The greatest American distance runner of his generation, two national championship cross country teams, one of the best centers in program history, Oregon’s first two-time women’s javelin national champion, the school’s first NCAA Women’s College World Series team and the Ducks’ winningest football coach highlight a star-studded Athletics Hall of Fame class of 2019. The University’s 28th Hall of Fame includes football coach Mike Bellotti (1995-2008), six-time NCAA track and field champion and Olympic medalist Galen Rupp (2005-09), All-American center Max Unger (2005-09), two-time NCAA javelin champion Rachel Yurkovich (2006-09), the 2007 and 2008 back-to-back national champion men’s cross country teams and the 1989 softball team, which was the first Duck squad to advance to the NCAA Women’s College World Series. To be eligible for induction into the Oregon Athletics Hall of Fame, which originated in 1992, former athletes, coaches, administrators and teams associated with the school’s intercollegiate athletics success must have departed the University a minimum of 10 years earlier. The 2019 honorees will formally join the elite collection of 209 athletes and 26 teams previously selected as part of the school’s athletics showcase at the Hall of Fame banquet on Friday, Oct. 25, before being introduced publicly during the next day’s football game against Washington State. For information regarding the purchase of tickets to the induction ceremonies, please contact Associate Director of Administration Lauren Crockett at lcrocket@uoregon.edu.
