Q. What is the difference between the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame, the Aggie Legacy Award and the Special Recogition Award?
The Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame, or CAAHOF for short, honors past UC Davis student-athletes for what they achieved while competing at UC Davis. There is also a Non-Participant category of the CAAHOF for those being honored for other capacities within UC Davis Intercollegiate Athletics: coaches, support staff, administrators, etc. Note that a person's accomplishments outside of UC Davis (e.g. a subsequent coaching or professional playing career) are not considered for his/her selection.
The Aggie Legacy Award honors past UC Davis student-athletes for their athletics or athletics-related accomplishments
after departing UC Davis. Note that a person's accomplishments while at UC Davis are not considered for his/her selection (these would put a nominee in consideration for the CAAHOF).
The Special Recognition Award honors any individual for their volunteerism to Intercollegiate Athletics. A recipient does not need to be a former UC Davis student-athlete (or even a UC Davis alum) to win; only their contributions of volunteer service are considered for this award.
For a more complete explanation of each award, plus the criteria for selection, please visit
this page.
Q. How do I nominate someone for the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame, the Aggie Legacy Award, or the Special Recognition Award?
Each has its own separate online form, available at the following links:
There is also a
printer-friendly version of the CAAHOF form (which may be used for the other two awards). This can be filled out by hand, then mailed to:
UC Davis Athletics Communications
264 Hickey Gym
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
Q. What if I miss the deadline to nominate someone for the CAAHOF or one of the awards?
A candidate may be nominated
at any time of the year. Any eligible nomination received by January 31, 2022, will comprise the pool of candidates for the Class of 2022. Described another way: If there is such thing as a "window" to nominate, that window is February 1 through January 31.
Q. I'm filling out my nomination form for the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame, but I do not know some of the specifics, like the person's exact awards or their statistics. May I still nominate?
In short, YES. Please do not feel intimidated by the nomination form. We ask that you complete the form to the best of your knowledge, but we also recognize that some information - particularly for those candidates who predated the "information age" - can be difficult to find. Fortunately, the Athletics Communications staff will research your nominee to verify any accomplishments you submitted, fill in any missing info, or provide specifics for any awards. We still request that nominators offer information as best they can. In a few rare cases, a nominator had valuable information on a student-athlete that the athletics department did not have on file.
Some helpful resources are found on this very website, particularly for sports that have record books and/or past media guides in the online archives. You can generally find those documents in the "
History" or "
Additional Links" tabs of each sport's home page. Another treasure trove of information are the
annual year-end recaps, which contain summaries of awards, accomplishments and milestones for each year from 1999-2000 to the present. These documents are always worth a visit, as they might spur some ideas for other CAAHOF nominees.
Q. Who selects the CAAHOF inductees and award winners?
A CAAHOF selection committee is assembled each year, with each member serving a two-year commitment. Each committee consists of past inductees, current administrators, current student-athletes, university staff and faculty, although the precise composition of the committee has changed and evolved over the years. The selection committee is also involved in recommending changes to the CAAHOF or awards, including the future selection criteria itself.
If you would like to serve on this board, or if you know anyone who would make a valuable member, please contact
Tianna Diaz.
Q. I just filled out a nomination. When do I find out if he/she is selected?
The CAAHOF selection committee meets annually to select that year's induction class, plus the Aggie Legacy Award and Special Recognition Award winners (if any). This meeting traditionally takes place in the late spring. After the committee's recommendation receives approval from the Chancellor's office, each inductee or honoree is then contacted by the athletics department to accept his/her award. The announcement of the induction class plus award winners will appear at
UCDavisAggies.com after all honorees accepted their awards.
Q. When is someone eligible for the CAAHOF?
A former student-athlete is eligible to be nominated five years after his/her last collegiate competition. There is no ending date to a person's eligibility, and an honoree may be awarded posthumously.
In the Non-Participant category, a person who has separated from the university is eligible for nomination
immediately. For a Non-Participant who is still employed at the university, five years must have elapsed from the capacity for which he/she is being nominated. (For example, in 1995, Jim Sochor was still serving has the head UC Davis men's golf coach. However, he was being honored for his football coaching career, which ended in 1988.)
When in doubt, nominate! The CAAHOF Committee will never outright disqualify a candidate for being submitted too early. Furthermore, if a former student-athlete is submitted before he/she is eligible, UC Davis Athletics will still accept the nomination and simply hold it until the first class for which he/she is eligible.
Q. Is it possible for an individual to win multiple awards? Multiple CAAHOF inductions?
Yes, and as of the fall of 2019, there are several examples of honorees doing exactly this. In 1984, Pam Gill-Fisher was inducted in the Student-Athlete category for her playing career, then inducted again in 2012 in the Non-Participant category for her coaching and administrative career. Chris Petersen was inducted into the CAAHOF for his playing career (1993), then bestowed with the Aggie Legacy Award for his coaching career (2011). Rolf Benirschke has CAAHOF enshrinement for his playing career (1982) and the Aggie Legacy Award for his NFL career and philanthropic efforts (2013). Will Lotter earned the Special Recognition Award for his efforts with building Aggie Soccer Field (1996), then later entered the CAAHOF for his coaching career (2004).
In theory, one individual could win all four honors: CAAHOF induction as a student-athlete, CAAHOF Non-Participant induction as a non-student-athlete, the Aggie Legacy Award for athletics achievement after departing the university, plus the Special Recognition Award for volunteer service to intercollegiate athletics.
Q. My nominee was not selected for induction. Do I need to resubmit him/her?
This depends on when you nominated. Each nomination - both for the CAAHOF or the other awards - are good for two years. If you submitted your candidate last year, then he/she will automatically be entered into the pool of candidates for next year. If you submitted your candidate two years ago, you will need to resubmit him/her to continue receiving consideration.
If you're not sure when you nominated, you are always welcome to resubmit your candidate at any time. You may also resubmit your candidate after the first year if you wish to strengthen the nomination with additional information. In either case, this will reset the two-year process for your nomination.
Q. When is the CAAHOF induction ceremony? I would like to attend.
Since 2016, the CAAHOF induction and awards ceremony has taken place in the fall on a weekend of a home football game. The announcement of the winners, which will appear on this website, will also include the date of the ceremony. Although formal invitations are mailed out, the event is
open to the public. Thus, even if you did not receive a paper invitation in the mail, you are invited. As the induction ceremony approaches, tickets for this event are available for purchase online.
