The Missouri Valley Conference will honor its past on Friday, March 3, 2017, when the league conducts its annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony in St. Louis.
The 20th MVC Hall of Fame class features three long-time administrators in Dr. Don Beggs (Southern Illinois/Wichita State), Dr. Donald Boydston (Southern Illinois) and Dr. Mary Jo Wynn (Missouri State); a women’s basketball Olympian in Charlotte Lewis of Illinois State; a former major league baseball manager and Wichita State baseball star in Eric Wedge, who won a 1989 NCAA Championship with the Shockers; and Bradley’s Marcus Pollard, who helped the resurgence of Braves basketball in the early 1990s and later attained NFL star status as a tight end after not playing football in college.
For the 14th time in 15 years, the league will conduct its annual Hall of Fame ceremony as part the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Championship next March 2-5. The March 3 festivities will begin with an 8:00 a.m. breakfast, followed by the induction ceremony at 8:30 a.m.
Tickets to the 2017 Hall of Fame event – scheduled to be held in the Peabody Opera House which is adjacent to Scottrade Center – can be obtained by calling the league office at (314) 444-4300. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
“The Missouri Valley Conference has always been recognized for the great success of its athletics programs, with a rich history that dates back more than a century,” said Commissioner Doug Elgin. “Our MVC Hall of Fame has provided us with an opportunity to honor the student-athletes, coaches, administrators and contributors who have played important roles in the Conference and in intercollegiate athletics.”
“The individuals we will be honoring in the Class of 2017 are representative of the men and women who have preceded them in our Hall of Fame. They’ve brought significant honor to themselves, their institutions and to the Conference. We are truly humbled to have this opportunity to salute them for their achievements.”
DR. DON BEGGS, WICHITA STATE/SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
Dr. Donald Beggs, who served as Chancellor at Southern Illinois and President at Wichita State, enters the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame as the 2017 Paul Morrison Award recipient. Part of the MVC Hall of Fame, the Morrison Award is presented to honor those individuals who have made significant contributions to their respective league-member institutions, The Valley or collegiate athletics, in general. Beggs served the two league schools for a combined 45 years.
Beggs served as Wichita State’s President from 1999-2012 and has been credited with increasing the national profile of the University, while his legacy includes the renovation of Koch Arena and numerous other capital improvements on the campus. He became WSU’s 12th president in 1999 after serving two years as Chancellor at SIU Carbondale. He has served as Chair of the MVC President’s Council, and also represented the MVC on the prestigious NCAA Board of Directors. Beggs is the only person in the league in at least 30 years to have served as CEO at two different MVC schools.
He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Southern Illinois and his doctorate in educational measurement and statistics in 1966 from the University of Iowa. From 1966-1998, Beggs served in a number of capacities at SIU, beginning as assistant professor of educational measurement and statistics. He was named associate dean of the Graduate School in 1970, professor of educational measurement and statistics in 1972 and assistant dean of the College of Education in 1973.
Beggs became the acting dean for University Programs and acting assistant vice president for Academic Affairs and Research in 1975, and he was also named associate dean for the College of Education in 1975. In 1981, he was appointed Dean of the College of Education. He was named Chancellor at SIU in 1996.
During his tenure on the MVC Presidents Council, Beggs was a strong advocate for the Conference’s student-athletes and showed a commitment to supporting competitive athletics, both at the Conference level and at SIU and WSU.
He and his wife Shirley have two children, Brent and Pam.
DR. DONALD BOYDSTON, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
Dr. Donald Boydston of Southern Illinois enters the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame as an honoree in The Valley’s Lifetime Achievement category. The Lifetime Achievement category honors, when appropriate, former players, coaches, administrators or alumni who competed at, worked for or attended a current league school.
Boydston was instrumental in creating winning athletic teams at Southern Illinois during the 1960s. Becoming SIU’s director of athletics in 1957, Boydston began a rejuvenation project which paid immediate dividends. His statement that, “there are no minor sports at Southern,” brought pride to sports like swimming, gymnastics, tennis, wrestling and golf.
The ten-sport program at SIU compiled a composite 1,531-594-17 record under Boydston through the 1971 season. He mentored many of the great Southern Illinois coaches such as Dick LeFevre (men’s tennis), Jack Hartman (men’s basketball), Richard ‘Itchy” Jones (baseball) and Lew Hartzog (men’s track). Hartzog is already a member of the MVC Hall of Fame.
Boydston spearheaded the two-year project of building the SIU Arena, which was completed in the spring of 1964.
During his 15-year stay at SIU, he would see four NCAA university division gymnastics titles and seven NCAA men’s basketball tournament appearances (1959 and ‘62-66). Saluki men’s basketball also appeared in the 1967 and 1969 National Invitation Tournaments, winning the 1967 event with Walt Frazier leading the way.
Men’s swimming would have NCAA top 25 finishes from 1960 to 1972, while men’s tennis had seven top 20 NCAA showings from 1963 to 1972, including two national college division championships in 1963 and 1964. The golf teams also won or shared NCAA college division crowns, while baseball, track, wrestling and cross country teams all placed in the top ten of NCAA university division championship competition during Boydston’s tenure.
A graduate of Oklahoma State, Boydston was a standout high jumper for the Aggies, and his personal best high jump mark of 6-9 1/8 stood as the OSU school record from 1940 to 1964. After earning his master’s degree at OSU in 1946, Boydston moved to Columbia University where he served as an instructor while earning his doctorate. In 1949, he moved to the University of Mississippi as an associate professor and remained there until 1955 when he came to SIU as chairman of the department of health education. Boydston, who was also president of the U.S. Gymnastics Federation in the early 1960s, died in March 2005 at the age of 84.
CHARLOTTE LEWIS, ILLINOIS STATE
Charlotte Lewis of Illinois State University enters the MVC Hall of Fame in the Institutional Great Category. The Institutional Great distinction honors on an annual basis one player, coach or athletic administrator who competed or worked at a current league school, when the institution was not a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
Lewis was a four-year letterwinner in women’s basketball from 1974-78. During her career, ISU recorded 63 wins and four-straight AIAW State Championships. In the 1976-77 season, Lewis led the team to a 20-6 record, which included a 3-0 State Championship run, and an 11th place AIAW national finish. She is only one of three players in Illinois State Women’s Basketball history to have her jersey retired.
She holds Illinois State basketball records for most rebounds in a single game (27), most rebounds in a season (345) and highest rebounding average (13.3). And also has the second-most rebounds in a single game, with 22. Lewis set the single-season rebounding record as a junior, helped along by four games that rank in the top-10 on the Redbird single-game rebounding list. She had 12 double-doubles during the 1977-78 season, which ties for the fourth-most double-doubles in a single season and scored the fourth-most points in a game with 37 against Wisconsin-LaCrosse (Feb. 5, 1977).
Lewis is on the top-10 lists in season scoring average and field goal percentage, and she made 243 field goals during the 1976-77 season, which is the third best in program history.
A Kodak All-American and Wade Trophy finalist in 1977, an award that goes to the nation’s top female athlete, Lewis was also a two-time Street & Smith’s First Team All-American, a member of the 1975 Pan Am Games team, 1976 Olympic team and 1977 World University Games team. Notably, the 1976 Olympics marked the first year women’s basketball was a part of the Olympics and the team won the silver medal. She also won medals at the Pan-American games and the World Championships.
She was named the 1976 YWCA Athlete of the year and ISU Outstanding Athlete in 1977 and 1978, and as a track and field student-athlete, finished fourth in the nation in the javelin in 1975.
Lewis played professional basketball for 15 years in Italy, Brazil and the United States, and she was tabbed the top player in Brazil in 1989 and Captained the 1986 All-Star American Team in Spain.
Lewis returned to ISU at age 40 to earn her degree in recreation and parks administration, working three jobs while taking nine to 12 hours per semester. She worked as the program director at Carver Center, where she focused on community outreach, mentoring, education, preventative care and building stronger family units. She passed away at the age of 52 in 2007.
MARCUS POLLARD, BRADLEY
Originally from Lanett, Ala., Marcus Pollard represents Bradley University in this year’s MVC Hall of Fame Class.
A two-year member of the Bradley Basketball team after transferring from Seward County Community College, Pollard helped turn around a program that was 7-23 (3-15 MVC) the year before his arrival to 23-8 (14-4 MVC) during his senior season, which culminated with a run to the third round of the 1994 NIT. During his two-year Bradley career, Pollard started 49 of 58 games, averaging 7.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
More notably, despite not playing football since high school and after attending college at a school that does not sponsor the sport, Pollard went on to enjoy a 14-year career in the NFL as a tight end for the Indianapolis Colts, Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots from 1995 to 2008. He played in 192 career regular-season games with 133 career starts, catching 349 passes for 4,280 yards and 40 TDs.
At the time Peyton Manning broke Brett Favre’s NFL record for career TD passes in 2014, Pollard was his fourth most-popular TD receiver as 34 of Pollard’s 40 career TD’s were thrown by Manning. He also played in 11 career playoff games, helping the Colts reach the AFC Championship Game in 2004. Of the more than 50 players from full MVC member schools to play in the NFL since 1985, former UNI offensive lineman Brad Meester (209 games) is the only player to appear in as many NFL games as Pollard’s 192. And among the players from full MVC member schools to play in the NFL since 1985, Pollard’s 349 pass receptions remain 128 more than the second-most (UNI’s Mike Furrey, 221); his 4280 receiving yards remain 1973 more than the second-most (UNI’s Dedric Ward, 2307); and his 40 TDs remain 25 more than the second-most (Illinois State’s Laurent Robinson, 15).
After coaching high school football the previous two years, Pollard is beginning his fourth year as the Director of Player Development and Youth Football for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.
ERIC WEDGE, WICHITA STATE
A native of Fort Wayne, Ind., Eric Wedge of Wichita State University enters the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame as just the seventh to be honored in the sport of baseball. His collegiate career in Wichita spanned 1987-89.
Wedge, a phenomenal catcher and leader, was the driving force behind Wichita State’s first national championship team in 1989, as he earned first-team All-America honors and was the MVC Joe Carter Player of the Year after hitting .380 with 23 homers and 99 RBI. He was selected as the MVP in the West II Regional and earned a spot on the All-College World Series Team.
In 1989, Wedge helped the Shockers to a school-record 24-game winning streak, and was a finalist for the R.E. “Bob” Smith Award and Golden Spikes Award that year. Following the season he was drafted in the third round (83rd pick) by the Boston Red Sox and played four seasons in the majors with Boston and Colorado.
A two-time all-MVC selection, Wedge is a member of the Wichita State 25-Year Anniversary Team, the WSU Hall of Fame (1996) and is also a member of the league’s All-Centennial Baseball Team. In his three seasons at WSU, the Shockers reached three NCAA Tournaments and twice played in the College World Series (1988, 1989). WSU won three regular-season MVC crowns and two MVC Tournament crowns during his collegiate playing career.
In the Shocker career record books, Wedge is 23rd in doubles (54), 11th in home runs (45), 21st in RBI (206), 19th in total bases (454), 14th in slugging percentage (.588), and ninth in walks (173).
Named AL Manager of the Year in 2007, he had the Indians within one game of the World Series, falling to the eventual champion Boston Red Sox in seven games. Wedge managed the Cleveland Indians from 2003-09 and became manager of the Seattle Mariners in 2011. He is currently a player development advisor with the Toronto Blue Jays and has served as a studio analyst for ESPN.
DR. MARY JO WYNN, MISSOURI STATE
A native of Hartville, Mo., Dr. Mary Jo Wynn of Missouri State enters the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame as an honoree in The Valley’s Lifetime Achievement category.
The backbone of one of the most progressive and successful women’s athletics programs in the country and a pioneer for her leadership of the cause of women’s sports, Wynn was MSU’s first director of women’s athletics in a career in teaching, coaching and administration that stretched over four decades.
She retired from MSU in 1998 after having been a physical education faculty and athletics staff member continuously since graduating from the university in 1957. Her primary coaching assignments were volleyball and tennis.
Among the many honors she’s been accorded for her career achievements, Wynn is a member of the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame, Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame and Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, a recipient of the Missouri Valley Conference John Sanders Spirit of the Valley Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators
Wynn established the MSU Women’s Athletics Hall of Fame, is a recipient of MSU’s Outstanding Alumni Award and the top annual academic award for MSU female student-athletes is named in her honor. Yet another honor came her way in 2015 with the renaming of the academic area for MSU athletics as the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Academic Achievement Center. The Center provides a place for student-athletes to study, work in computer labs and receive academic advisement
During Wynn’s tenure as an athletics administrator at Missouri State, women’s teams experienced success in every sport, with NCAA team appearances in basketball, softball, soccer, volleyball, golf and tennis plus numerous individual NCAA qualifications. MSU won an AIAW national title in softball in 1974, an AIAW national title in field hockey in 1979, and appeared in NCAA Basketball Women’s Final Fours in 1992 and 2001. Notably, MSU has long held a place among national leaders in women’s basketball attendance and led the nation in average attendance in 1993.