Fresno State Athletics
50th Anniversary Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Nov. 6
10/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | General
Oct. 28, 2008
FRESNO, Calif. - The 50th Anniversary Induction Dinner for the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame will be held Thursday, (Nov. 6) at 6 p.m. at the Fresno Convention Center Valdez Hall. This year, former Bulldogs Tom Goodwin, Amanda Scott, Stephen Baker, Lee Angelich, Peter Mehas and former coach Bob Fraley will be inducted along with the 1998 Fresno State National Championship softball team.
Fraley not only is a name synonymous with Fresno State but with track and field, more specifically pole vaulting, all over the world. He spent 28 seasons with the Bulldog track and field team and the last eight as Director of Track & Field, retiring in the spring of 2008.
He has coached 42 individual All-Americans and two athletes who were National Champions, his son Doug Fraley, a three-time National Champion and a 2004 Inductee, and Melissa Price, a two-time National Champion.
Throughout his career, Fraley has been given numerous awards and named to a variety of Hall of Fames, including the National Pole Vault Hall of Fame in 2006.
A big reason Fraley was inducted into the National Pole Vault Hall of Fame was for his work in rejuvenating the sport in 1989 by creating the Pole Vault Summit, held annually in Reno, Nev., and the creation of the North American Pole Vault Championships in Clovis, Calif., each year since 2003.
"I really feel blessed," Fraley said. "It's something you dream about but you are shocked when it does take place. I just feel really honored."
The 1998 softball team, coached by the NCAA's all-time winningest coach Margie Wright (Wright was inducted into the Hall of Fame herself in 1999), won Fresno State's first-ever national title by defeating Arizona 1-0 in the WCWS.
In 2008, the team was honored on the 10th anniversary of the championship. A total of 12 members of that team are expected to be in attendance including the WCWS MVP Scott and Nina Lindenberg, whose solo home run was the only run scored in the game.
"This was a group of young women that no one ever thought could accomplish what they did," Wright said. "They were so focused coming out of the Regional and I knew no one could get in their way. It means everything for me, as a coach, to be a part of the biggest thing you can accomplish in college athletics."
Scott will also be inducted as an individual, as she not only pitched nearly perfect in the 1998 championship game she was Fresno State's first four-time first-team All-American. She was a member of the NCAA's 25th Anniversary Team, No. 2 among Fresno State's Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century, two-time Academic All-American, two-time Western Athletic Conference Female Athlete of the Year and winner of a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.
She graduated from Fresno State as the school's career leader in strikeouts (851), saves (10), RBI's (212) and pitching appearances (155). Her career win-loss record was 106-18 and her batting average was .303 with 31 home runs.
"Amanda is very deserving of everything she has accomplished," Wright added. "Her athletic ability is second to none. Everything about her is first class. She is very deserving of this and I am really proud that I had the opportunity to coach her."
After Fresno State, Scott was an alternate on the 2000 U.S. Olympic gold medal team and starred in the National Pro Fastpitch League and was named the World Series MVP in 2004. She currently is an assistant coach for at the University of Illinois-Chicago. A member of the first gold medal baseball team in the Olympics, Tom Goodwin got his start right here in Fresno, Calif. A standout at Central High School, Goodwin went on to play three seasons under Fresno State head coach Bob Bennett from 1987-89. Goodwin was the 1989 Big West Conference Player of the Year for the Bulldogs and the Fresno State Male Athlete of the Year that season. He was also a Golden Spikes Award Finalist. Goodwin led the NCAA in stolen bases in both 1988 and `89 and is in the top 10 in almost every single-season hitting category at Fresno State and is the career leader in stolen bases with 164. He continued his passion of baseball after he left Fresno State, playing 14 seasons in the Major Leagues after being drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers as the 22nd overall pick in the 1989 draft. Currently, Goodwin is the first base coach for the Lowell Spinners, a Class A team affiliated with the Boston Red Sox in Lowell, Mass.
A Fresno State football letterwinner in 1985-86, Baker began his football career at West Los Angeles College. With the Bulldogs, Baker caught 62 receptions for 26.3 yards per catch and 16 TD's from NCAA record-setting QB Kevin Sweeney. His collegiate career was capped by catching a 36-yard pass that gave the West All-Stars a victory in the Japan Bowl.
Baker was then drafted by the New York Giants where he played from 1987-92, including Super bowl XXV where the Giants defeated the Buffalo Bills 20-19.
Another former Bulldog football player being inducted in this class is Mehas, who has spent the past 15 years as President of the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame. Mehas began his collegiate career as a center/linebacker at Fresno City College before transferring to Fresno State where he played in 1961, the year the `Dogs won the Mercy Bowl over Bowling Green.
Angelich competed in the 120 high hurdles at Fresno State where he placed third in the West Coast Relays. He enrolled as a Bulldog after joining the Navy in WWII and serving as an officer on the U.S.S Rixey in the Pacific. Prior to competing for Fresno State, Angelich won Pacific Coast Conference titles in the 120 high and 220 low hurdles and finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in the same events at the NCAA Championships while competing for the University of California in 1943.
Also being inducted into the 2008 class posthumously is William Neufeld (track and field), as he served as the first Fresno State assistant field events track coach for two seasons under J. Flint Hanner.
The night begins with a no-host social at 6 p.m. followed by the dinner and program at 7 p.m. Tickets are $50.00. For more information call Char Nunn at (559) 299-2349 or 797-5108.
"Join the State - Fresno State"- The Bulldogs begin the 2009 season on Feb. 6 vs. Wisconsin in the Cathedral City Kick-Off hosted by Oregon State in Cathedral City, Calif., at 10:30 a.m.
