CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (Chambana Today) — The University of Illinois will induct 11 new members into its Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, October 10, at 7 p.m. at State Farm Center. The event is free and open to the public, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. Inductees will also be honored during halftime of Saturday’s football game against Ohio State.
This ninth Hall of Fame class includes standout athletes and one coach representing eight sports: football, basketball, baseball, track and field, swimming and diving, softball, and women’s basketball.
Among the honorees is legendary women’s basketball coach Theresa Grentz, the only non-athlete in the class. Grentz led the Illini to their only Big Ten title in 1997 and is enshrined in both the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Football is represented by quarterback Kurt Kittner, who led Illinois to the 2001 Big Ten title, and Joe Rutgens, a 1960 All-American and NFL Pro Bowler.
Olympian Jane Fauntz Manske brings history to the class as a 1932 Olympic bronze medalist in diving. Baseball great Scott Spiezio, a 12-year MLB veteran and two-time World Series champion, also joins the Hall.
Track stars Benita Kelley Babridge and Aspen Burkett, roommates and sprinting powerhouses in the late ’90s, each earned multiple All-America and Big Ten honors. Middle-distance runner Mike Durkin, a two-time U.S. Olympian, also earned nine Big Ten titles during his Illini career.
Other inductees include softball All-American Meredith Hackett Kindt, basketball standout Kiwane Garris, and Gene Vance, a star on the Whiz Kids teams of the 1940s who also served as Illinois athletics director.
The Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame, established in 2017, now includes 154 members representing all varsity sports.
