Colorado University Athletics
Athletic Hall Of Fame To Welcome 11 Buff Legends
May 11, 2015 | Men's Golf
BOULDER - The 11th class that will be inducted into the University of Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame this November 5 will feature a diverse group of 11 Golden Buffalo legends who all left indelible marks while attending school and many who went on to great heights once their college days came to an end.
The 11, two of whom will be honored posthumously, represent nine different sports over a period that spans from the late 1930s to the middle of last decade, or touching upon eight decades in all. Included in the group are three of the most dominant players in the school's basketball history – two men and one woman – the most valuable player of CU's 1990 national championship football team, others with incredible individual accomplishments and two non-athletes that served the school well for a combined 62 years.
The 2015 class will be the second-largest inducted into the Hall since it was conceived in 1998, and the 11 will join 68 individuals (and the 1959 ski team) who have been enshrined to date (nine have been honored previously after their deaths).
Athletic director Rick George personally notified eight members of the upcoming class of their impending induction, as well as the next of kin for the two deceased inductees. “This is a great class, a diverse class across several sports, and all are excited and very honored to be included – some were even brought to tears and were real emotional when they got the news,” George said. (The 11th member of the class, who lives in England, was tracked down through Email by a staffer who was in college in Boulder with him.)
Those set for induction this fall (click on name for full bio):
It would be hard to find a performer who accomplished more in just two seasons at Colorado, in fact, Billups may have set the bar. A first-team All-American and unanimous All-Big 12 performer as a sophomore in 1996-97, he led the Buffaloes to a 22-10 record, a second place finish in the inaugural season of the Big 12, and CU's first NCAA Tournament appearance in 28 years. He averaged 18.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 55 games before declaring for the NBA Draft, where he was the highest Buffalo every drafted (third overall); he went on to play 17 seasons in the league, most notably leading Detroit to the 2003-04 title and being named the Finals MVP in the process.
Jon Burianek faithfully served the athletic department for 38 years, retiring in 2006, though he recently has returned on a part-time basis working home football games; he was truly one of the athletic department's "home grown" veterans. The last 24 years of his tenure he served as the associate athletic director for internal affairs; he was named a senior associate AD in 1999, with the added responsibility of facilities development to his role. His first job was a student assistant in the business office in the late 1960s, and in 1970, he was named ticket manager, a position he held until 1987. In 1979, he became an assistant athletic director, assuming the duties of business manager. He finished his career working 415 consecutive CU football games (home, road and neutral), as the streak started with Colorado's 49-19 win at Air Force in 1970.
Bill Fanning was a four-time letterman in baseball (1946-49), earning All-Big 7 honors as a pitcher and utility infielder as a senior. He was 5-3 that year with 44 strikeouts in 52 2/3 innings, with a 3.08 earned run average. As a junior, he led CU to a sweep at Oklahoma, winning both games and batting .750; in the first game, he played seven different positions. He was 6-2 overall that year, with 51 strikeouts in 60 2/3 innings with a 2.23 earned run average. The Buffs were 40-23-1 during his career, which saw CU jump from the Mountain States to the Big 7 prior to his junior year. In 1954, he took over as the head baseball coach at Grand Junction High School and retired 35 years later as a Western Slope coaching legend. In 1998, he was inducted into the National High School Sports Hall of Fame, and in 2002, into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. He passed away Feb. 8, 2013 at the age of 91.
A member of four NCAA champion teams, he was the first Buffalo to be crowned as a giant slalom champion, winning the event as a junior in 1977; he then captured the slalom title two days later, pulling off the rare sweep. A two-time, first-team All-American (1976, 1977) and an honorable mention performer as a freshman (1975). He was the only collegiate skier to be invited to race in the World Cup Series in '77, when he was also selected to be on the U.S. Alpine program's developmental team. After his racing career, he served as head coach and director of the United States Disabled Ski Team for four years. He relocated to Lexington, Ky., in 2002, trading the ski slopes for bluegrass and horse farms, coinciding with his being named as the executive director of the U.S. Dressage Federation. (Name is pronounced “steff-en hench.”)
Nicknamed the “Chief” because of his Native American ancestry, he was the head coach of CU's baseball team for 24 seasons (1946-69), the longest tenured of any CU head coach in the sport. He also was an assistant football coach for 15 seasons under three different head coaches between 1941 and 1958. He compiled a 257-255-2 record as head coach during a time in which he led the program into a transitional phase from the Mountain States Conference to the Big 7. He coached many CU football players into baseball stars, most notably Frank Bernardi, who had never played the sport before and would eventually become a .383 hitter. He was an assistant professor in physical education from 1941 until his retirement from the faculty in 1976, and was credited with initiating rope skipping as a popular school activity for a fitness regime, and later taught boxing. He passed away in Boulder in 1992 at the age of 85.
The most valuable player on CU's 1990 national championship team, he was a first-team All-Big Eight performer at wide receiver, also garnering honorable mention All-American honors (UPI). He was CU's Male Athlete of the Year for all sports for the 1990-91 season. Playing on teams that ran the ball roughly 82 percent of the time, he had 47 career receptions for 1,241 yards and 10 touchdowns; his 26.4 yards per catch set and remains the best in school history for players with 30 or more receptions. He was just the sixth player at the time of his graduation (and one of just 13 overall) to record 500 yards both rushing and receiving in a CU career, and his 17.9 average per touch on offense is by far the best in school history. As a senior in 1990, he scored 11 touchdowns – those covered 537 yards or 48.8 on average per score, another school standard that remains intact. One of nine Buffs selected in the 1991 NFL Draft, he was the first taken, selected by Atlanta in the first round and the No. 13 pick overall and went on to play nine seasons in the leagueAfter his playing career, he relocated back to his native Las Vegas where among his many ventures did color commentary on the UNLV radio network; he also spent some time back in Colorado, where he was also regular on TV and radio during football season.
A four-time letterwinner (1993-97), she is one of just three Buffaloes with membership in the 1,000-point, 1,000 rebound club (the second to accomplish the feat at the time). Scholz was a mainstay on four NCAA Tournament teams, three of which advanced to the Sweet 16 including the 1995 Elite Eight. Her 1,621 points ranked third on CU's all-time list at the end of her career (currently 7th) and her 1,067 rebounds still rank second all-time. She was a 1996 All-Big Eight first team pick as a junior and earned second team All-Big 12 honors in 1997. A two-time WBCA All-Region/Honorable Mention All-American (1996 & '97), she was part of two regular season Big Eight championship teams (1994, '95) and three straight conference tournament titlists: the final two Big Eight events (1995 & '96) and the inaugural 1997 Big 12 Tournament Championship. She was selected by Portland in the fourth round of the 1997 ABL draft, she entered the coaching ranks after her playing days. Following coaching stints with Utah State (assistant coach, 2006-10) and Fresno Pacific (head coach, 2010-13), she's currently an assistant at Grand Canyon University.
One of the first dominant long distance runners in program history, in four seasons at CU, he earned a total of 12 letters in cross country, indoor and outdoor track combined. He was a two-time national champion, winning the NCAA Cross Country title in 1982 and the two-mile run in 1983. He won a record 17 Big Eight Conference individual titles, 14 on the track and three in cross country (he broke the previous league mark of 14). Scrutton won four indoor Big 8 3-mile titles (1980-83), four outdoor Big 8 3-mile titles (1980-83), three 10,000-meter run titles (1980-83) and three indoor 2-mile titles (1981-83). He was a nine-time All-American, earning honors three times on the cross country course (1980-82) and six on the track. He was named CU's Male Athlete of the Year for 1982-83 and won the 1983 BolderBOULDER shortly after graduation (the only Buffalo male to ever win the hometown 10K). He relocated back to his native Great Britain where he is a top anesthesiologist.
A two-time first-team All-Mideast Region selection by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, though under present rules, she would be a two-time honorable mention All-American using the exact same selection process. Vranesh was largely considered by head coach Brad Saindon as the key to the Buffaloes reaching the national stage in volleyball: she was a first-team All-Big Eight setter in 1992 and '93 and led the Buffs to the 1992 and '93 Big Eight Tournament Championships and the outright 1993 Big Eight title. She left CU as the Big Eight's all-time leading setter, and led the NCAA in assists in 1991, still the only CU player to lead the NCAA in a statistical category. The Buffs were 47-19, including 20-4 in the Big Eight, in her final two seasons, winning one conference championship and two conference tournaments.
A three-time letterman for Sox Walseth, he still ranks 19th all-time on CU's scoring charts with 1,251 career points (16.7 per game, which remains eighth-best for a player with 75-plus games in a Buff uniform). At the time of his graduation, he was CU's fourth all-time leading scorer and rebounder. He twice earned All-Big Eight Conference honors, leading the Buffs in scoring as a junior (17.7 per game in 1972-73) and as a senior (20.0 in 1973-74, and was a second-team member of the conference's all-decade team for the 1970s. The sixth overall pick in the 1974 NBA Draft by the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, he would go on to a 13-year NBA career with Kansas City, Cleveland and Boston, playing in 906 games with a 13.2 career scoring average. Wedman was the first former Buffalo to play on an NBA championship team, winning two rings with the Celtics (1984, 1986). He was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.
The first African-American to play varsity golf at CU, and believed to be the first black player to earn any kind of All-American distinction when he garnered honorable mention honors in 1977. He often played his best in the Big 8 Championship tournaments, first tying for 16th as a sophomore in 1975, then tying for fifth as junior in 1976 and placing sixth as a senior, when he earned an individual berth in the NCAA Championships. He competed for two-and-a-half years on the PGA Tour after his collegiate days, and qualified for two U.S. Opens and a PGA Championship. Since his competitive days on the Tour, he settled back in the Denver area where he has had a major impact on the game, including as the director of golf for the city of Denver, co-founding the First Tee of Denver and his current role as general manager and director of golf at Foothills Park & Recreation District in Denver.
All inductees were nominated by their peers in the Alumni C-Club or by members of the selection committee; over 50 names were originally submitted and were pared to 29 finalists ahead of the 2014 class; the eight-member committee selected last year's class and decided to take the next group of nominees in the voting process to form the bulk of this year's class to help the school catch up to its glorious history. There were just 59 members in the CU Athletic HOF since its inception in 1998 prior to last year, which now stands at 79 (plus the '59 ski team, CU's first national champions). With an induction now planned every year instead of on a biennial basis as was the case for the first 16 years of the Hall, CU will be able to get more of those who are deserving of the recognition honored in a shorter time span.
The group will be inducted in the Hall of Fame Thursday night, November 5, in a festive gala in the Boedecker Gym at the Coors Events Center, be featured in the Pearl Street Stampede parade the next night and will be introduced at halftime of the CU-Stanford football game on Saturday, Nov. 7, to complete the weekend.
