All-Americans Cody Cleveland (wrestling) and Park Lockrow (tennis), golf star Emma de Groot, former NFL running back Jerry Ellison and six-time Southern Conference women’s basketball coach of the year Wes Moore comprise the 2019 class of inductees for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Athletics Hall of Fame, as announced Friday.
The five will be honored officially along with four special award winners at a March 1 banquet at the Chattanooga Golf and Country Club. It is open to the public but costs $50 and requires reservations through the office of development and alumni affairs at 423-425-4785. For information, email Jayne-Holder@utc.edu.
Soccer senior Masey Fox is getting the A.C. “Scrappy” Moore Award for excellence in the three C’s of classroom, competition and community; Star Holdings CEO and UC Foundation trustee Charles Cofield the Gordon Davenport Award for outstanding support of UTC athletics; veteran NFL official Lee Dyer the Joe Morrison Award for notable achievement and life experiences for a former Mocs athlete or coach; and longtime local broadcaster and UTC basketball public-address announcer Scott McMahen the Harold Wilkes Award for leadership in a staff, administrative or volunteer role with the athletic department.
Moore, whose current North Carolina State team is 19-0 and ranked eighth in the nation, is the only coach to lead three schools to NCAA tournaments in all three divisions. In his 1999-2013 time at UTC, his teams won 12 SoCon regular-season championships and nine league tournaments and went 358-113. Ellison was the Mocs’ leading rusher in 1992 and 1993, had two 200-yard rushing games – including the program’s second-biggest at 231 and second-longest run at 95 – set the UTC record of three kickoff returns for touchdowns and played in 76 NFL games in five seasons with Tampa Bay and New England.
Lockrow was a top tennis player from 1973 to 1976 and was a Division II All-American as a senior, and he continued to shine locally as a coach. Cleveland won 75 matches as a Moc and three SoCon individual titles and was a 2008 All-American and the 2009 SoCon wrestler of the year. DeGroot was a four-time all-conference honoree and the 2008 freshman of the year and 2011 SoCon women’s golfer of the year. She won six tournaments while at UTC.