The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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AUGUST 2019 THE WOLVERINE 9 BY ANDREW HUSSEY T he University of Michigan's athletic department re- cently announced its latest Hall of Honor class, with seven former Wolverines earning the nod. Erick Anderson (football), Hal Downes (ice hockey), John Fisher (wrestling), Lara Hooiveld (women's swim- ming and diving), Ron Simpkins (football), Stacey Thomas (women's basketball) and Nick Willis (men's track and field/cross country) will all join the Hall of Honor this year. Those seven Wolverines will be inducted Nov. 15 at the Richard L. Postma Clubhouse at the U-M Golf Course. The benchmarks for selection include being an NCAA champion or member of a national championship team, an All-American, Olympic medalist, Olympic team mem- ber, professional league champion or world championship team member/medalist, NCAA or conference player of the year, conference champion, record holder or all- conference award winner. With the Wolverines, Anderson was a 1991 All-Amer- ican and finished as the program's third-leading tackler with 428 career stops. He also posted 25 tackles for loss, seven sacks, five interceptions and five fumble recoveries. He is the only Wolverine in program history to lead the team in tackles in each of his four seasons. As a senior in 1991, Anderson was named Big Ten Co- Defensive Player of the Year and won the Butkus Award honoring the nation's top linebacker. His 42 starts across four years still rank second among linebackers in program history. Downes led Michigan to an NCAA title in 1951, making 19 saves in a 7-1 victory over Brown, and he earned All- America and NCAA Frozen Four All-Tournament Team honors during his lone season with the Wolverines. Fisher is one of only six four-time All-Americans in program history and was a three-time Big Ten champion at 134 pounds. He had a career record of 183-21 and still holds the program record for all-time victories. After Fisher's collegiate career, he went on to be a U.S. champion in 1992, while also winning a World Cup title five years later and twice serving as an Olympic alternate. Hooiveld came to Michigan after representing Austra- lia at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul as a 17-year-old. She is one of only five Michigan women's swimmers to win an NCAA title, sweeping the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes in 1993, and was the NCAA Swimmer of the Year and Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year. Including relays, she was a five-time All-American and four-time All-America honorable mention. Simpkins was a team captain and consensus All-Ameri- can for the Wolverines in 1979, and he finished his playing career with a program-record 516 tackles across 34 career starts. In 1977, he had 174 tackles, which still stands as a single-season program record. He he was part of three Big Ten title-winning teams in 1976, '77 and '78, and he played in three Rose Bowls (1977, '78 and '79). Thomas finished her women's basketball career with 1,556 points, 851 rebounds and 372 steals. She still ranks seventh in program history in scoring, fourth in rebound- ing and first in steals. In 1997, she earned Big Ten Fresh- man of the Year honors and was a 2000 Kodak All-Amer- ica honorable mention, the first in the NCAA era for the program. Thomas was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the All-Big Ten Team in 2000. Willis won NCAA titles for the Wolverines in the mile (2005) and in the distance medley relay (2004). He broke collegiate records in the indoor 3,000 meters (7:44.90) and distance medley relay (9:27.77) in 2004, and in the 4xMile relay outdoors in 2005. He also owns the outdoor school record at 5,000 meters (13:27.54). ❑ Inside Michigan ATHLETICS Seven Wolverines Earn Entry Into U-M Hall Of Honor Erick Anderson (No. 37), who led the U-M football squad in tackles all four of his seasons in Ann Arbor and was an All-American as a senior in 1991, is among seven former Wolverines that will be inducted into U-M's Hall of Honor Nov. 15. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY