Five Added to Hall of Fame Class for 2019
LYNCHBURG,
Va. – Five new members will be inducted into the Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame during a ceremony in September.
The Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019 will
include representatives from baseball, football, men’s basketball, men’s cross country/track & field and women’s basketball.
The five-member class, the
11th to be inducted into the Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame, will be honored during special ceremonies surrounding Liberty’s football matchup with Buffalo on Sept. 14 at Williams
Stadium.
The five-member class includes Renard
Brown (baseball), Johnnie Engelhardt (men’s cross country/track & field), Steve Isaacs (men’s basketball), Mickey Paige (football) and Sharon [Wilkerson] Emory (women’s basketball).
The Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame
induction ceremony will be held Sept. 13 on the Club Pavilion level of the Williams Stadium Tower. Additionally, the five-member class will receive special recognition during the Buffalo contest the
evening following the ceremony.
The Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame
celebrates the best of the best, honoring those who helped shape the face of Liberty Athletics. The Hall of Fame’s now 57 members have each played a key role in helping Liberty grow from an NCCAA
program in 1972 to its current status as a thriving NCAA Division I program.
Renard Brown
Baseball: 1980-82
Renard Brown’s impact on Liberty’s
record book still stands today despite him last stepping on the diamond for the Flames nearly four decades ago.
Brown finished his three-year career
at Liberty with a .376 batting average, which ranks second in school history to fellow Liberty Athletics Hall of Famer Sid Bream. He also ranks inside the top 10 of several other career categories,
including runs (eighth, 153), triples (third, 20) and walks (tenth, 88).
The native of Baltimore, Md., was an
NAIA All-America honorable mention selection in 1981 and helped the Flames advance to the NAIA World Series after winning the NAIA District 19 and Area 8 tournament events. As a senior in 1982, he
led the Flames with a .409 batting average, 56 RBI and 67 hits.
Following his stellar career at
Liberty, Brown was selected in the third round of the 1982 Major League Baseball Draft by the Seattle Mariners. He had a six-year professional baseball career, playing four years in the Seattle
organization and two more for Milwaukee, reaching as high as the AAA level in 1984.
Johnnie Engelhardt
Men’s Cross Country/Track & Field: 1982-84
Following a six-year stint serving
our country in the United States Army, Johnnie Engelhardt came to Liberty where he became the Flames’ first NCAA Division II men’s cross country All-American.
Engelhardt individually placed
12th at the 1983 NCAA Division II Men’s Cross Country National Championship, which earned him All-America status. His 12th-place showing helped Liberty finish in
10th place as a team after the Flames captured the Division II South Regional title. En route to success at nationals, he also helped Liberty claim the program’s first-ever
Mason-Dixon Conference title in 1983 with his third-place showing at the championship event.
The native of Willingboro, N.J., also
found success in the distance events for the Flames’ track & field programs. He earned NAIA All-America honors in the indoor two-mile run in 1983 and was named the MVP of the 1983 NAIA Indoor
District 29 Championship.
Engelhardt still holds the program
record in the marathon when he clocked a second-place time of 2:25.19 in the Carolina Marathon in 1983. He also ranks among the Flames’ all-time top 10 performers in the indoor 1,500 (third place),
outdoor distance medley relay (sixth place) and 10K (10th place).
Steve Isaacs
Men’s Basketball: 1980-83
Liberty’s all-time career leader in
rebounding, Steve Isaacs continually crashed the boards for the Flames to help him become the eighth men’s basketball player to join the Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame.
Isaacs completed his stellar
four-year career with 1,130 career rebounds and is one of only three players in program history with 1,000 career boards. He also ranks fifth in program history, having scored 1,777 career points,
while averaging 14.2 points per game and 9.2 rebounds per contest for the Flames on the hardwood.
The Flames posted a pair of 20-win
seasons during his time at Liberty, including a 28-11 record during his freshman year, which ranks first in school history in wins in a season in the pre-Division I era. Isaacs’ strong play as a
freshman helped the Flames capture the 1980 NCCAA national championship.
Isaacs was named to two All-America
teams during his collegiate career, earning NAIA All-America honorable mention status in 1982 and a spot on the 1983 NAIA All-America second team. The native of Cincinnati, Ohio, finished his career
with 26 20-point games and three 30-point games.
Mickey Paige
Football: 1985-88
Mickey Paige, Liberty’s first NCAA
Division I football All-American, set standards at Liberty that have only been matched by a fellow Liberty Athletics Hall of Famer.
The hometown native of Lynchburg,
Va., finished his four-year career as a Flame with 427 career tackles, which ranks second to 2012 Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame inductee John Sanders. The pair are the only two players in program
history with 400 or more career tackles.
Paige, a linebacker for the Flames,
was a two-time All-American. He earned Football Gazette first-team All-America status in 1997 and was named to the Football Gazette third team in 1988 during the Flames’ first year at the NCAA
Division I level.
Paige finished the last three years
of his career posting 100 or more tackles per season and set program records with 113 assisted tackles and four fumble recoveries in 1988 as a senior. His tackle total of 150 in 1987 still ranks
second in school history, missing the program record by one.
Following his playing days on Liberty
Mountain, Paige signed a free agent contract with the Washington Commandos of the Arena Football League in 1989 where he played for two seasons.
Sharon [Wilkerson] Emory
Women’s Basketball: 1997-2000
Sharon [Wilkerson] Emory is the
second member of a key three-player group to be inducted into the Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame, helping establish women’s basketball as one of the most dominant programs in school history.
Emory, along with her twin sister
Sarah [Wilkerson] Erps and 2009 Liberty Athletics Hall of Famer Elena [Kisseleva] Bengds, helped turn a fledgling women’s basketball program that was 5-22 prior to their arrival into a team that won
four straight Big South titles during her career and made the first four of the program’s 17 trips to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
The native of Princeton, W.Va., ranks
fifth in program history, having scored 1,733 career points, and is the program’s all-time leader with 304 career steals. She also ranks second in career three-point field goals (172), three-point
field goal percentage (36.3) and minutes played (3,712) and fourth in free throws (361) and free throw shooting percentage (77.3).
Emory was a four-time All-Big South
first-team honoree and was named to the Big South All-Tournament team three times. During her senior year, she was honored as the 2000 Big South Player of the Year after she averaged 13.9 points per
game and shot 47.6 percent from the field (159-of-334) and 38.5 percent from three-point range (37-of-96).
Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame
Class of 2009 (Inaugural Class)
Dr. Jerry Falwell (founder/former University chancellor)
Arthur L. Williams (athletics financial supporter)
Elena (Kisseleva) Bengds (women’s basketball)
Bob Bonheim (wrestling and football coach)
Sid Bream (baseball)
Kelvin Edwards (football)
Karl Hess (men’s basketball)
Class of 2010
Theresa Bream (women’s basketball/volleyball)
Gina Gibson (women’s track & field)
Lee Guetterman (baseball)
Chip Smith (football)
Al Worthington (baseball coach and athletics director)
Class of 2011
Paul Annan (men’s soccer)
Fred Banks (football)
Bill Bell (men’s soccer coach)
Jerry Edwards (radio play-by-play)
Heather (Sagan) Zealand (women’s cross country/track & field)
Class of 2012
Jesse Castro (wrestling)
Mark Chafin (men’s basketball)
John Sanders (football)
Sharon Snodgrass (women’s basketball)
Ryan Werner (men’s track & field)
Class of 2013
Anthonia (Akpama) Oyedele (volleyball)
Bailey Alston (men’s basketball)
Brenda Bonheim (volleyball and women’s basketball coach/SWA)
Nancy (Davis) White (women’s soccer)
Robby Justino (football)
Class of 2014
Mike Decker (men’s track & field)
Wayne Haddix (football)
Matt Hildebrand (men’s basketball)
Jake Matthes (men’s cross country/track & field coach)
Delethea Quarles (women’s track & field)
Class of 2015
Eric Green (football)
Mike Hatch (wrestling)
Katie [Feenstra] Mattera (women’s basketball)
Sam Rutigliano (football coach)
Pat Sipe (baseball)
Class of 2016
Annie Hunt Fairchild (women’s cross country/track & field)
Steve Kearns (football)
Todd Setsma (men’s golf)
Randy Tomlin (baseball)
Ed Vickers (men’s basketball)
Class of 2017
Sam Chelanga (men’s cross country/track & field)
Julius Nwosu (men’s basketball)
Katie [Phillips] Bigham (softball)
Richard Shelton (football)
Dave Williams (strength and conditioning coach)
Class of 2018
Peter Aluma (men’s basketball)
Rashad Jennings (football)
Frank Landrey (men’s golf coach)
Danielle [McNaney] Detmer (women’s track & field)
Warren Stewart (wrestling)
Class of 2019
Renard Brown (baseball)
Johnnie Engelhardt (men’s cross country/track & field)
Steve Isaacs (men’s basketball)
Mickey Paige (football)
Sharon [Wilkerson] Emory (women’s basketball)