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Link to full article - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/7/6/general-cu-athletic-hall-of-fame-announces-class-of-2023.aspx
(Due to Allbuffs character limits, 2nd half/ part of the article I wished to quote is in a second post below.)
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BOULDER — The 18th class to be inducted into the University of Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame this November will feature nine Golden Buffalo athletic legends representing seven different sports, including a popular administrator, along with three additions to the Hall's Legacy Wing and the first females into the Athletic Hall of Honor.
All have their special place in the school's history. The inductees, including three who will be honored posthumously, cover a period starting in the 1940s through the early 2010s, representing six different decades in all. The nine overall hail from football (three athletes including the administrator), with one each from men's basketball, women's basketball, cross country and track, skiing, soccer and track and field.
For the second straight year, four of the inductees are women, matching the most in all 18 classes. The athletic department celebrated the 50th anniversary of Title IX earlier this year.
The 2023 Hall of Fame class will be the 18th inducted into the Hall since it was conceived in 1998, and the 12 will join 142 individuals (the 1959 ski team as a unit and two legacy inductees) who have been enshrined to date (20 previously have been honored posthumously). Those to be inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame are (click on names for complete bios):
- Emma Coburn, Cross Country & Track (2009-13)
- Karol Damon, Track & Field (1989-92)
- Robert Doll, Basketball (1939-42)
- Andre Gurode, Football (1998-2001)
- Bill Harris, Football/Administration (1961-63; 2001-10)
- Clark Matis, Skiing (1967-69)
- Laura Munnelly, Soccer (2003-06)
- Nate Solder, Football (2007-10)
- Brittany Spears, Basketball (2007-11)
Athletic director Rick George personally notified the living members of every class of their impending induction, as well as the next of kin for those who have passed, including the veteran committee's selection. This year's choice was basketball player Robert Doll, CU's second-ever All-American in the sport and the most valuable player in the 1940 NIT that CU won.
All inductees were nominated by their peers or by members of the selection committee; several of the 25 semifinalists emerged from new names submitted over the last three years. There will now be 154 members (plus the '59 ski team, CU's first national champions in any sport) in the CU Athletic Hall of Fame since its inception in 1998, including five in the Legacy Wing and now 73 in the Hall of Honor.
The group – Hall of Fame, Hall of Honor and Legacy Wing – will officially be inducted during Hall of Fame Weekend over the course of Nov. 9-11 (final details pending); they will also be featured in the Pearl Street Stampede parade on Friday night and will be introduced at halftime of the CU-Arizona football game on Saturday, Nov. 11.
Emma Coburn, a six-time All-American at CU, made history as the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic medal in the steeplechase, winning the bronze in the 2016 Summer games in Rio de Janeiro. One of 10 Buffaloes across all sports to have won three or more national titles, she was a three-time NCAA champion, winning titles in 2013 in the mile run (indoors) and the 2011 and 2013 steeplechase (outdoors). She was also a four-time conference champion (three steeplechases, one indoor 3,000-meter run), which helped her being named a three-time co-recipient of CU's Female Athlete of the Year honor (2009-10, 2010-11, 2012-13) and also the co-recipient of CU's Female Career Athletic Achievement Award as a senior. She has gone on to have a most successful professional career since her days at CU.
"I have been a Buffs fan my entire life, so to be inducted into the Hall of Fame makes me feel so honored and proud," Coburn said. "My years as a student-athlete at Colorado were incredibly special. I want to say thank you to my college coaches, Coach (Mark) Wetmore and Coach (Heather) Burroughs, and to my teammates, for making those years such a highlight in my life. Also, thank you to my parents, Annie and Bill, for not only establishing my love of all things CU, but for supporting my athletic career from the early days.
"The biggest thank you is to my husband, Joe Bosshard," she continued. "My high school sweetheart, my college teammate, and my current coach, Joe has helped me reach goals I never thought possible. And thank you to everyone in the athletic department and to Rick George and for all their support!"
Karol Damon was a four-time All-American at Colorado in the high jump (twice indoors, twice outdoors), earning four letters from 1989 through 1992. She still holds CU records for the high jump: indoors (6 feet, 2 inches) that she set at the 1991 NCAA Championships (good for a third place finish) and outdoors (6-3, at the University of New Mexico Invitational in Albuquerque). The 1990 Big Eight Conference outdoor champion (second indoors) and third place finisher in the '90 NCAA Outdoor Championships, she earned the No. 9 amateur ranking in the United States as a collegian. Overall, she had seven top three finishes in the Big 8 indoor and outdoor meets (and one fourth).
A member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team that competed in Sydney, Australia, she did not advance to the finals but cleared 1.89 meters (6 feet, 2¼ inches) in the preliminaries (the top effort by an American) as she was the top ranked female high jumper in the United States that year (Track & Field News). Married to Kansas State head track coach Cliff Rovelto, she recently completed her 20th year on the K-State track and field staff as its director of operations and currently is also one of their assistant coaches.
"Shocked doesn't begin to describe how I felt when I got the phone call telling me I was being inducted," Damon said. "I am humbled to be honored alongside those athletes that have already been inducted and those that are being inducted in this current class. Being an athlete at the University of Colorado set the path that I am on today and I wouldn't change that for anything."
As a sophomore, Robert Doll led CU to the 1940 title in the National Invitation Tournament in New York City, where he was selected as the Most Outstanding Player in leading the Buffaloes to wins over DePaul and Duquesne; he was the tournament's leading scorer with 31 points. CU was the champion of the Mountain States Conference two of his three seasons, with a 43-12 record (29-7 in league play and 21-1 at home). The 6-foot-5 Doll became known for his aggressive defense as he was named a unanimous first-team All-Mountain State Conference player as a senior, when he was also CU's second All-American in the sport, joining one-time teammate Jack Harvey.
After serving in the military during World War II, he returned to the states and became CU's first alum to play professional basketball, for the St. Louis Bombers and Boston Celtics of the Basketball Association of America (later rebranded as the NBA), with a brief stop in-between for the original Denver Nuggets. He was just 40 when he passed away on September 18, 1959.
"On behalf of Bob Doll and his family, we would like to the thank the University of Colorado Hall of Fame and its selection members for recognizing his extraordinary athletic contributions and honoring his memory in such a meaningful way," Doll's grandson, Larry Puttman said.
"Bob's grandparents were Boulder pioneer families," said his niece, Kathy Koehler. "One grandfather fought in the Civil War and the other arrived in Boulder in 1870. At the time of his death, Bob was survived by his wife Dorothy, a son Stacy, his mother, two sisters, two brothers, seven nieces and four nephews.
"This is an honor for my mother's side of our family," she added. "He was my tall Uncle Bob! He was a wonderful man and it was always fun to have him around or go on a road trip with him."
Some eight decades since he last wore a CU uniform, Doll still has a connection to the university. His great grandson, James Puttmann, is a senior at CU pursuing a double major in Finance and Real Estate in CU's Leeds School of Business.
Andre Gurode will be the fifth member of CU's 2001 Big 12 champion team to be inducted into the Hall, joining its head coach Gary Barnett, assistant Brian Cabral, tailback Chris Brown and tight end Daniel Graham. As a senior in 2001, he earned consensus first-team All-America honors when he was on the watch lists for both the Outland and Lombardi awards. He was a unanimous first-team All-Big 12 selection and one of the reasons Colorado averaged over 200 yards both rushing and passing for a full season for only the third time in school history. A two-time first-team All-Big 12 performer as a junior and senior, he earned won the John Mack Award, as selected by the coaches for being CU's most outstanding offensive player his junior year. He was a second round choice by Dallas in the 2002 National Football League Draft (37th player overall), he would play in 161 NFL games (131 starts) with four teams, mostly with the Cowboys (2002-10).
An All-Pro performer at center with Dallas in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, in 2020, he was selected to the Cowboys' Top 60 Roster of all-time players in the franchise's 60-year history.
"It's like a level of appreciation from a place where you played and made sure that you adhered to the established standards on and off the field," Gurode said. "It feels like a great appreciation and a thank you for what you represented to the university. And I need to thank the university for the opportunity to play and for the education I received, and I am very grateful. It also tells me somebody somewhere new what they were doing, to be a part of something special for the Buffaloes and also to be part of the top 60 Cowboys – it all started in Boulder."
The late Bill Harris was a star running back in the early 1960s, earning three letters under three different coaches (Sonny Grandelius, Bud Davis, Eddie Crowder) from 1961-63. As a player, he earned the nickname "Buffalo Bill" and led the team in rushing as a junior in 1962. He was an honorable mention All-Big Eight performer as a sophomore and junior and a second-team selection as a senior, with his positive nature helping the team through a tough time after NCAA violations nearly decimated the program after CU's 1961 Big Eight champion season. As one of the student-athletes not implicated in any wrong doing, he could have transferred practically anywhere, but his love for CU flourished through the years and only grew stronger.
After settling in New Jersey after his playing days in the Canadian Football League, he relocated to Boulder in 2000 to work in CU's Alumni Association office, specifically to strengthen the Black Alumni Association on campus. He soon took over duties as the Alumni C Club director in May 2001 and would serve in the latter for over nine years, the longest tenure of anyone in the position since it was created in 1996, and becoming one of the most popular administrators in CU's athletic history. He passed away in Marina Del Rey, Calif., on April 5, 2022 at the age of 79.
George notified Bill Harris' widow, Sue, of his selection; by pure coincidence, it was the one-year anniversary to the day of the on-campus memorial for her late husband.
"When Rick George called to tell me that Bill had been selected for the Hall of Fame, I was rendered speechless," his widow Sue said. "Bill is on my mind all day, every day, but this day was special. I shared with Rick that it happened to also be the one-year anniversary of the wonderful Celebration of Life for Bill at the Dal Ward Center. What a coincidence and what spectacular news and timing. He would be so very honored and humbled, and I am too. Bill's journey continues, now to the Hall of Fame. Number 33, wow!"
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