March 10, 2011
DAVIS, Calif. - The UC Davis athletics department will induct five former student-athletes and two former coaches into the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame during its June 4 ceremonies, it was announced by Director of Athletics Greg Warzecka. The Hall of Fame honors outstanding achievements and distinction in Aggie intercollegiate athletics. The inductees are chosen by the CAAHOF Advisory Board, with final approval by Chancellor Linda Katehi.
Former women's gymnastics coach Ray Goldbar and volleyball/softball/women's golf mentor Kathy DeYoung will both enter the CAAHOF as non-participant honorees. Alphabetically, the student-athlete inductees are Jason Cox (basketball), Matt DeJong (soccer), Scott Gordon (golf), Greg Lee (tennis) and Tony Moore (track and field).
Additionally, former Aggie quarterback and current Boise State head coach Chris Petersen has been bestowed with the inaugural Aggie Legacy Award, which honors past UC Davis student-athletes for achievements made subsequent to their departure from the campus. Molly Goldbar, wife of Ray Goldbar, will receive the Special Recognition Award for volunteer service to the athletics department.
DeYoung assumed the helm of the softball and women's volleyball teams upon her arrival in the 1978-79 year. She led volleyball to five straight AIAW or NCAA tournament appearances before concentrating her duties on softball. On the diamond, DeYoung amassed a 777-402-2 record, guiding UC Davis to 13 NCAA postseason appearances - including the 2003 national title. After stepping down from softball, she launched the university's new varsity women's golf program, leading the Aggies to a 21st-place finish at the NCAA Championship in the program's first year as an official Division I member.
Ray Goldbar arrived at UC Davis in 1974 to revive the men's and women's gymnastics programs, a then-defunct former club. He served as men's coach until the program was discontinued in the late 1980s, then took over the women's program from 1989 to 2006. Goldbar earned USAG Collegiate Division Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2006. His men's teams finished third at the NCAA Division II championships in 1980 and 1981, while his women's team captured the 1999 USAG national team title.
Cox is perhaps best remembered for hitting the game-winning shot in the 1998 NCAA Division II title game against Kentucky Wesleyan. He is one of just three players in Aggie men's basketball history to earn first-team All-Region honors, and one of only two to capture first-team all-conference distinction three times. Cox, who holds the school record with 154 career blocked shots, finished his career among the all-time UC Davis leaders in scoring (1,292), rebounding (533) and steals (121).
DeJong excelled both on and off the soccer field during his career from 1997 to 2000. As a defender, midfielder and striker, he started 80 straight games and set a school record with 26 career assists. He captured All-Far West Region and All-California Collegiate Athletic Association honors for three consecutive seasons, improving to first-team distinction in both as a senior. In the classroom, DeJong was a three-time Academic All-District winner and 2000 Academic All-American who earned the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering Citation Award as the top graduating senior.
Gordon became the first UC Davis golfer to win the Colby E. "Babe" Slater Award for male athlete of the year, which he achieved in 2004. He also was the first to average under par for a season, posting a 71.54 average round as a senior. Gordon earned third-team All-America honors as a freshman and honorable mention as a sophomore, while claiming two all-region awards. Last December, Gordon became his program's first alumnus to earn a PGA Tour card, finishing in a tie for 27th place during the final stage of "Q-School" qualifying tournaments.
A four-time All-American and a ranked player on the ATP World Tour as an amateur, Lee achieved both as an athlete and a scholar during his career in the early 2000s. He won three consecutive ITA All-America accolades in singles as one of the nation's top 20 players, then added doubles All-America status with teammate Paul Dilloway as a senior. Additionally, Lee was a finalist for National Senior Player of the Year and recipient of the Colby E. "Babe" Slater Award in 2003. As a computer science major, he earned Academic All-District VIII honors three times plus Academic All-America acclaim as a senior. Lee added an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Award and an Arthur Ashe, Jr. Minor Sports Scholar honor.
Moore won a total of five All-America awards as a pole vaulter, including the 2001 NCAA outdoor title. He won his first outdoor All-America honor in 1998 despite a sprained ankle, finished second to teammate Trevor Boler at the national indoor meet in 2000, then took down the 2001 outdoor championship with a school-record vault of 17 feet, 6.5 inches. Like DeJong and Lee, Moore was decorated for his scholarly pursuits as well, earning Academic All-District distinction. As a graduate student in mechanical engineering, he competed in his final outdoor season then served as an assistant coach, eventually combining his two areas of expertise with a published contribution in Engineering Of Sport 5.
Petersen, winner of the new Aggie Legacy Award, has coached at various levels of collegiate football since graduating from UC Davis in 1987. He served as an assistant at his alma mater (1987-91), Pittsburgh (1992), Portland State (1993-94), Oregon (1995-2000) and Boise State (2001-05), then took over as the Broncos' head coach in 2006. Since then, Petersen has compiled a 61-5 record, earned two Paul "Bear" Bryant National Coach of the Year awards and a Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year nod; and guided BSU to wins at the 2007 and 2010 Fiesta Bowl games. As an Aggie student-athlete, Petersen earned Associated Press All-America honors in 1986, capping a career in which he set or tied 16 school passing records. He was inducted into the CAAHOF in 1993.
Molly Goldbar earned the Special Recognition Award for volunteer contributions. During the entirety of Ray's coaching career, she served as meet director for every home gymnastics meet, including the 1980 and 1983 NCAA Championships. Her duties included but were not limited to: presiding over the sport's rigid warmup schedule, coordinating volunteer teams of "runners and flashers" who deliver official results to the meet desk and spectators; and providing hospitality for judges, media and other guests.
The Legacy and Special Recognition award presentations and the CAAHOF inductions take place during a year-end banquet that also features the annual student-athlete awards, namely the Colby E. "Babe" Slater Award for the outstanding male athlete of the year, the Hubert Heitman Award for the top female athlete of the year, the W.P. Lindley Award for scholar-athlete of the year, and the Lysle Leach and Marya Welch team GPA awards. The winners of these annual awards will be announced in mid-May.
The 2011 CAAHOF Induction and Student-Athlete Awards banquet takes place at Freeborn Hall on Saturday, June 4. Tickets are available by contacting Ashley Pierce in Athletics Development at (530) 757-3141.
