2000 COACHING-BASEBALL INDUCTEE MERV CARTER Merv Carter was part of the first Fresno State baseball team to compete in the College World Series, coached for twenty-seven years at Clovis and McLane High Schools, and ran the annual City-County baseball game. His high school teams won 425 games including six league titles and two Valley Championships,…
2000 TRACK & FIELD INDUCTEE LACY BARNES Lenora Lacy Barnes dreamed of competing for the USA in the Olympics and there were good reasons to believe that she would attain her goal. In grade school and at Burroughs High School in her hometown of Ridgecrest, California, Lacy was an all-around athlete, but track was her…
1999 COACHING-SOFTBALL INDUCTEE MARGIE WRIGHT Margie Wright was the first Fresno State coach to bring home a National Collegiate Athletic Association title, leading the women’s softball team to the championship in 1998. With dozens of conference, regional, and NCAA achievements to her name, Wright holds a place in ten Halls of Fame and broke the…
1999 TRACK & FIELD INDUCTEE ERV HUNT Erv Hunt played in the NFL and coached track and field for the Cal Bears for thirty-one years, setting a record for most coaching wins. Hunt established an international reputation as a coach and landed a prestigious assignment in 1996: the head men’s track and field coach for…
1999 BASEBALL INDUCTEE REX HUDLER One of the best all-round athletes to hail from the Fresno area, Rex Hudler had a full-ride football scholarship waiting at Notre Dame, but chose baseball, drafting out of high school and signing with the New York Yankees. The 1978 Bullard High graduate played thirteen years on a six major-league…
1999 FOOTBALL INDUCTEE HENRY ELLARD After a record-breaking career as a receiver for Fresno State, Henry Ellard soared to the top of the National Football League, leading the Los Angeles Rams in receiving nine out of the eleven seasons that he played for them. The Rams selected Ellard in the second round (32nd pick overall)…
1999 SOFTBALL INDUCTEE BERNICE AMARAL Bernie Amaral, the first female field manager of a world champion women’s softball team-guided the Fresno Rockets to three world titles and three second place finishes.The San Leandro High School graduate played third base for the 1938-39 World Champion Alameda girls’ softball teams. During World War II, she played on…
1998 SOFTBALL INDUCTEE WENDE WARD Wende Ward was one of the greatest pitchers to play for Fresno State and helped put the Bulldogs on the map when they played on a dinky field with no fences and few bleachers. The Tulare Western High School athlete helped pitch Fresno State University into the 1982 College Softball…
1998 FOOTBALL INDUCTEE DAVID LEWIS David Lewis was an All-Pac10 quarterback whose college career included leading Stanford University to victory in one of sports’ greatest traditions, the Big Game football rivalry between Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley. In the 1964 match-up, Lewis, a sophomore, completed five of eight passes for 92 yards as…
1998 COACHING-BASEBALL INDUCTEE JACK HANNAH Jack Hannah was a two-sport athlete at Fresno State and pitched six seasons in the minor leagues, then went on to coach Hoover High School to two Valley Championships in baseball. The son of a ranch foreman, Hannah was also a modern-day cowboy who later formed the Sons of the…