Athletic
Hall of Fame to induct five
Honorees include standouts in track and field,
football, tennis and softball
By
SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor
Two women
who helped UB gain conference supremacy in track and field and cross
country during the 1990s will be among the former student-athletes to
be inducted into the UB Athletic Hall of Fame during a dinner and induction
ceremony to be held Feb. 22 in the Center for Tomorrow on the North
Campus.
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KUNZ |
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LAIPPLE |
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MILLER |
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NILAND |
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NOVAK |
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RING |
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Others
to be inducted are one of the finest tennis players in school history,
a defensive standout on the football field in the mid-80s and a pitcher
who established 14 softball records.
In addition
to the inductees, three individuals who played critical roles in UB's
elevation to Division I status, including former President Steven B.
Sample, will be honored, and a former UB faculty member will receive
the Russell J. Gugino Award.
The Athletic
Hall of Fame was established by the UB Alumni Association in 1965 to
honor athletes, coaches, teams and individuals who have served the athletic
program in an exemplary manner.
Tickets
for the event, which will begin with a cocktail reception at 6 p.m.,
followed by dinner at 7 p.m., are $55. They may be purchased by contacting
the UB Office of Alumni Relations at 800-284-5382.
This year's
inductees are:
- Bridget
Niland, B.A., '95, J.D. '98, and Judith Novak, B.A. '96,
who combined to make the women's track-and-field and cross-country
programs the dominant ones in the East Coast and Mid-Continent conferences.
Niland
set five individual track-and-field (outdoor and indoor) distance records
during her career, and was a member of three relays that broke school
standards. She also won four individual East Coast Conference championship
events and was part of two title-winning relays. UB won ECC crowns in
indoor (1992 and 1995) and outdoor (1992) while she competed.
Niland
captained the 1993 cross-country team that won the conference championship,
in which she was named individual champion. In 1992, she set the school
record for cross country on UB's home course and the previous year was
all-conference as UB claimed the ECC team title.
From 1994-98,
Niland was a member of the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee,
chairing the group from 1996-98. She helped draft and argued successfully
for NCAA legislation to allow full-scholarship student-athletes to maintain
part-time jobs or internships. She also argued for the adoption of legislation
to allow partial qualifiers to earn a fourth year of eligibility if
specific academic requirements were met. That legislation also was adopted.
Novak was
UB's female athlete of the year in 1993. She won MVP team honors that
year and in track and field in '94, and in cross country in '92 and
'95, eclipsing the records in the 3000- and 5000-meter (outdoor and
indoor) runs that Niland had set. She also broke records in the 800,
1000 and 1500 meters (indoor and outdoor) and was a member of the 4x800
and distance-medley record-breaking relays.
She was
the Mid-Continent Conference runner of the year in '94 and was all conference
in '95. Novak still holds six UB track-and-field records and recorded
the quickest time ever by a UB athlete in the 5K.
- Todd
Miller, the top teaching professional in Western New York during
the past two decades, played first singles for UB, compiling a winning
percentage of .846 during three years of competition. He also was
ranked second among the state's college players each of those years.
Miller,
who enrolled at UB in 1977, left school following his junior year to
teach the sport. He earned his degree 10 years later while serving as
the executive director and head pro at the Amherst Hills Tennis Club.
Miller
earned team MVP honors in 1978 and served as UB's captain in 1978 and
1979. He was a two-time (1978-79) singles championship finalist in the
SUNYAC tournament, a first doubles finalist ('78), and won two Big Four
singles and doubles championships.
- Kimberly
Ring, '85, was the MVP on the 1985 softball team that won the
SUNYAC championship, was ranked 12th in the country and participated
in the Division III national championships. She compiled an earned
run average of 1.85 that season, won 13 games—the team was 19-7 entering
the NCAA tournament—and started 16.
Ring still
holds team career records for games (45), innings pitched (276.1), strikeouts
(93) and wins (26), and is second in ERA (2.36). Her 13 wins remain
a UB single-season record. She also is second in single-season wins
with 10, second and third in single-season ERA (1.85 in 1985 and 2.36
in 1984), third in strikeouts (39), second and third in innings pitched
and third and fourth in games started and games played.
- Mike
Laipple, '87, of Orchard Park, turned down Division I scholarships
to play football at UB. A former officer in student government, he
went on to become one of the most reliable tacklers in Bulls' history.
He was recognized for his defensive prowess in 1985 when he was named
both an Associated Press and a Pizza Hut Honorable Mention All-American.
He followed
that up his senior year by earning Pizza Hut All-American second-team
accolades, while also being named to the Eastern College Athletic Conference
Division III team.
A 6-3,
230-pound linebacker and a four-year starter, Laipple led the Bulls
in tackles as a sophomore (93), junior (with a then-record 127) and
senior (125). He had 81 assists in '85 and through his junior year had
compiled 192, which were both school records. Laipple remains the UB
career leader in assisted tackles (265), was the career leader in total
tackles (402) for 10 years and stands fourth in solo tackles (137).
- Steven
B. Sample, who now serves as president of the University of Southern
California; State Sen. Kenneth LaValle, and the late James
Hansen, a former faculty member in the Graduate School of Education
and former chair of the Intercollegiate Athletics Board, will receive
the UB Alumni Association's Builder's Award in recognition of their
roles in successfully proposing and working with the State University
of New York Board of Trustees to change SUNY policy regarding the
ability to reward grants to student-athletes. The policy change eventually
allowed UB to return to Division I competition.
In addition,
Walter Kunz, Ed.M., '65, Ph.D. '70, a former UB faculty member
and longtime athletic advocate and supporter, will receive the Russell
J. Gugino Award, given to alumni who have "made significant contributions
of time and resources" to the athletic program.
