ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 20, 1996 TAG: 9608200045
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
RON SHELBURNE, Pat Barrett, Tom Hondras, Billy Gerber and Peggy Poore make up Radford's second class.
Three decades, three sports and five individuals will be represented in the second class of inductees to the Radford University Sports Hall of Fame.
Actually, you could say five sports will be represented, if men's and women's basketball and men's and women's soccer are considered separate sports.
The youngest member of this year's group is men's basketball player Ron Shelburne, the school's No.3 all-time scorer. An All-Timesland choice out of Pulaski County High School and a native of Snowville, Shelburne was a three-time team most valuable player. In the process of setting never-say-die standards by playing in 116 consecutive games and never missing a contest in four years, the 6-foot-7 forward became the fourth player in Radford history to record over 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. He scored 1,332 points in his career.
Pat Barrett might as well be considered the founder of modern women's basketball at Radford.
She started the intercollegiate program in 1971 and went on to to lead teams to a composite 198-95 record. Her teams never had a losing season. Among the accomplishments that set the stage for Radford's transition into NCAA Division I basketball, her 1979-80 team won the Virginia Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women championship. The 1983-84 team, the Forest native's last, went 23-5 and was ranked 16th in the nation in the final Division II poll.
Tom Hondras put in 16 years pacing beside tennis courts and watching the flight of fuzzy balls as the Radford women's tennis coach before illness forced his retirement in 1995.
Hondras coached 17 individual conference champions and was named the Big South Conference's coach of the year in 1990 after his team went 17-4 to win the championship. The 1983-84 team went 21-7 and finished seventh in the country at the national championship tournament.
Billy Gerber was the university's first soccer All-America, being chosen in 1983. A four-year starter - on defense and at midfield - he was a second-team Division II All-America in 1983.
Peggy Poore played women's soccer from 1982-85 and was an Academic All-American in 1985. She had eight consecutive shutouts as a goalie in 1984.
The class will be introduced Thursday night at a banquet at which former NBA great Wes Unseld will be the featured speaker.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB