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Six New Members Set for DePaul Hall of Fame
Jan. 3, 2011
CHICAGO – DePaul University’s Athletics Department will be inducting six new members into its Hall of Fame on Jan. 23 at a banquet to culminate Hall of Fame weekend. Representing men’s basketball will be Terry Davis, whose 1,534 career points rank eighth all-time in DePaul history. The 6-foot, 4-inch guard helped lead the Blue Demons to the NCAA tournament in the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons and to the third round of the NIT in the 1989-90 season. First-Team All-American Latasha Byears is being inducted after finishing her women’s basketball career as DePaul’s all-time leader in career scoring average (24.5 points) and rebounding average (11.1). She also set single-season records for scoring average (26.4 points) and field goals (311) in 1994-95. Byears led the Blue Demons to the first round of the NCAA tournament in 1994-95 and the NCAA second round the following season. She scored 35 points in an 87-79 loss to George Washington in the 1995 NCAA opener. Mabel Landry Staton is being inducted after a distinguished career in track that saw the 1954 DePaul graduate finish seventh in the long jump at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. Her jump of 19 feet, three inches in the preliminaries set an Olympic record. The four-time, national long jump champion won a gold medal in the 400-meter relay and a bronze medal in the 60-meter dash at the 1955 Pan Am Games in Mexico City. She is the co-holder of the American 50-yard dash record and won five national titles in the 50 and 60-yard dashes. Staton was unable to compete in college because DePaul did not have a women’s track team when she attended the university from 1951-54. Jenny Bruno is being inducted after the First Team, All-Mideast Region honoree helped lead DePaul’s softball team to a 42-17 record and its first appearance in the NCAA tournament in 1994. Bruno, who ranks fifth in single-season RBI (50 in 1994), also sparked the Blue Demons to their first-ever postseason tournament---the NIT in 1992. She finished up at DePaul fifth all-time in career assists. The Hall of Fame welcomes Mark Gant into its hallowed membership after the track and field standout set school records in the indoor and outdoor high jump. Upon graduation in 1989, he also held school records in the indoor long jump and the outdoor long jump and triple jump. He was the track team’s Most Outstanding Performer for three consecutive seasons and won the Rev. Edward F. Riley Award in 1989. Gant was named All-Central Collegiate Conference in 1987 after finishing second in the high jump at the outdoor conference meet. The Class of 2011 recipient for the Dr. Robert Hamilton Special Service Award is 1982 graduate Joni Phillips, the most generous benefactor of DePaul Athletics in school history. Phillips has donated the largest gift in DePaul Athletics history and has purchased numerous rings for student-athletes to commemorate NCAA and conference team titles. The names on the Athletic Director’s Suite and the McGrath Arena balcony reflect her generosity. The basketball arena in the Sullivan Athletics Center will be re-named the McGrath-Phillips Arena early in 2011. The six new inductees to the Hall of Fame will be introduced at the men’s basketball game against Pittsburgh Jan. 22 at Allstate Arena and the women’s basketball game against Seton Hall later that evening at McGrath Arena. On Jan. 23, a Hall of Fame memorial service will be conducted at 10 a.m. in the Sullivan Athletic Center, 2323 N. Sheffield Ave. where the life of Hall of Famer Joseph Cesena will be celebrated. Cesena passed away in 2010. The Hall of Fame social hour follows at 11 a.m. with the banquet at 11:30 a.m.and the induction ceremony at noon. Tickets are $40 with a table of 10 available for $400. Please RSVP with payment by Jan. 18 to Cathy Ramsey at 773-325-7504 or cramsey1@depaul.edu.
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