LOS ANGELES–Sixteen Trojan luminaries have been selected to the 10th class of USC’s Athletic Hall of Fame and they will be honored at an induction dinner on June 12, 2012, at USC’s Galen Center.
Alphabetically, the 2012 inductees are: Art Bartner, Lindsay Benko, Steve Bisheff, Tony Boselli, Clarence Davis, Barbara Hallquist, Barbara Hedges, Bob Hughes, Bryan Ivie, Keyshawn Johnson, Randy Johnson, Jill McGill, Tina Thompson, Forrest Twogood, Quincy Watts and Adrian Young.
Twogood will be inducted posthumously. Bartner will receive a Spirit Award. Bisheff will be honored for his contributions as a sportswriter.
“This is an outstanding group of Trojan greats–Olympians, All-Americans, national champions and sports icons–who have played an important role in USC’s athletic history,” said USC athletic director Pat Haden, who was a member of the 2003 class. “They’ll join our first nine classes of Hall of Famers to form a real Who’s Who in USC sports.”
Tickets to the induction dinner are available by calling the USC Athletic Department at (213) 740-4155.
The Hall of Famers are selected by a 75-member panel consisting of media and USC alumni and athletic department supporters. To be eligible for election, athletes generally must have completed their last season of eligibility at USC 10 years ago.
# # #
BIOGRAPHIES OF 2012 USC ATHLETIC HALL OF FAMERS
BENKO: Lindsay Benko Mintenko is one of USC’s most decorated women’s swimmers. A 21-time All-American, she won five NCAA individual titles–three in the 500-yard freestyle (1996-97-99) and two in the 200-yard backstroke (1996-97)–and she helped the Women of Troy to their only NCAA team championship in 1997. In her USC career, she reached the NCAA finals in all 12 individual events in which she competed. She also won six career Pac-10 titles. She won gold medals as a U.S. team captain at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics in the 800-meter freestyle relay and added a silver in 2004 in the 400-meter freestyle relay. A 10-time U.S. national champion, three-time medalist at the World Championships and a seven-time medalist at the Pan-Pacific Championships, she set numerous USC, American and world records. After five years as an USC assistant coach, she assumed her current role as USA Swimming’s National Team managing director in 2006.
HUGHES: Robert “Bob” Hughes, one of USC’s finest aquatic competitors, has the rare distinction of competing in the same Olympics in two different sports. In the 1956 Melbourne Games, he was on the U.S. water polo team that placed fifth and he also swam the 200-meter breaststroke to become the first American athlete since Johnny Weissmuller in 1924 to compete in two different sports in the same Olympics. He also helped the U.S. water poloists to a fourth place showing at the 1952 Helsinki Games. He participated in both sports at USC, lettering in water polo in 1954 and 1955 and in swimming as an All-American in 1955 and 1956 after transferring from El Camino Junior College. Known for his size and strength, he helped popularize the 2-meter position in water polo. Playing the sport until 1963 (he was a three-time AAU All-American), he was a member of U.S. Pan American teams that won gold in 1951 and silver in 1955 and he played on the 1953 AAU Senior National Championship outdoor team. In swimming, he once held the world record in the 100-meter breaststroke. He was an assistant water polo coach at USC from 1970 to 1974. He was a charter member of the USA Water Polo (1976), El Camino Athletic (1988) and Community College Water Polo (1992) Halls of Fame.
The above is a press-release that was submitted to The Swimmers Circle. To read the full release, along with bios of the other 14 inductees, click here.