The Southern Arkansas University Department of Athletics has announced that it will add eight new individual members to its Sports Hall of Fame as the 21st class was elected by the Hall's induction committee earlier this summer.
The newest class will be formally inducted during a ceremony at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, October 4 in the Grand Hall of the Donald W. Reynolds Campus and Community Center. The class will also be publicly introduced at halftime of the October 4 Homecoming game against Southern Nazarene.
The 2024 Southern Arkansas University Sports Hall of Fame Class is comprised of eight former student-athletes representing six of the department's athletic programs. Read about the newest members of this year's hall of fame class below.
They include the following:
Brooke Goad - Modern Era (Softball)
No other female athlete in the history of Southern Arkansas Athletics brought more notoriety to the department than Waxahachie, Texas native Brooke Goad.
The most decorated female athlete in the history of the Muleriders, Goad was a key catalyst for Mulerider Softball's rise to national prominence as her illustrious career in Magnolia stands as one of the best ever in all of collegiate softball.
The Texan showcased a plate prowess unmatched at the NCAA Division II level and arguably in the history of NCAA Softball. She finished her celebrated Mulerider career as the Division II career leader in home runs (90) and walks (218) as well as the single season Division II record holder in those categories as well (32 HR, 91 BB; 2018).
Cedric Thornton 鈥� Modern Era (Football)
It was only fitting that the Muleriders signed Arkansas Delta product Cedric Thornton out of Star City because by the time his run ended in Magnolia, the relentless defender had become a star destined for a successful career in the National Football League.
A member of the D2Football.com All-Decade Second Team, Thornton's successes in Mulerider Country included him spending a majority of his time in the opponent's backfield. The defensive lineman recorded 50 career tackles for loss totaling 156 yards to go along with thirteen quarterback hurries and a dozen career sacks; numbers that catapulted him into the upper echelon of defenders that wore the Blue and Gold.
Karonce Higgins 鈥� Modern Era (Football, Track & Field)
The Searcy remained in the Natural State when it came time to take his talents to the collegiate level and to say the Muleriders benefitted would be a vast understatement.
A two-sport star for Southern Arkansas over the course of his career, it was Higgins' 2018 year which resulted in arguably the most dominant 12-month calendar stretch of any athlete in department history. Higgins captured the Great American Conference's High Point Award at the league track and field championships in April, competed in two events at the national championship in May and was named a Harlon Hill Trophy award finalist, the top honor in Division II football and the first Mulerider to reach the final ballot, in December.
Skyler Stromsmoe 鈥� Modern Era (Baseball)
As successful academically as he was athletically, Etzikom, the Alberta, Canada native proved to be one of the program's most versatile players on the field and in the classroom.
Stromsmoe's first season in Magnolia ended with the program's first championship, the 2006 Gulf South Conference Tournament title, of its NCAA membership and its second NCAA regional appearance.
An All-GSC first-team selection in back-to-back seasons, Stromsmoe earned the plaudits at two different positions claiming the honor as an outfielder in 2006 and as a second baseman in 2007.
In his career at SAU, Stromsmoe hit .331 (145-for-438) with 30 doubles, six triples, six homeruns and 76 RBIs. He holds a top ten career ranking in hit-by-pitch (33) which includes a top ten single-season mark of 19.
Brittany Wright Manley 鈥� Modern Era (Volleyball)
The Carlsbad, New Mexico native is not only one of the top Mulerider Volleyball performers of the program's early rally-scoring era, but one of the best to ever represent the Muleriders in over five-plus decades of program history.
A two-time All-Gulf South Conference selection, with first-team recognition in her senior season of 2003, as well as an all-academic team honoree, Wright was the first player in the program's rally-scoring era to earn a superlative all-league accolade when she was named the 2003 GSC West Division Player of the Year.
Val Morris 鈥� Golden Era (Football)
Before SAU Sports Hall of Famers Nik Lewis and Karonce Higgins made their mark as Muleriders, this Shreveport native who set the standard for all other SAU pass catchers to follow.
In the early 1990s, Morris could be found on the gridiron showcasing his exceptional pass-catching abilities. But he could rarely be caught. The speedy wideout hauled in a then-program record 151 passes over four seasons (1990-93), set a new single-game receiving yards record with 216 (vs. Howard Payne; 1992) and became the second wide receiver in program history to cross over 2,000 career receiving yards.
His 838 yards receiving in 1993 set a new program record and he is one of only two in the modern era, of which he became the first, to record two seasons of 750 yards receiving. Morris' career ended with 16 receiving touchdowns; the third-most at the time by any Mulerider pass catcher.
Michael George 鈥� Golden Era (Track & Field)
He played a key part of Southern Arkansas Men's Track and Field's jump to national notoriety. A native of Texarkana, Arkansas, George set the standard for Mulerider jumpers in the mid-1980s. George's 1984 and 1985 seasons are two of the most dominant ever recorded by a Mulerider in the sand and aided an SAU squad that claimed Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference hardware each year.
Sherman Evans 鈥� Golden Era (Track & Field)
A native of Dallas, Texas, he sits among the fastest in a storied history of the Mulerider Men's Track and Field program. Evans was a key part of history in the 1991 season as his blazing efforts as the anchor leg of SAU's 4x100 meter relay team earned the squad a national runner-up finish; the highest postseason result by any group or team in department history.
That '91 campaign saw Evans earn All-Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference honors as a sprinter in addition to All-America acclaim following the Muleriders' silver finish in the 4x100 relay.
