WHAT YOU NEED NOW - CONTENT UPDATED THROUGH THE DAY -
June 5, 2005
Two Football Players, Golfing Legend Highlight MU Athletic Hall of Fame
by Grant Traylor
Huntington News Network Sportswriter
Huntington (HNN) – Marshall University's Athletic Department announced one of its most well known Hall of Fame classes ever on Friday, June 3, 2005, with two football players and a local golfing legend highlighting the field.
Chad Pennington, the current quarterback of the New York Jets, headlines the 2005 field as he was voted to the class in his first year of eligibility.
Pennington came up with many great moments in his Marshall career, leading the Thundering Herd to three Mid–American Conference titles from 1997–1999.
He capped his Mid–American Conference career by bringing the undefeated Thundering Herd back from a 23–point deficit in the third quarter against Western Michigan to give Marshall the 1999 MAC title.
Pennington did not stop there as he ended his career with a 21–3 victory over Brigham Young University to give Marshall a 13–0 record in 1999 and lead the Thundering Herd to a #10 final ranking in only their third season at the Division I–A level.
B.J. Cohen is another football fixture from the 1990s that is going to be enshrined in the Marshall Hall of Fame in 2005.
Cohen, a standout defensive end, is the only player in Marshall history to be named an all–conference selection in all four seasons of eligibility.
Cohen was an All–Southern Conference selection from 1994–1996 and then made the Mid–American Conference's all–conference squad as a senior in 1997.
Cohen also boasts Marshall's all–time career sack record with 51 for his career. He also led the team in sacks each season he played in a Marshall uniform. In addition to the records and honors, he was also named defensive MVP of the Motor City Bowl in 1997, Marshall's first bowl appearance since coming back to Division I–A.
Although two of Marshall's best football players are included in the class of 2005, one of the more popular names that will be included is legendary local golfer Pat Carter.
Carter has become the face of golf in the Mountain State by winning the West Virginia Amateur 10 times, including the past nine years.
Carter has become a fixture at the U.S. Amateur and was quarterfinalist in 2003. He also played in the British Amateur in 2004 and helps Marshall golf coach Joe Feaganes as a volunteer coach.
Christy Waring Hayes, a Marshall softball player from 1995–1998, is another 2005 class member that was a two–way star both pitching and hitting for the Thundering Herd.
Pitching performances by Waring–Hayes led Marshall's 1995 softball team to a Southern Conference championship, the only one in school history.
She pitched 900 innings of Marshall softball, which leads all–time by over 200 innings. Statistically, she is still in the top five in six pitching categories in Marshall history and remains in the top five in five hitting categories.
Also included in the class is Shaun McWhorter, a track and field star in the early 1980s. McWhorter threw shot put for the Thundering Herd, winning three Southern Conference indoor titles (1982–1984) and three Southern Conference outdoor titles (1981, 1983–1984).
McWhorter holds the second best all–time mark in the Southern Conference with a 1984 winning throw of 55 feet, eight and one–half inches just two–and–a–half inches off the best MU mark in history.
One member inducted is from the pre–1950s category is Harold McCloud. McCloud was a member of the famous Cam Henderson era and played alongside Hall of Fame members such as Jule Rivlin and Yost Cunningham.
McCloud was a true athlete as he helped his intramural team at Marshall win the football championship and post a 24–0 record. He averaged 11.3 points per game for Marshall in the pre–shot clock era when the team averaged only 50 points per contest.
He later went into the military and then was a notable baseball player in the military leagues. This helped him get a call from the Louisville Colonels, an AAA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
After baseball, he moved back to Logan and became President of Matt, Inc., a mining company. McCloud passed away in 1981 after a lifetime of being a Marshall athletics booster. John T. McCloud, a son, will represent his father at the Hall of Fame activities.
Hall of Fame festivities are part of Homecoming weekend, which will take place Friday, October 14, 2005 at 6:30 p.m. in the Don Morris Room.
