The Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2025 has been announced by the school. The seven member class includes Mike Brown (football), Alician [Finnigan] Cardie (swimming & diving), Erin [McKeown] Hagen (volleyball), Clendon Henderson (men’s track & field), Stacy [Radulovich] Neal (softball), Jesse Sanders (men’s basketball) and Brant Tolsma (cross country/track & field).
The 17th class to be inducted into the Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame will be honored during special ceremonies surrounding Liberty’s Hall of Fame and Homecoming Weekend football game against Delaware on Nov. 1 at Williams Stadium. The Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held Friday, Oct. 31 at the Alumni Ballroom on the third floor of the Montview Student Union. Additionally, the seven-member class will receive special recognition during the Delaware football game on the following afternoon.
The Hall of Fame now includes 94 members who have helped shape the Liberty Athletic program which was established in 1972.
Brown finished his four year career at Liberty earning All-American honors at both wide receiver and quarterback for the Flames during its FCS tenure. He finished his first two seasons on the Mountain with 79 receptions for 1,029 yards and three touchdowns, being named the Big South Player of the Year in 2009. He then moved to quarterback for his final two seasons where he repeated as Big South Player of the Year in 2010 after throwing for 2,956 yards and 23 touchdowns. Following his standout playing career at Liberty, Brown signed as a free agent with the Jacksonville Jaguars where he played for three seasons. Since his retirement, Brown has been an assistant coach at several stops including Michigan, Delaware, Liberty, Cincinnati, Wisconsin, and Notre Dame where he currently serves as wide receivers coach and helped the Irish to the national championship game this past season.
Cardie posted a program record 10 podium finishes at the CCSA Championship, helping to lead the program to a team championship in 2019 during her senior season, the second conference title in school history. She was named the CCSA Female Swimmer of the Year in 2018 and earned her second straight appearance at the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championship. In 2018, she was presented the NCAA Elite 90 Award, given to the student athlete with the highest GPA at the national championship event. She also won the 2019 Rock Royer/Mac Rivera Award and was a four-time CSCAA Scholar All-American honoree, including first team honors in 2017 and 2018. She still holds the program record in the 200 butterfly while ranking third in program history in the 500 freestyle and 100 butterfly.
Hagen helped the Lady Flames’ volleyball team to two appearances in the Big South Championshi title match in 2001 and 2002, an NCAA Tournament berth in 2001 and the 2003 Big South regular season championship. She is one of only five players in program history with 1,000 or more kills, 1,000 or more digs, and 300 or more blocks. She was twice named to the Big South first-team all-conference listing, a two-time first team VaSID selection, the 2002 Big South Championship MVP, and the 2003 Big South Player of the Year. At the time of her graduation, Hagen ranked third in program history with 1,479 career digs, fourth with 341 career blocks, and seventh with 1,308 career kills. After serving two years as a graduate assistant with the Lady Flames volleyball program, Hagen transitioned to the administrative side of Liberty Athletics. She began her administrative role as Director of Compliance and has served as Senior Woman Administrator since 2013.
Following a national runner-up finish in the discus at South Plains College at the NJCAA level, Henderson transferred to Liberty where he helped the Flames sweep the Big South Indoor and Outdoor Track Championships in 2007 and 2008 and win back to back IC4A Outdoor Track Championship titles. He became the first thrower in program history to earn All-America honors when he placed third in the discus at the 2008 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. He graduated in 2008 as the Liberty and Big South Conference record holder in the indoor shot put, outdoor shot put, and outdoor discus. The discus mark, which also earned him a trip to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, still stands as the Liberty and Big South standard. A three-time Big South individual champion, Henderson served as an assistant coach with the Flames for 13 years (2009-21).
During her freshman season, Neal posted a Big South best .437 batting average to go along with 53 runs scored, 12 doubles, seven triples, 24 RBIs and 39 stolen bases. The standout rookie season numbers earned her 1996 Big South Rookie of the Year accolades. Her star-studded freshman season helped the Lady Flames post their first 30-win season at the Division I level in 1996. She was a three-time Big South all-conference honoree and named the VaSID State Player of the Year after batting .339 with 37 runs scored, eight doubles, eight triples, and four home runs in 1998. Neal finished her Liberty career with 31 triples, which still stands as the school record and is 10 more than any other player in Big South Conference history. During her final year, she helped the Lady Flames capture the program’s first Big South regular season title and posted their first ever 40 win season.
Sanders, the program’s all-time career record holder with 727 assists, was the first player in program history at the NCAA Division I level to record a triple double during each of his four collegiate seasons. During his junior campaign, he averaged 11.3 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per contest while shooting 42.8% from the field and 75.6% from the free throw line. He was named the 2011 Big South Player of the Year, becoming the only player in program history to Garner that award. He was also named an AP All-American honorable mention selection during the same season. Sanders was twice named to the Big South all-conference team and was also named to the conference’s All-Decade team. At the time of his graduation, he was the only player in Big South history to have four career triple doubles and at least 1,000 career points, 800 career rebounds, and 700 assists.
The longest tenured and arguably most successful head coach in Liberty Athletics history, Tolsma had a storied 34-year coaching career with the Flames. He guided his teams to 116 conference titles – 98 Big South, 7 Mason-Dixon, 6 ASUN, 3 IC4A, and 2 ECAC. He led Liberty to eight consecutive Big South men’s Triple Crowns. The Flames swept every conference men’s cross country, men’s indoor track & field and men’s outdoor track & field titles between fall 2006 and spring 2014. A 77 time conference Coach of the Year award winner, Tolsma coached six NCAA Division I individual national champions, 61 NCAA Division I All-Americans, nine NCAA Division II All-Americans, and 13 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans. Liberty tied for 12th place in the final men’s team standings at the 2011 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, marking the highest NCAA Division I teams finish in Liberty and Big South history.
Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame
Class of 2009 (Inaugural Class)
Dr. Jerry Falwell (founder/former University chancellor)
Arthur L. Williams (athletics financial supporter)
Elena [Kisseleva] Bengds (women’s basketball)
Bob Bonheim (wrestling and football coach)
Sid Bream (baseball)
Kelvin Edwards (football)
Karl Hess (men’s basketball)
Class of 2010
Theresa Bream (women’s basketball/volleyball)
Lee Guetterman (baseball)
Gina [Gibson] Richardson (women’s track & field)
Chip Smith (football)
Al Worthington (head baseball coach and athletics director)
Class of 2011
Paul Annan (men’s soccer)
Fred Banks (football)
Bill Bell (head men’s soccer coach)
Jerry Edwards (radio play-by-play)
Heather [Sagan] Zealand (women’s cross country/track & field)
Class of 2012
Jesse Castro (wrestling)
Mark Chafin (men’s basketball)
Sharon [Snodgrass] May (women’s basketball)
John Sanders (football)
Ryan Werner (men’s track & field)
Class of 2013
Bailey Alston (men’s basketball)
Brenda Bonheim (volleyball and women’s basketball coach/SWA)
Anthonia [Akpama] Oyedele (volleyball)
Robby Justino (football)
Nancy [Davis] White (women’s soccer)
Class of 2014
Mike Decker (men’s track & field)
Wayne Haddix (football)
Matt Hildebrand (men’s basketball)
Jake Matthes (men’s cross country/track & field coach)
Delethea Quarles (women’s track & field)
Class of 2015
Eric Green (football)
Mike Hatch (wrestling)
Katie [Feenstra] Mattera (women’s basketball)
Sam Rutigliano (head football coach)
Pat Sipe (baseball)
Class of 2016
Annie Hunt Fairchild (women’s cross country/track & field)
Steve Kearns (football)
Todd Setsma (men’s golf)
Randy Tomlin (baseball)
Ed Vickers (men’s basketball)
Class of 2017
Katie [Phillips] Bigham (softball)
Sam Chelanga (men’s cross country/track & field)
Julius Nwosu (men’s basketball)
Richard Shelton (football)
Dave Williams (strength and conditioning coach)
Class of 2018
Peter Aluma (men’s basketball)
Danielle [McNaney] Detmer (women’s track & field)
Rashad Jennings (football)
Frank Landrey (head men’s golf coach)
Warren Stewart (wrestling)
Class of 2019
Renard Brown (baseball)
Sharon [Wilkerson] Emory (women’s basketball)
Johnnie Engelhardt (men’s cross country/track & field)
Steve Isaacs (men’s basketball)
Mickey Paige (football)
Class of 2020
Larry Blair (men’s basketball)
Henry Elliott (men’s track & field)
Andrea [Wildrick] Hampson (women’s track & field)
Morgan Hout (head football coach)
Samuel Johnson (men’s soccer)
Jeff Mincey (baseball)
Class of 2021
Kyrie [Dorn] Adams (volleyball)
Pat Bussey (wrestling)
Robert Karlsson (men’s golf)
Megan [Frazee] Leuzinger (women’s basketball)
James McKnight (football/men’s track & field)
Class of 2022
Jose Gomez (men’s soccer)
Glenn Inverso (football)
Natalie [Barr] Lyttle (field hockey)
Jessica Moore (softball)
Jacob Swinton (men’s track & field)
Paul Wetmore (head softball coach)
Class of 2023
Sarah [Wilkerson] Erps (women’s basketball)
Jonita [Randolph] Joseph (women’s tennis)
Jeff Meyer (head men’s basketball coach)
Todd Pettyjohn (men’s track & field)
Brye Ravettine (women’s swimming & diving)
Rupert Wright (football)
Class of 2024
Dre Barnes (football)
Kristal [Tharp] Bechtold (women’s basketball)
Chuck Burch (athletics administration/athletics director)
Keith Butler (baseball)
Bill Gillespie (men’s track & field/football/strength and conditioning coach)
Jennifer [Klugh] Margraff (women’s cross country/track & field)
Holly Van Noord (women’s soccer)
Class of 2025
Mike Brown (football)
Alicia [Finnigan] Cardie (women’s swimming & diving)
Erin [McKeown] Hagen (volleyball)
Clendon Henderson (men’s track & field)
Stacy [Radulovich] Neal (softball)
Jesse Sanders (men’s basketball)
Brant Tolsma (head coach cross country/track & field)
*photo courtesy Liberty Athletics
