The Missouri Valley Conference has announced its 2022 Hall of Fame Class.

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The 25th MVC Hall of Fame class features the longest tenured Commissioner in the history of the MVC in Doug Elgin; women’s basketball coaching legend Cindy Scott of Southern Illinois; basketball playing stars in Cliff Levingston of Wichita State and Carla Bennett of Drake; and broadcast icons Charley Steiner of Bradley and Tom Jackson of Louisville.  Jackson was a star football student-athlete for the Cardinals and later played for the Denver Broncos before a long stint with ESPN.  Including this year’s six inductees, the MVC Hall of Fame consists of 139 former student-athletes, administrators, coaches and contributors.





The league will conduct its annual Hall of Fame ceremony as part the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Championship in St. Louis, Mo., next March 3-6. The Friday, March 4, festivities will begin with an 8:00 a.m. breakfast, followed by the induction ceremony at 8:30 a.m.

Tickets to the 2022 Hall of Fame event – scheduled to be held at Stifel Theatre, which is adjacent to Enterprise Center – can be obtained by contacting the league office at (314) 444-4300. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The 2022 State Farm MVC Tournament marks the 32nd-straight year the event has been staged in St. Louis.  With 32-consecutive years at the same neutral site, Arch Madness is the second-longest neutral site tenured collegiate tourney in the nation (following only the Big East in New York City).

“One of the great rewards that comes with representing a Conference with the magnitude of the Missouri Valley is the opportunity to interact with some of the finest practitioners in the collegiate athletic space,” said Commissioner Jeff Jackson.  “This class represents the reach of The Valley in and away from the athletic arena.  We are all truly inspired by their achievements and touched by their grace.”

CARLA BENNETT, DRAKE (1999-03)
A two-time All-American, Bennett led Drake women’s basketball to three MVC championships (two regular-season crowns and one tournament crown) and three NCAA Tournament appearances from 1999-03.

While at Drake, Bennett was a four-time All-MVC first-team selection, one of just eight league women’s basketball student-athletes to earn four All-MVC first-team honors.  Notably, upon her graduation in 2003 she was just the third league player to accomplish that feat, joining MVC Hall of Famers Wanda Ford of Drake (1983-86) and Jackie Stiles of Missouri State (1998-2001).

Bennett was a member of Drake’s 2002 NCAA Sweet 16 Team and scored a season-high 29 points in the Bulldogs 76-72 win over No. 2 seed Baylor to advance to Sweet 16 that season.

She ranks eighth in career scoring at Drake (1,930 points), which is 14th in MVC history.  Bennett also ranks in the Top 10 all-time in league history in career field goal percentage, blocked shots and rebounds.

Currently living near Philadelphia and managing the U.S. compliance operations for an international financial risk management company, Bennett was the 2000 MVC Freshman of the Year, a three-time league all-tournament selection (2000, 2001, 2002), a two-time MVC Scholar-Athlete first-team selection (2002, 2003), a member of the league’s All-Defensive Team in 2002, and was a Wade Trophy Finalist.  Bennett was selected to the league’s 25-Year Anniversary Women’s Basketball Team in 2018.

DOUG ELGIN, MVC (1988-2021)
Named the Missouri Valley Conference’s ninth commissioner on May 17, 1988, Elgin is the longest-serving commissioner in the league’s 115-year history and prior to his retirement on June 30, 2021, he was the longest-tenured commissioner employed at any of NCAA’s multi-sport Division I conferences.

Elgin has been a member of both the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee (1999-2002) and the National Invitation Tournament Committee (2016-2019), and previous service has also included terms on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee, and the NCAA Administration Cabinet.

In 45 years in college athletics administration, Elgin has worked at four institutions and in two conference offices.  His career path has included stints as sports information director at Frostburg State University (1975-76), Miami-Dade Community College South (1976-77), Lafayette College (1977-80) and the University of Virginia (1980-83).  Elgin also served as assistant commissioner at the Tampa-based Sun Belt Conference from 1983 to 1988.

A native of Hagerstown, Maryland, Elgin is a 1973 graduate of Lafayette College, and he earned a Master’s degree in Sports Administration from Ohio University in 1975.

TOM JACKSON, LOUISVILLE (1970-72) 
Jackson was a three-time first-team all-league pick and two-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year in football as a member of the Louisville Cardinals from 1970-72.  

He helped Louisville earn league titles in 1970 and 1972 while playing for coach Lee Corso; the 1970 crown represented the first for Louisville in its football history.  Louisville recorded an overall record of 23-7-2 during his three seasons and played in the Pasadena Bowl in 1970.  He led the Cardinals in tackles all three years, amassing 373 total tackles in just three seasons.  His 30 tackles against North Texas in 1971 still ranks second-best all-time in Louisville single-game history.  Jackson’s number 50 was retired by the Cardinals in 1999.

Following his collegiate playing career, he starred at linebacker for the Denver Broncos, where he was part of the storied “Orange Crush Defense.” He led the team with 116 tackles during the 1974 season and played for the Broncos from 1973-86, playing in 191 career games.  In his 14 seasons, Jackson was a Pro Bowl selection three times and was a four-time All-Pro.  He had 20 career interceptions and eight fumble recoveries, and he helped the Broncos to championship appearances in Super Bowl XII and XXI.  In 1992, he became just the 14th Bronco inducted into the team’s Ring of Fame.

Following his playing career, Jackson enjoyed a successful 29-year run as an NFL analyst for ESPN and was presented the Pete Rozelle Award for excellence in broadcasting by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015.  He earned seven Sports Emmy awards. 

Jackson currently lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife Jennifer. 

CLIFF LEVINGSTON, WICHITA STATE (1979-82) 
Levingston came from San Diego to star at Wichita State.  His impact was felt after leading the team in scoring his freshman and sophomore seasons. With averages of 15.7 and 18.5, he was named first-team all-MVC in 1981 and again in 1982. Following his success throughout his first three seasons, he decided to forgo his senior year and entered the NBA draft.  The 1980-81 Shockers compiled a 26-7 record and advanced to the final eight before losing to Louisiana State, 96-85, in the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship in New Orleans.  His Wichita State number 54 was retired in November 1998.

Known for his engaging personality and warm smile, Levingston teamed with Antoine Carr to form the “Bookend Forwards” tandem that led the Shockers to national prominence in the decade. Levingston was chosen Third Team All-America by Basketball Times and was a dominant performer for a perennial WSU conference championship contender. In his three-year career at Wichita State, he compiled 1,471 points and 965 rebounds, while pacing the Shockers in rebounding in each of his three seasons, averaging 10.6 boards per game for his career. His points and rebounds currently rank 14th and fourth on the school’s scoring and rebounding lists, respectively.  His 53.8 career field goal percentage also ranks fifth all-time in school history.

A first-round draft pick of the Detroit Pistons in 1982, he was a member of the Chicago Bulls’ first two NBA titles in 1991 and 1992.  In his 11 seasons in the NBA, he averaged 7.1 points and 5.2 rebounds while playing for the Pistons, Atlanta Hawks, Bulls and Denver Nuggets.

Levingston has spent the last two decades as a coach and currently is the head coach of the Kokomo (Ind.) BobKats.

CINDY SCOTT, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (1977-1998)
Former Southern Illinois women’s basketball head coach Cindy Scott posted a 388-215 (.643) record during her 21 years at the helm of the program between 1977-98.  Scott’s winning percentage of .698 (353-153) during her league tenure (1983-98) ranks fourth-best all-time in league history.  While her 353 total wins during that span make her the winningest women’s basketball coach in league history.

Scott’s teams won three Conference titles (1986, 1987 and 1990) and finished second on seven other occasions.  She twice earned Conference Coach of the Year honors (1986 and 1987).

With Scott at the helm, Southern Illinois earned four NCAA Tournament berths, including a Sweet 16 appearance in 1987, while the team was ranked as high as No. 15 in the nation in 1986 and No. 13 in 1987.

Scott led her teams to undefeated Conference seasons in 1986 and 1987, posting 18-0 marks, while the program won 37-straight conference games from March 6, 1985 to Feb. 26, 1987.  The 23-consecutive victories during the 1985-86 season established a school record, while the team also won 26-straight home games from Dec. 7, 1985 to Dec. 12, 1987.

She recorded a 119-25 (.826) Gateway Conference mark and 199-67 (.748) MVC record while guiding the Salukis to eight 20-win seasons, and the program enjoyed a streak of 15-consecutive winning seasons with Scott as head coach.

Following her 21 seasons as SIU’s head women’s basketball coach, Scott spent more than two decades as an assistant director of athletics at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., and retired in July 2020.

She received her Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Memphis in 1975 and her Master of Science in Education from Southern Illinois University in 1976.  She is a 1994 inductee into the SIU Hall of Fame.

CHARLEY STEINER, BRADLEY (1971)
Steiner graduated from Bradley in 1971 and immediately launched his broadcasting career by working at radio stations in Peoria, Ill., Davenport, Iowa; New Haven, Conn.; Hartford, Conn.; and Cleveland before entering the New York market in 1978.

He was the play-by-play voice of the USFL’s New Jersey Generals from 1983-85 and the NFL’s New York Jets from 1986-87 before joining ESPN as an on-air talent in 1988 .  Steiner spent 14 years at ESPN, serving as a popular SportsCenter anchor, while also serving as the network’s lead boxing analyst and handling play-by-play duties for college football ESPN2 primetime games and for the Sunday Night Baseball broadcasts on ESPN Radio 

Steiner left ESPN in 2002 to become the New York Yankees radio play-by-play announcer, and he now is in his 17th year as a play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers after spending three years with the Yankees.

He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in November 2013 and is a five-time Emmy Award winner.  Steiner won a Clarion Award for his coverage of the Mike Tyson rape trial, as well as a CableACE Award for his work on a Muhammad Ali documentary produced for ESPN’s Outside the Lines series. 

Bradley University’s Charley Steiner School of Sports Communication is the first named school of sports communication in the country.