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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: Oct. 15, 2002

Contact: Anthony Flott

aflott@mail.unomaha.edu

(402) 554-2989

 

 

Track, Football Standouts Enter Hall

(OMAHA, NE) —Kim Osler Brown, a former track standout, and Jimmy Jones, a football standout, were inducted into the UNO Athletic Hall of Fame at the 26th annual banquet Nov. 7 at the Holiday Inn Convention Centre.

 

Also at the banquet, softball pitcher Michelle Manthei and volleyball’s Tracy Ankeny shared the female athlete of the year award, while football’s Chris Cooper, currently playing for the Oakland Raiders of the NFL, was named the male athlete of the year.

 

Three longtime supporters of the UNO athletic program also were honored, as was the 1970 UNO wrestling team that captured the NAIA national championship.

 

Hall of Fame inductees

Osler Brown earned four All-American certificates as a 1992-95 track athlete for the Mavericks. She won the 55-meter hurdle title in the 1995 NCAA II indoor meet and finished second in the 100 meter hurdles at the outdoor meet the same year. Osler Brown is the only woman to break eight seconds in the 55 meters in North Central Conference history with a 7.99 in 1995. She was named the 1995-96 UNO Female Athlete of the Year.

 

Jones was a versatile two-way athlete during his 1962-65 career. He was a second-team all-Central Intercollegiate Conference pick on both offense and defense as a sophomore, then was a first-team selection both ways as a senior. Each of those seasons he helped the team win a CIC championship. After his career, he signed to play with the New York Jets of the American Football League in 1965.

 

Athletes of the Year

Cooper, the most valuable defensive lineman in the North Central Conference, set school records for sacks in a season and a career. He was named a first-team All-American by The Football Gazette and Daktronics and was a second-team pick by D2Football.com. He was a sixth-round pick by the Raiders and is a regular in the defensive line.

 

Ankeny was a first-team AVCA All-American for a third time as a senior and finished her career as the all-time school leader in kills and second in digs. She was a two-time NCC all-academic team pick and a four-time all-conference selection. She also was a second-team All-American pick by Daktronics and Volleyball Magazine.

 

Manthei helped lead the 2001 Mavericks to the national softball title and finished her career as the schoolís all-time leader in wins and strikeouts and was second in shutouts. She was also a third-team Verizon Academic All-American. 

 

<b>Supporters</b>

Among the UNO supporters to be honored are Nebraska Furniture Mart, Mark Boyer and Karen Ressegieu.

 

Nebraska Furniture Mart will receive the Corporate Citizen of the Year award because of its continued support through sponsorships and the annual women’s walk. Boyer, CEO of Boyer-Young Development, will receive the Maverick Man of the Year award for his support of the athletic program. Ressegieu, an Administrative Technician at UNO, will be given the Maverick Women’s Executive Board Distinguished Person of the Year award for her longtime support and fund raising efforts on behalf of the annual Diet Pepsi Women’s Walk.

 

Grapplers

The 1970 UNO wrestling team is the third among the school’s past great teams to  be honored at the banquet. In previous years the 1954 Tangerine Bowl team and the 1975 national softball champions were honored.

 

From 1967-70 UNO posted a 40-2-1 dual meet record. Coach Don Benning and his team came close to a national title, finishing second twice, before finally realizing their dream in 1969-70 when the team breezed through the season with a 14-0 dual meet record, then won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title with five individual champions. 

 

In the national tournament, held in Duluth, Minn., UNO was a decisive winner, led by national champions Roy Washington and Bernie Hospodka. In addition, Mel Washington finished second and Landy Waller and Gary Kipfmiller each finished third.  Benning was recognized as the state’s Coach of the Year by both the Lincoln Journal and the Omaha World-Herald. 

 

 

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