 25th in the nation. Beckett’s senior class posted another perfect season at 13-0 and finished No. 10 in the nation in the AP and Coaches polls, Marshall’s highest ranking ever in Division I-A. Herd beat the 25th-ranked BYU Cougars in the team’s third consecutive Motor City Bowl, a second consecutive win in Pontiac, Mich. As a group, Beckett’s four years saw 50 wins against only four losses, best in MU history. He was drafted in the second round by San Diego in the 2000 NFL Draft and played for the Chargers for three seasons, then three more seasons at starting safety for the Cincinnati Bengals before retiring in 2005. After retiring, Beckett completed a Masters in Public Administration and returned to Apopka, Florida, his hometown. He has a daughter and was expecting a son last fall.

 * R. Todd Donnan, Football, 1991-94. Todd Donnan is the son of former Marshall head coach Jim Donnan, who was inducted into the MU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008 and who will enter the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind. this summer. As a senior in 1994, Todd led the Southern Conference in passing efficiency with a rating of 154.53, 22 points better than anyone else. He also led the league in total offense with 215.4 yards per game. Donnan was the SC Offensive Player of the Year. Donnan was the SC Athlete-of-the-Year for the 1994-95 athletic year and was also as the Buck Harless Student-Athlete of the Year at MU in that same year. Donnan played his high school football at Norman (Okla.), where his dad was an assistatn for th Sooners from 1985-89. Todd was a MU freshman in 1991 for the 11-4 national runners up, and tied a NCAA record and a SC record with a 99-yard touchdown pass to fellow HOF member Troy Brown in a game against VMI as the back-up QB. He was also a back-up for the 1992 12-3 National I-AA Championship team. As a starter in 1993, he led the Herd to an 11-4 record and an appearance in the national championship game for the third straight year. MU was 12-2 in 1994, when the Herd made its fourth-consecutive trip to at least the semi-finals of I-AA (NCAA record extended for five in ‘95). In 1992, he came into a quarterfinal game with Middle Tennessee State and threw three touchdowns to Brown (a MU HOF member) on 13-of-23 passing for 246 yards to pull out a 35-21 win. As the starter in 1993, Donnan threw for 2,591 yards and led Marshall to the I-AA finals, throwing just 13 touchdowns. In 1994, when MU won its second SC football title with a 7-1 league mark, Donnan had 3,019 yards passing with 33 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions. His best game was 302 yards and three touchdowns versus The Citadel. At MU, Donnan is No. 5 in passes attempted (912), No. 4 in completions (542), passing yards (7,050) and touchdown passes (61) and sixth in completion percentage (60.3 percent). Donnan coached at Marshall in 1995, then coached at Georgia also for his father. They took the Bulldogs to four bowls in four seasons. Since leaving athletics, Donnan is a partner with AI Group, the employee benefits arm of AI Insurance Group, located in Athens, Ga.
 

* J. Richard “Dick” Hunter, Baseball and Football, 1936-38. Hunter was All-Buckeye Conference first team in 1937 for 9-0-1 Thundering Herd team that won Marshall’s only Buckeye Conference football crown. Hunter was selected to second team All-Buckeye as a sophomore in 1936. Marshall averaged 29.7 points per game in 1937, leading all Eastern football teams in scoring and outscored opponents 297-to-19, pitching eight shutouts with the average score 30-2 for the season. The football team was 6-3-1 in 1936, 9-0-1 in 1937 and 5-4 in 1938 (the final season for the Buckeye Conference) for overall record  of  20-7-2 (68 percent wins). Hunter and the Herd won back-to-back games over Miami, Ohio, in both 1937 and 1938, as well as Cincinnati and Ohio Wesleyan from the Buckeye. Marshall baseball posted a 4-5 season under coach Francis Farley in 1937, beating Dayton twice and Ohio. In 1938, Marshall rebounded for a 6-3 mark under Cam Henderson in the only season the legendary Marshall coach worked with baseball. Marshall beat Cincinnati twice plus Dayton and Ohio once each in Buckeye Conference play. Hunter is deceased and will be represented by members of his family.
 

* David M. “Dave” Kline, Cross Country and Track, 1975-79. Dave Kline was one of the main runners responsible for three straight W.Va. State AAA cross country titles for the Red Dragons of St. Albans High School. As a senior in track in 1975, he shattered the state record in the two-mile run. Coming to run at Marshall in the fall of 1975, Kline immediately set the Marshall record in the three-mile run. In the spring of 1977, Kline qualified for the NCAA National Championship meet in the 10,000 meters, the first-ever track athlete at MU to advance to NCAA Finals. In fall of 1977, he helped the Herd win its first Southern Conference championship in Marshall’s first season in the league for head coach Rod O’Donnell (who is also entering the MU HOF this year). Later in 1977, Kline finished 15th in the national U.S. Track and Field Federation meet in the 15,000-meter run. Kline would win the SC 5,000-meter run in 1978 and would set a SC and MU record at that event in which he made All-Southern Conference list. His 10,000-meter and 5,000-meter records remain as the oldest track records still standing at Marshall, as MU discontinued the men’s track program in the late 1980s. Kline lives in St. Albans, works for Allstate Insurance and is also part-owner of two coffee houses in the Kanawha Valley. He is married with a son and daughter, and his niece is former MU head cheerleader Jennifer Kline.

* Tara R. Lee, Track & Field, 1995-1999. Lee won Marshall first individual championship in Mid-American Conference competition when she won the indoor 60-meter hurdles on Feb. of 1999. Marshall rejoined the MAC in 1997 for all sports. Lee held the record in the indoor 60 meters (7.74) for eight years before it was broken in 2007 and reset again this spring by Kelkira Maybrin with a 7.62. Lee still holds the 60 meter hurdles (8.58) record, and that win in the 60m hurdles made her an All-MAC performer. Moving to outdoor track, Lee set and still holds the Marshall record in the 100 meter hurdles (14.06) and the pole vault (10-feet, two inches). She was a member of both the record-holding sprint-medley relay team (4:13.44) and shuttle-hurdle relay team (58.88). Her holding five school records is the leader for any women’s track athlete in Marshall’s history, with women’s track getting started in the early 1970s. Lee is getting married this summer and lives now in Oakland, California, where she works as a Registered Nurse or RN.
 

* Larry D. McCloud, Football, 1993-97. At linebacker, Larry McCloud led Marshall in tackles in 1995 (122), 1996 (150) and 1997 (143), but Herd fans will always remember the 1997 season when McCloud, at the first Motor City Bowl, nearly de-cleated Ole Miss tight end Rufus French on a crossing pattern during the game, Marshall’s first bowl game in 50 years. Before coming to Marshall, McCloud led Buffalo-Wayne High School to the 1992 AA WV State Championship in West Virginia, beating Magnolia 7-0 and scoring the only TD. He was the Morgantown Touchdown Club’s W.Va. Player of the Year. Red-shirted in 1993, McCloud was awarded the second annual  J.D. Coffman Scout Team Player of the Year at Marshall. McCloud would earn starting nod in 1994 at middle linebacker and remain a constant over the next four years. He was First Team All-Southern Conference in both 1995 and 1996, helping MU to a 15-0 mark as well as SC and National Championships in 1996 and a 12-3 national finalist finish in ‘95. McCloud was named Second Team All-American by The Sports Network in 1996. In 1997, in Division I-A, Marshall won the Mid-American Conference with a 10-3 mark and the team advanced to Marshall’s first bowl in a half-century. McCloud was named First Team All-MAC. The SC and MAC titles were the first back-to-back league titles in school history and set MU up for five straight conference football titles, 1996-2000. Marshall’s 49-8 mark from 1994-97 is the second-best four years by any group of four-year seniors in MU history. Marshall advanced to the I-AA semi-finals in 1994, the I-AA championship game in 1995 and 1996 and the Motor City Bowl in 1997, continuing seven consecutive years of post-season play for Marshall football. McCloud was a captain of the 1997 MAC Championship team and his 97 solo tackles in 1996 are the third-most in school history. His 451 total tackles are the third most in MU history. He is one of only four documented players to lead MU in tackles in three separate seasons. Today, McCloud runs a successful insurance agency in Huntington and is married with two boys and a girl
 

* R. Roderick “Rod” O’Donnell, Men’s & Women’s Cross Country and Men’s Track & Field Head Coach, 1975-1985. Rod O’Donnell was born in nearby Ironton, Ohio and graduated from Belpre (OH) High School. He eared a degree from Wilmington College and a Masters from Ohio University. O’Donnell came to Marshall in 1975 after he had started the cross country program at Caldwell High School in 1971. In 1973 Caldwell was the Ohio State Champion and had a dual record in three years of 38-0. MU would join the Southern Conference in 1977 and O’Donnell’s men’s cross country team would thunder  into the record books when they won the Thundering Herd’s first SC championship in the fall of 1977. O’Donnell was named SC Cross Country Coach of the Year in 1977. The Herd would also finish as runner-up in the Southern Conference in 1978, 1979, 1984 and 1985. O’Donnell also began women’s cross country at Marshall, and had four All-SC runners in the program's first season. O’Donnell coached three NCAA qualifiers: fellow Hall of Fame inductee Dave Kline, for track and cross country, Hall of Fame member Joe Sassler, in track, as well as Kim Nutter for cross country. His thinclads at MU won 25 individual SC championships in track and field and had 15 All-SC runners in cross country, as well as a six-year win streak in dual meets. After his Marshall stint, O’Donnell was head cross country - track and field coach at Hudson High School in Ohio, at Kent State and at Rio Grande, where the Redmen finished 22nd in the national NAIA meet in the 1974-75 season. In 11 years of coaching H.S. cross country, O’Donnell coached six district championship teams and four regional champions. He had seven Ohio State Meet appearances where his teams placed fourteenth, eighth, second and two State Championship wins. One of his runners, Wesley Smith, was the 2002 State Champion. While at Hudson, O’Donnell had 13 state meet qualifiers as well as the Ohio State Champion in both the 3200m and the 1600m, and he was Ohio High School Track Coach of the Year in 2001. While at Kent State, where is wife, Cathy, is employed in the athletic department, O’Donnell was named Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year twice and Ohio Track Coach of the Year in 1991. O’Donnell had 27 NCAA qualifiers in track and cross country ,11 All-Americans, four Academic All-Americans and one NCAA post-graduate scholarship. At Marshall, Rod was again named Coach of the Year twice in the Southern Conference. He was inducted into the Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches’ Hall of Fame in 2005 and has published over 35 articles about cross country and track & field.
 

* Andrew S. “Andy” Socha, Football, 1964-66. Andy Socha (pronounced “So-Ha”) was an outstanding running back for Herd. He led MU in rushing in 1966 with 151 carries for 735 yards (4.9 per carry). His 735 yards led the Herd in total offense as well for the player who was named captain of the 1966 team. He had 400 yards on 99 carries in 1965. He finished his career with 1,399 yards, which is still 16th all-time for rushing yards at Marshall. Socha was a third-team All-American and First-Team All-Mid-American Conference pick in 1966, and was also named honorable mention All-MAC in 1965. Socha led the Herd in rushing despite sharing time with fellow MU Hall of Fame member Mickey Jackson (a second team All-MAC pick in 1965). Socha recorded two 100-yard rushing games that season, gaining 116 versus Kent State and a career-best 131 yards against Western Michigan, and was second in the MAC in rushing. Socha averaged nearly 17 yards per return on kickoffs for the 1966 season. He ranks 17th in rushing at MU with 1,399 career yards and was a two-year starter. Socha was drafted in the 14th round of the NFL Draft in 1967 - he would be the last Marshall player picked in the annual National Football League draft until 1983. In addition, Socha was one of only five players selected by the NFL out of Marshall in the entire 1960s. Socha was a 6-foot, 197-pound fullback out of Steubenville, Ohio, and Steubenville Central High School. He rushed for 664 yards for MU as a junior, second to Jackson’s 704 yards.  He recorded six touchdowns over those two seasons, including the last non-losing seasons at MU for next 20 years, a 5-5 record in 1965. He went on to a career with McGraw-Hill Publishing in New York City as Vice President and Editorial Director for Science and Health Education. 
 

* R.  John Wade, Football, 1993-97. A four-year player and two-year starter for MU at center, Wade played for the 1995 National Championship, the 1996 National Championship and for the Mid-American Conference title and in the Motor City Bowl in 1997.  At 6-6, 305-pound, Wade was the lead man for first quarterback Eric Kresser in 1996 when he was first team All-Southern Conference at center and the Herd was 15-0, SC and I-AA champs, and the 1996 team was named as the greatest I-AA team of all time by the College Football Researchers Association. Wade then returned to snapping to Chad Pennington in 1997 (who red-shirted in ‘96 after starting in 1995), when Wade helped Marshall to a first-ever MAC title in football over Toledo at the JCE Stadium in Huntington. The Herd went the first Marshall bowl since 1947, falling late to Ole Miss in the inaugural Motor City Bowl, 34-31, in Pontiac, Mich. He was named First Team All-MAC center, both by the coaches and media as well as Football News. His senior year Wade was invited to play in the Blue-Gray Senior Game (which he missed due to the Motor City Bowl) and the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. which he played in. His play in the Senior Bowl led the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL to draft Wade, where he has become the starting center while battling foot injuries in two of the last three seasons. After starting all of 2002, Wade signed with the Super Bowl champs, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as a free agent for 2003 and was be the starting center for the Bucs in 2004-07. He signed as a free agent with the Oakland Raiders since 2008 and is expected to contend once again for the starting center position, his 12th season in the NFL. Wade is married and a regular at the Bartrum-Brown Football Camp at MU each spring.

The Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame has been in existence since 1984 and with eight more members added at the 2009 induction banquet, the total will be 182 members in the MU Hall of Fame. The 75 victims of the November 14, 1970 Marshall plane crash were also honored as a group in 1990.

The Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame committee is composed of Dr. Sam Clagg (chairman), Joe Feaganes, Dr. Dorothy Hicks, Linda Holmes, Willard Hunter, Greg Rowsey, Keith Morehouse, Randy Burnside and Woody Woodrum.