Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Athletics Announces 2018 Hall of Fame Class
4/25/2018 12:00:00 AM | General
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- The Marshall University Athletics Hall of Fame Committee has announced the 2018 induction class for the Hall of Fame.
"This class represents some of the finest student-athletes in school history," Marshall Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick said. "The contributions of these fine men and women are truly appreciated by everyone in the Marshall Athletics family."
This year's class (alphabetical order by last names):
Garland Barnhart, Football/Track and Field (1950-54)
Kelly-Anne Billingy, Volleyball (2004-07)
Josh Davis, Football (2001-04)
Dewey Klein, Football (1988-91)
Milla Kuurto, Women's Swimming and Diving (2002-06)
Dave Piepenbrink, Baseball (1987-90)
Sikeetha Shepard-Hall, Women's Basketball/Track and Field (2002-06)
Erica West, Women's Track and Field (1987-90)
Jessica Williams Sweat, Softball (2003-06)
The annual Hall of Fame dinner is scheduled Friday, Sept. 7 at 6:30 p.m., in the Don Morris Room of the Marshall University Memorial Student Center.
Tickets are $35 each and are available through the Marshall University Ticket Office (in the lobby of the Cam Henderson Center on Third Avenue), at HerdZone.com or by calling 1-800-THE-HERD. Tickets purchased after August 31 will be $45.
The Hall members will be guests of the Marshall M Club at the club's tailgate at the southwest corner of Joan C. Edwards Stadium, prior the Thundering Herd's Sept. 8 football game versus Eastern Kentucky. The class will be introduced to the stadium crowd in a pregame ceremony. Kickoff time is still to be determined.
Tickets to the game also are available through the MU ticket office at the numbers or website listed above for banquet tickets.
Garland Barnhart, Football/Track and Field (1950-54)
Barnhart helped Marshall to titles in the Ohio Valley Conference. He competed in the pole vault, high jump, broad jump, shot put, discus and even sprints for the Thundering Herd. Barnhart took second at the 1953 MAC Championships with a pole vault of 12 feet, 8 inches. He lettered three years in track and field for Marshall and scored 14 points for the Herd in its second-straight OVC title run, with a league-record 12 foot, 6 inch pole vault, in addition to two third-place finishes in the high jump and broad jump. Barnhart played freshman football for Marshall in 1950 and lettered in 1952 and 1953 as a 6-foot-1, 188-pound running back.
Kelly-Anne Billingy, Volleyball (2004-07)
Marshall's all-time leader in kills with 2,481, Billingy is also the program's leader in kills per set (5.15) and is second in service aces (192) and hitting percentage (.338). She was a four-time American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-American and was a four-time winner of AVCA All-Midwest Region honors as well. She also garnered AVCA All-Midwest Region Freshman of the Year in 2004 and National Player of the Week acclaim in 2005. In 2006, she led the nation in kills per game (6.61). In Conference USA, she was the three-time Player of the Year (2005-06-07), three-time all-conference, as well as earning honors for the All-C-USA Tournament team in all three of those years as well, which included tournament MVP honors in 2005. She was also on the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll in both 2006 and 2007. The Herd was in the Mid-American Conference in 2004 and she was first-team All-MAC, the MAC Freshman of the Year, earned a spot on the All-MAC Freshman team and captured All-MAC Tournament honors as well. She helped lead the program to C-USA regular season and tournament titles in 2005 and a regular season title in 2007. Following her collegiate career, Billingy continued to play for the Trinidad and Tobago national team.
Josh Davis, Football (2001-04)
A freshman All-American and four-time All-Mid-American Conference honoree (first team in 2001, second team in 2002 and 2004 and honorable mention in 2003), Davis finished his career as Marshall's all-time career leader in total catches with 306, the nation's second-highest total at that time, to go with his 3,889 receiving yards (third-highest in school history). He is second to Marshall Hall of Fame member Randy Moss with 264 single-game receiving yards against Appalachian State on August 31, 2002, while his 15 catches against Akron on November 5, 2004 is also tied for second-most in a single game. He had 13 games of 100 or more receiving yards despite playing alongside Darius Watts (20 games at 100-plus yards) and Denero Marriott (ten games at 100 yards or more). Davis was named to The Sporting News Freshman All-American third team in 2001 and was part of two GMAC Bowl championship squads. Davis played for the Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers during his NFL career and won an NFL Europe championship while representing the Hamburg Sea Devils. He also played professionally for the Salina Bombers of the Champions Indoor Football League.
Dewey Klein, Football (1988-91)
One of the top scorers of all-time for Marshall, Klein is still fifth in scoring with 330 career points and his average of 6.6 points per game is ninth all-time at Marshall. His best individual season came as a senior, scoring 106 points. He led the Thundering Herd in scoring in all four seasons, booting a school-record 19 field goals for its 1988 Southern Conference championship team. His 61 successful point-after attempts as a senior on Marshall's national runner-up squad was a school record that stood for 12 seasons. Klein also set a school record with 10 successful PATs against Morehead State in 1991. Klein also holds Marshall's career field goals made mark still after 25 years, making 54 total (of 77 attempted). He was the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year in 1988, winning the SoCon scoring title that season, and was second-team all-conference in 1988 and 1990. He captured first-team honors in 1989 and 1991.
Milla Kuurto, Women's Swimming and Diving (2002-06)
Kuurto was a four-time, first-team all-conference swimmer, winning three times in the Mid-American Conference and once in Conference USA. She was a six-time conference champion, as well as a two-time NCAA Championships qualifier. Kuurto was ranked in the top 20 nationally in both the 100 butterfly and the 200 butterfly during her sophomore, junior and senior years, amassing 14 school records by the end of her career. She was the 2002-03 MAC Swimmer of the Year and earned Marshall's Dot Hicks Award for the department's female Student-Athlete of the Year. Kuurto was a four-time conference All-Academic selection, as well.
Dave Piepenbrink, Baseball (1987-90)
Piepenbrink was a four-year starter at shortstop for the Thundering Herd and was later a nine-year head coach for the program, amassing 170 wins, good for third all-time in Marshall history. As a player, Piepenbrink is still third all-time in runs scored (150), tied for fourth in total bases (308), fifth in slugging percentage (.642) and walks (98), sixth in doubles (41), seventh in home runs (31) and ninth in runs batted in (113). He was second team All-Southern Conference as a junior, nearly leading Marshall to a tournament title and NCAA bid, and first-team all-league in 1990 as a senior, when he was also named to the All-Southern Conference Tournament team. Piepenbrink was part of the best offensive game in program history, as the Thundering Herd beat Morehead State 35-0 in a game with 34 RBI, 30 hits and 9 home runs.
Sikeetha Shepard-Hall, Women's Basketball/Track & Field (2002-06)
Shepard-Hall earned All-Mid-American Conference Freshman team honors during her first season on the hardwood and was honorable mention All-MAC as a sophomore to go with second team all-league honors as a junior and senior. Hall finished her career as Marshall's all-time leader in 3-pointers made (146) and is still third in scoring (1,609), free throws made (389) and fifth in field goals made (537). She started over 100 games for the Thundering Herd in her career and helped the Thundering Herd reach the MAC Semifinals in 2004 and 2005. The Thundering Herd was 35-15 at the Cam Henderson Center during her career. Shepard-Hall competed in track and field after her basketball career and helped set a school-record in the 4x100 relay (46.78) in May of 2006. Her long jump of 20 feet, three inches qualified her for the NCAA East Regional Championships and she also boasted a 100 meter time of 12.59 seconds.
Erica West, Women's Track and Field (1987-90)
West still holds the school's indoor 55-meter record (7.21 seconds) nearly 30 years later. West contributed to 10 school records by the time she graduated in 1990. A four-year letterman, she was an All-Southern Conference performer all four years she competed in indoor and outdoor track and field, as well as serving as a tri-captain in 1988, 1989 and 1990. She was the 1989 Southern Conference champion in the indoor long jump (19 feet, 6.25 inches) and the outdoor long jump (20 feet, 1.75 inches), while also setting the school record in the outdoor triple jump record (37 feet, 9.75-inches), a mark that stood for 17 years. West helped lead Marshall to Southern Conference runner-up finishes in the 1988 and 1990 outdoor championships. West was a three-time Southern Conference indoor and outdoor long jump champ and an all-league honoree ten times. During her career, she was the school's indoor record-holder in the 55 meters, 200 meters, 300 meters and long jump. She was an outdoor record-setter in the 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meter relay, sprint medley and long jump.
Jessica Williams Sweat, Softball (2003-06)
Williams finished her career at Marshall in the top five of six different career categories including playing in 230 games (tied for second most), scored 125 runs (fourth), at 683 at-bats (fourth) and 64 stolen bases (fifth). She helped Marshall win the MAC Regular Season title in both 2003 and 2005 and a Conference USA runner-up finish in 2006 as part of a graduating class that posted a program-best 143 wins in four seasons. She was named an NFCA All-American Scholar-Athlete in 2003 and earned all-conference honors four times. A three-year captain and recipient of the team's Leadership Award, Williams was also named to the C-USA Commissioner's Academic Award in 2006. She earned her Bachelors of Science degree in Exercise Physiology in May 2007. Following her Marshall playing career, Williams was drafted in the fourth round of the 2006 NPF (National Pro Fastpitch) Draft by the Chicago Bandits and also played for the Rockford Thunder, New England Riptide, Florida (USSSA) Pride and Akron Racers over the course of her six-year professional career. Williams coached for her alma mater as well during her NPF career and was also an assistant for the University of San Diego from 2011-15. Prior to that, she was an assistant coach with Western Carolina in 2008-09.
