Courtesy: UCLA Athletics
Nine new members will join the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2020. The members of the star-studded class are: Keira Goerl (softball), Lauren (Cheney) Holiday (women’s soccer), Kevin Love (men’s basketball), Mike Powell (track & field), Noelle Quinn (women’s basketball), Dave Roberts (baseball), Tasha Schwikert (gymnastics), Russell Westbrook (men’s basketball) and Adam Wright (men’s water polo). Induction details will be announced at a later date.
The Hall of Fame class includes six Olympic medalists (gold medalists Holiday, Love and Westbrook; silver medalists Powell and Wright; and bronze medalist Schwikert), a two-time NCAA champion (Goerl), a World Series champion (Roberts) and a WNBA champion (Quinn).
Following are biographies on the 2020 UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame members:
Keira Goerl (Softball, 2001-04)
Two-time NCAA Champion Keira Goerl was the winning pitcher for the Bruins in the 2003 and 2004 title games and remains the only pitcher in Women’s College World Series Championship game history to toss a no-hitter when she threw one against California in 2003. Goerl, a three-time All-WCWS selection and 2003 Most Outstanding Player, is the school-record holder in wins (130), innings pitched (1,017.2) and complete games (135) while also ranking second in strikeouts (1,095) and third in appearances (161) and shutouts (64). A three-time All-American and four-time All-Pac-10 honoree, Goerl pitched 13 no-hitters and a pair of perfect games. She was an 11-time conference Pitcher of the Week and four-time National Player of the Week and was selected to the Pac-12’s All-Century Team.
Lauren (Cheney) Holiday (Women’s Soccer, 2006-09)
Lauren (Cheney) Holiday dominates the UCLA soccer record books as the Bruins’ all-time leading scorer with 71 goals and 173 points. She also holds the school record for career game-winning goals (28) and set single-season records in 2007 for points (57), goals (23) and game-winning goals (9). UCLA’s only four-time first-team NSCAA All-American, Holiday was UCLA’s first-ever finalist for both the MAC Hermann Trophy and Honda Award in 2007, and she was named the National Player of the Year that year by Soccer America, Soccer Buzz and Top Drawer Soccer. Holiday’s teams went a combined 84-10-5 and went to the College Cup every year during her four years at UCLA. A star for the U.S. Women’s National Team, Cheney won Olympic gold at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics and scored the game-winning goal at the 2015 Women’s World Cup championship match. Professionally, in 2013, she won the NWSL MVP and Golden Boot awards and was MVP of the 2014 NWSL Championship match.
Kevin Love – Men’s Basketball (2008)
Kevin Love played for UCLA during the 2007-08 season, helping lead the Bruins to the regular season Pac-10 Conference championship, the Pac-10 Conference tournament championship, a No. 1 seed in the 2008 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament and a trip to the Final Four. Named a consensus First-Team All-American, Pac-10 Player of the Year, All-Pac-10 and Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, Love led the Bruins with 17.5 points per game, 10.6 rebounds per game and 23 double-doubles. He was selected fifth overall in the 2008 NBA Draft and spent six seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves before joining the Cleveland Cavaliers and winning a NBA title in 2016. Love is a five-time NBA All-Star who has averaged 18.3 points and 11.3 rebounds over his 11-year career. He owns the longest double-double streak (53 games) since the NBA/ABA merger in 1975-76 and helped lead Team USA to an Olympic gold medal in 2012 and to a FIBA World Championship in 2010.
Mike Powell, Track & Field (1986)
Still the world record holder in the long jump, six-time USA outdoor champion Mike Powell competed in three Olympic Games, winning silver in 1988 and 1992. He was a two-time World Champion, breaking Bob Beamon’s 23-year old world record in 1991 with a leap of 8.95m (29-4.5) and winning again in 1993. In 1991, he won the AAU James E. Sullivan Award as the nation’s top amateur athlete and took first in 34 consecutive competitions in 1993 and 1994. He competed one year for the Bruins after transferring from UC Irvine following the 1984 season, winning the Pac-10 long jump championship in 1986 and notching a collegiate-best mark of 8.22m (26-11.75), which ranks as the second-best long jump mark in school history. Powell later served as UCLA’s jumps coach from 2006-08. He coached multiple athletes to All-America honors and conference and regional titles, and he produced a NCAA champion in Rhonda Watkins. Powell was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2005 and named to the Pac-12’s All-Century Team.
Noelle Quinn, Women’s Basketball (2004-07)
Noelle Quinn achieved a UCLA Basketball first, becoming the first Bruin men’s or women’s player to total 1,700 points, 700 rebounds and 400 assists in her career. She finished her career ranked in the school’s Top 10 in 14 different categories, including points (fourth with 1,829), rebounds (eighth with 794) and assists (seventh with 450). Quinn was a two-time honorable mention All-American, a three-time first-team All-Pac-10 player and a two-time Pac-10 All-Tournament honoree. She also set a conference record with eight career Pac-10 Player of the Week honors. In 2006, she led UCLA to its first and only Pac-10 Tournament title, leading the Bruins with 22 points in the championship game and scoring the game-tying basket with five seconds remaining to force overtime in UCLA’s win over Stanford. Quinn was selected by the Minnesota Lynx as the No. 4 pick in the 2007 WNBA draft and enjoyed an 11-year career in the league that culminated in a WNBA Championship with the Seattle Storm in 2018. She has been an assistant coach with the Storm since the 2019 season.
Dave Roberts, Baseball (1991-94)
Before becoming the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Dave Roberts was team captain of the 1994 UCLA baseball team and a two-time All-Pac-10 and NCAA Regional All-Tournament selection. Roberts still holds UCLA’s career record for stolen bases with 109, and he set the school single-season record in 1994 with 45. He still holds Top 10 marks for triples (fifth – 10), at-bats (fifth – 784), walks (T-sixth – 128), hits (ninth – 242) and runs scored (10th – 177). Roberts played 10 seasons in Major League Baseball with the Indians, Dodgers, Red Sox, Padres and Giants and helped lead the Red Sox to the 2004 World Series title. Roberts’ memorable stolen base and tying run in the ninth inning of game four of the 2004 ALCS set the wheels in motion for one of the greatest comebacks in postseason history, as the Red Sox became the first team in MLB history to overcome a 3-0 series deficit. Following his playing career, Roberts turned to coaching and was named Dodgers manager in 2016, winning National League Manager of the Year honors in his first year after leading the team to the NLCS. He has guided the Dodgers to the World Series in two of the last three seasons.
Tasha Schwikert, Gymnastics (2005-08)
Pac-12 Gymnast of the Century Tasha Schwikert made history as UCLA’s first two-time NCAA all-around champion, bookending her career with wins as a freshman in 2005 and as a senior in 2008. She also added the NCAA uneven bars title in 2008. A 12-time All-American, Schwikert won six Pac-10 titles, including a near-sweep in 2007 with the all-around, vault, balance beam and floor exercise championships. She also won the Pac-10 all-around and uneven bars titles in 2005 and earned Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors. In 2007, she was awarded Pac-10 Gymnast of the Year. Schwikert totaled four perfect 10s in her career, two each on uneven bars and floor exercise. Prior to arriving at UCLA, Schwikert helped lead the U.S. to a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics and to a gold medal at the 2003 World Championships. She was a two-time U.S. national all-around champion and was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2012.
Russell Westbrook, Men’s Basketball (2007-08)
Prior to becoming the 2017 NBA Most Valuable Player, Russell Westbrook helped UCLA advance to back-to-back NCAA Final Fours in 2007 and 2008. During his two years in Westwood, the Bruins compiled a 65-10 overall record and win percentage of 86.7. His Bruin teams won the Pac-10 titles in 2007 and 2008, along with the Pac-10 Tournament Championship in 2008. Westbrook led the team in 2008 in assists (167) and steals (63) and was third in scoring (12.7 ppg) and rebounding (3.9 rpg). The No. 4 overall selection in the 2008 NBA Draft, Westbrook is one of the league’s top stars, leading the league in scoring in 2014-15 and 2016-17. In each of the last three full seasons, he averaged a triple-double, and he ranks No. 2 all-time with 146 career triple-doubles. The nine-time NBA All-Star has been named an All-NBA Team member eight times and was selected to the NBA’s All-Rookie Team in 2009. In 2012, he was a member of Team USA’s Olympic gold medal-winning team, and he also won gold with the U.S. at the 2010 FIBA World Championships.
Adam Wright, Men’s Water Polo (1997-2000)
UCLA men’s and women’s water polo head coach Adam Wright will receive induction into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame as a three-time All-American and four-time All-MPSF player for the Bruins. Wright totaled 128 goals in his career and led UCLA to back-to-back NCAA titles in 1999 and 2000. After graduation, he played in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games and led Team USA to a silver medal in 2008, scoring four goals and a team-high nine assists in the tournament. He was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame in 2019. Wright has won a total of six NCAA Championships as a player or coach, winning two as a player, one as an assistant coach for the UCLA women in 2009 and three as head coach of the Bruin men in 2014, 2015 and 2017. His Bruin men’s team set the NCAA record for consecutive victories with 57 from 2014-16, and he was named the ACWPC National Coach of the Year in 2014, 2015 and 2017, as well as MPSF Coach of the Year in 2011 and 2017.