Eight UCLA alumni will be inducted in the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame this fall. The new members have a combined 26 NCAA team and individual championships and six Olympic medals over their careers. The group of 2016 inductees also includes an NBA All-Star, Super Bowl champion and a Women’s College World Series Most Outstanding Player.
One of the most decorated Bruins in history, Adam Krikorian secured another honor before heading to the 2016 Olympics as the coach of the U.S. Olympic women’s water polo team. Krikorian won 15 national championships as a Bruin, including five straight titles with the UCLA women’s water polo team from 2005 to 2009 as co-head coach. The former All-American led the national team to its first Olympic gold medal in 2012 and was named Pac-12’s Women’s Water Polo Coach of the Century earlier this year.
Natalie Golda, one of the players Krikorian coached, will also be inducted. With Krikorian’s guidance, Golda won three NCAA titles as a student athlete in 2001, 2003 and 2005. She also won two Olympic medals – a bronze in 2004 and silver in 2008 – and two FINA World Championship gold medals in 2003 and 2007 as a member of the national team. The defender was recently named to the Pac-12 All-Century team and elected to the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame.
Fellow Olympian Jamie Dantzscher earned a Hall of Fame nod as well. The former gymnast won a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics before coming to Westwood. In her collegiate debut, Dantzscher scored a perfect 10 on uneven bars – the first of a school-record 28 over her career. She led the Bruins to three team titles and captured four individual titles. The 15-time All-American and 2002 Pac-10 Gymnast of the Year earned Pac-12 All-Century Team honors in the all-around and floor exercise.
Track and field athlete Mike Marsh is another Olympian headed to the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame. The sprinter won two gold medals in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and a silver in 1996. During his college career, Marsh captured two NCAA team titles, three Pac-10 titles and five individual conference titles.
His 10.07 time in the 100-meter and 20.35 time in the 200-meter are second and sixth in school history respectively. Marsh was also a member of the 4×100-meter relay team that set a world record in Barcelona and set the Olympic record in the 200-meter that same year.
Former NCAA champion Chris Henderson is also headed for the hall of fame. The men’s soccer standout led the Bruins to the 1990 national title, capturing first-team All-American honors the same year. Henderson earned 79 caps for the national team, and was a member of the 1992 Olympic team and an alternate for the 1994 and 1998 World Cup teams. He played 317 games in Major League Soccer from 1996 to 2001 before retiring as the league’s all-time leader in games played.
Softball alumna Julie Adams led the Bruins to the finals of the Women’s College World series in 1999. Also named the Most Outstanding Player, Adams dislocated her shoulder in the first game but hit .667 in the tournament and drove in two runs in the championship game. The two-time All-American was also the 1996 Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year and competed with the U.S. National Team for three years.
Fellow inductee Baron Davis also overcame an injury during his time in Westwood. The former-No. 1 point guard recruit tore his ACL in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 1998. As a freshman, he started 31 games and led the team with 161 assists and 77 steals. Davis upped his scoring in his sophomore season with 15.9 points per game, earning first-team All-Pac-10 honors. After declaring for the draft, he was selected third overall by the Charlotte Hornets. Davis played in the NBA for 13 years and was a two-time All-Star.
Rounding out the 2016 class is football player Wendell Tyler. Tyler helped the Bruins upset then-top-ranked Ohio State in the Rose Bowl back in 1976. The running back totaled 172 rushing yards including a 54-yard touchdown run in the win. He finished his career as the program’s all-time leading rusher with 3,181 yards and a career average of 6.04 yards per carry. In 1975, he set then-school records for single-season rushing yards and yard-per-carry.
Tyler played with the St. Louis Rams and San Francisco 49ers for 10 years and won a Super Bowl in 1986 with the 49ers. He ended his professional career with 66 touchdowns, 6,300 yards rushing and more then 1,800 yards receiving.
The 2016 hall of fame class will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sept. 30 and then honored during the UCLA-Arizona football game on Oct. 1.