UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2022 to be Inducted Friday
Nine Bruin standouts will be officially inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday, Oct. 7. The members of the class of 2022 are: Patrick Cantlay (men's golf), Gerrit Cole (baseball), DeShaun Foster (football), Linda Robertson Hanley (women's volleyball), Dawn Harper-Nelson (track & field), Kelly Inouye-Perez (softball coach), Ole Mikkelsen (men's soccer), Dave Saunders (men's volleyball) and Extraordinary Service honoree Ed Kezirian (football/administration).
The Hall of Fame class includes two current UCLA coaches in Inouye-Perez and Foster, the 2021 PGA Tour Player of the Year Cantlay, Olympic gold medalists Harper-Nelson and Saunders, five-time MLB All-Star Cole, UCLA soccer's all-time leading scorer Mikkelsen, three-time All-American and 1996 Olympian Robertson Hanley, and unbeaten football coach Kezirian. The class combined for 12 NCAA championships while at UCLA.
The class will be introduced at halftime of the UCLA-Utah football game on Saturday, Oct. 8 at the Rose Bowl. The matchup between the No. 18 Bruins and No. 11 Utes will kick off at 12:30 pm. Click here for an exclusive Hall of Fame ticket offer.
Following are biographies for the 2022 UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame members:
Patrick Cantlay, Men's Golf (2010-12)
Cantlay had one of the greatest seasons in collegiate golf as a freshman in 2010-11, winning the Jack Nicklaus Award as the Division I Player of the Year by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA), the Fred Haskins Award as the most outstanding male collegiate golfer, and the Golfweek Player of the Year. He also became UCLA's first and only winner of the Phil Mickelson Award as the GCAA Freshman of the Year and the Ben Hogan Award as the collegiate and amateur golfer of the year. Additionally, Cantlay was awarded the Pac-12 Golfer and Freshman of the Year. He won four tournament titles during his historic freshman season, the fourth-most in program history, and he led UCLA to five tournament wins, including victories at the NCAA Regional and during NCAA Stroke Play. Cantlay ranks first all-time in program history with a 70.80 career scoring average (65 rounds/4,602 strokes). Since leaving for the professional ranks, Cantlay has become one of the preeminent golfers on the PGA Tour, ranking as high as third in the official World Golf Rankings and winning 2021 PGA Tour Player of the Year honors after winning four titles during the season. He also helped Team USA win the 2021 Ryder Cup and 2022 Presidents Cup.
Gerrit Cole, Baseball (2009-11)
One of the top active pitchers in Major League Baseball, Cole set the stage for his professional success with a standout three-year career atop the rotation at UCLA. Over 50 career appearances in Westwood, Cole recorded a 3.38 ERA and 376 strikeouts over 322 1/3 innings. At the conclusion of his junior year, he was selected No. 1 overall in the 2011 MLB Draft by Pittsburgh, becoming the first-ever No. 1 pick in program history. A Freshman All-American in 2009 and second-team All-American in 2010, Cole helped the Bruins to back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths in 2010 and 2011, including a trip to the 2010 College World Series. He still ranks second in program history in career strikeouts, while also ranking fifth in games started (49) and seventh in innings pitched. Cole, currently in his 10th MLB season, totaled 117 wins, a 3.20 ERA, and 1,673 strikeouts over the first nine years of his career and is a five-time MLB All-Star. He owns the franchise records for single-season strikeouts with both the Houston Astros (326 in 2019) and New York Yankees (248 and counting in 2022) and has finished top-five in Cy Young voting five times in his career, including each of the last four seasons.
DeShaun Foster, Football (student-athlete, 1998-2001; assistant coach, 2017-present)
UCLA All-American and NFL standout Foster is one of the most accomplished running backs in school history and returned to Westwood following his professional playing career to serve on the football staff. He completed his Bruin playing career second on the all-time touchdowns scored list (44), third on the school's all-time rushing list (3,194 yards) and fifth on the all-time Bruin scoring list (266 points). Foster was ranked 18th on the Pac-10 career rushing list when he left for the NFL, and his 722 career rushing attempts were the most in school history. As a senior in 2001, he led the Pac-10 in rushing (138.6 yards per game), scoring (9.75 points per game), and all-purpose yardage (154.75 yards per game). In his seven-year NFL career, he recorded more than 4,500 total yards and 16 touchdowns, including a 33-yard run in Super Bowl XXXVIII. During his tenure on the Bruin coaching staff, he has been instrumental in the development of some of the most productive running backs in the Pac-12, Paul Perkins, Joshua Kelley, Demetric Felton Jr. and Zach Charbonnet.
Linda Robertson Hanley, Women's Volleyball (1978-81)
Robertson Hanley, an All-American left-handed outside hitter for UCLA in 1978, 1979 and 1981, racked up 1,768 kills, which rank fifth all-time in program history. Robertson led the Bruins to 132 victories over four seasons, and in her freshman season in 1978, she helped the Bruins win the Western Collegiate Athletic Association conference title and advance to the national final. UCLA finished in the top four nationally every year during her career, and she was named to the 1981 NCAA All-Tournament team. Following her graduation in 1983, Robertson Hanley become one of the most prolific women's beach volleyball players in the history of the game, taking home beach titles in four different decades, one of just two players ever to do so. She finished her career playing in over 200 professional beach volleyball tournaments, winning 46 events. Robertson Hanley represented Team USA at the 1996 Olympics on the beach with Barbra Fontana Harris, just missing a medal in the bronze medal match. In 2004, she was inducted into the CBVA Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame.
Dawn Harper-Nelson, Women's Track & Field (2003-06)
One of the top hurdlers in UCLA history, Harper-Nelson led the women's track & field program to the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Championship and earned a total of four All-America honors outdoors and seven indoors. Harper-Nelson is the only woman in UCLA history to break the eight-second barrier in the 60m hurdles, running 7.98 in March 2006, and she holds UCLA's No. 4 mark in the 100m hurdles with a time of 12.80, set in 2006. In 2004, she contributed to the Bruins' No. 1 and No. 2 4x100m relay times that stood for 18 years. Harper-Nelson has had a long and successful international career, winning the gold medal in the 100m hurdles at the 2008 Olympics with a personal-best time of 12.54. Four years later, she won silver at the 2012 Olympics, running another lifetime best time of 12.37 in the Olympic final. Although she missed qualifying for a third Olympics in 2016 by .01 seconds, Harper-Nelson continued to excel internationally, winning the silver medal in the 100m hurdles at the 2017 World Championships.
Kelly Inouye-Perez, Softball (head coach, 2007-present; assistant coach, 1994-2006; student-athlete, 1989-93)
The only person ever to win a NCAA Softball Championship as both a player and coach, Inouye-Perez enters her 17th season as head coach at UCLA with two NCAA Championships and eight Women's College World Series appearances. Inouye-Perez has been affiliated with eight of UCLA softball's 12 NCAA championships – two as head coach (2010, 2019), three as an assistant coach (1999, 2003, 2004) and three as a player (1989, 1990, 1992). The Bruins are the all-time winningest program at the Women's College World Series with 107 wins in the tournament's 40-year history, and UCLA has journeyed to Oklahoma City in seven-straight postseasons for the longest active streak in softball. Inouye-Perez leads all active Pac-12 softball coaches with 723 overall victories and 238 conference victories, securing three regular season Pac-12 titles in her tenure as head coach. Inouye-Perez coached Rachel Garcia to two Honda Broderick Cups and three USA Softball Player of the Year awards and produced four 2020 Olympians in Garcia, Bubba Nickels, Delaney Spaulding and Ally Carda. Inouye-Perez and her staff have been consistently recognized for their efforts on and off the field, with the staff being awarded NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year honors in 2010, 2019 and 2021, and Inouye-Perez herself being named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2021. As the starting catcher on three NCAA championship teams, she earned All-Pac-10 honors in 1989, 1990 and 1992 and was named to the All-Women's College World Series Team in 1992.
Ole Mikkelsen, Men's Soccer (1977-80)
The most prolific scorer in UCLA men's soccer history, Mikkelsen re-wrote the program record book during a four-year stint in Westwood. His career marks of 82 goals and 194 points are both school records and still rank No. 7 all-time in NCAA history. He is the lone player in program history with three seasons of 19 or more goals. Mikkelsen was a first- team All-American in 1978 after notching 52 points, and he earned all-region honors in each of his final three seasons as a Bruin. As a senior in 1980, he logged career-bests of 27 goals and 60 points (both second in single-season program history) to become just the third UCLA player all-time with multiple 50-point seasons. Following his time at UCLA, he went on to play parts of five professional seasons in the NASL, MISL, and Western Soccer League.
Dave Saunders, Men's Volleyball (1979-82)
Saunders, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, played on UCLA men's volleyball teams which compiled an overall record of 124-5 and captured three NCAA championships (1979, 1981 and 1982). The 1979 UCLA men's volleyball squad was the sport's first to complete an undefeated season, going 30-0. The 1982 squad also posted an undefeated record (29-0) on its way to the national championship. Saunders' Bruin teams also produced a perfect 49-0 record in Pauley Pavilion matches. Saunders, who earned a gold medal for the U.S. playing in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games, was honored as first-team All-America selection in 1982. He was recognized on the all-conference teams in 1982, 1981 and 1980. Saunders was inducted into the SoCal Indoor Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2019.
Ed Kezirian, Extraordinary Service (Football, Administration)
Kezirian, also known as Coach K, was a standout football player at UCLA and then returned as an assistant coach on some of the most successful teams in school history. After his coaching career, his contributions to his alma mater continued as an administrator for academics and student development, where he helped mentor hundreds of student-athletes throughout their education. An all-conference offensive lineman in 1973 who was presented UCLA's Kenneth S. Washington Award as the team's outstanding senior offensive player, Kezirian helped pave the way for a Bruin rushing attack that led the nation (400.3 yards per game) and an offense which established school records for scoring average (42.7 ppg) and single-season rushing yards (4,403) in 1973. As a coach, he helped guide Bruin teams to wins in eight-straight bowl game appearances, including three Rose Bowl victories in 1983, 1984 and 1986, and as interim head coach at the 2002 Las Vegas Bowl he led the Bruins to victory. Three of the teams for which he served as an assistant coach equaled the school record for wins in a season with 10.