UCLA men’s volleyball head coach Al Scates headlines an
eight-member class that will be inducted into the UCLA Athletics
Hall of Fame. The others are Danny Everett, Lisa Fernandez, Brad
Friedel, Ryan McGuire, Pooh Richardson, Don Rogers and Tim
Wrightman.
Invitation-only ceremonies will be held Oct. 3 in the Morgan
Center, where the Hall of Fame is located, and the group will be
introduced at the Rose Bowl during halftime of the UCLA football
game the following afternoon.
“This is very important to me,” said Scates, who is
set to begin his 42nd year as coach with 1,059 wins and 18 NCAA
championships under his belt.
“It’s much more meaningful to go in while
you’re still alive.”
Scates would not be able to be inducted had it not been for a
change in the Hall of Fame bylaws. Previously, a coach was required
to have been retired for five years in order to be eligible.
Scates said booster Jerry Goldberg tried for years to change the
rule so that Scates would be considered. When Goldberg passed away
in July, Larry Rundle, one of Scates’ former players and a
1994 inductee continued the cause and ultimately got his way.
For a current head coach to be eligible, he must now have 15
years of service or four national championships.
“They’re referring to it as the “˜Al Scates
rule,'” Scates said.
Scates, who played for UCLA from 1961 to 1963, conceivably could
have been inducted as a player, just as current softball coach Sue
Enquist was in 1993.
“But I guess they didn’t think I was that good of a
player,” Scates, a former U.S. national team member, said
with a laugh.
Fernandez is arguably the most accomplished player in
women’s softball history. As a pitcher and third baseman at
UCLA from 1990 to 1993, she won All-America honors four times. She
also won two national championships with the Bruins.
Currently a UCLA volunteer assistant coach, she still holds a
school pitching record 93-7 with 74 shutouts. She went on to star
on the 1996 and 2000 Olympic teams that won the gold medal.
Friedel, now one of the best goalkeepers in the world, played
from 1990 to 1992 at UCLA. Friedel played on the 1994, 1998 and
2002 U.S. World Cup teams and is currently playing professionally
with Blackburn of the English Premier League.
Richardson started at guard from 1986 to 1989 and still remains
second all-time on the Pac-10 assist list. The Minnesota
Timberwolves selected Richardson with the 10th overall pick in the
NBA draft, and he went on to play with the Indiana Pacers and Los
Angeles Clippers in his 10-year professional career.
McGuire was an All-America first baseman and relief pitcher for
UCLA from 1991 to 1993. He is currently in the Minnesota Twins
organization and has played in the major leagues for the Montreal
Expos, New York Mets, Florida Marlins and Baltimore Orioles.
Former football teammates and All-Americans in safety Don Rogers
(1980 to 1983) and tight end Tim Wrightman (1978 to 1981) were also
inducted. Rogers won two Rose Bowls and died of a cocaine overdose
in 1986.
Everett ran the 400 meters and relays from 1986 to 1988 and led
the Bruins to national championships. He went on to win a bronze
medal in the 400m and a gold medal in the 1600m relay in the 1988
Olympic Games in Seoul.