PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland -- The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Department of Athletics is pleased to announce its 2016 Hall of Fame class. The class will be enshrined during Homecoming weekend in a ceremony to be held, Friday, February 19, 2016 in the ballroom of the Student Services Center on campus. Tickets are on sale now at www.umestickets.com.
The addition of five brand new members will bring the total number of inductees to the school’s hall of fame to 210. Dr. Kirkland Hall — a current hall of famer as a former student-athlete — will be honored again for his coaching accomplishments, while the 1963 Men’s Outdoor Track & Field team, will also be formally inducted. Six of the nine members of that team were honored as All-Americans and several of their records still stand today. The team won both NAIA and NCAA College Division National Championships and eight of the nine members are already enshrined individually.
Three basketball stars will be honored. Nicole Council, who is in the top ten in the women’s record books in numerous categories, Thomas “Tee” Trotter, the second highest scorer in men’s program history and the school’s all-time Division I scorer, and Trent Harris, a three year Maryland State star known for his rebounding and shooting accuracy. The latter of whom will be inducted posthumously. Volleyball standout Jana Milin, who holds nearly every volleyball scoring record at the school, while being a two-time MEAC Player of the Year, will also be inducted. Cross country and track & field star Barnabas Togom, who claimed several individual MEAC Championships and holds numerous distance records, rounds out the class.
The 2016 UMES Athletics Hall of Fame class:
Nicole Council – Women’s Basketball 1996-2000
Originally recruited by Joyce Jenkins, a MEAC coach of the year, Council became a force on the Lady Hawks backcourt. Over the next four years she played in 111 games (5th most in program history) and amassed 1,520 points to stand third among the all-time scoring leaders.
Council finished her senior year (99-00) ranked 31st in the NCAA in scoring and in her junior season finished 16th in the nation in steals. She was ranked in the Top 10 in the MEAC in scoring and assists each of her final three seasons and was named to the league’s All-Rookie Team in her first campaign, 96-97. Council was a two-time All-MEAC Second-Team and MEAC All-Academic Team selection in 98-99 and 99-00. She finished her time in Princess Anne as the school record holder in assists (398) and steals (295). She is ranked in the Top 5 for women’s basketball in 11 statistical categories, including second in career steals per game and in points in a season — when she dropped 538 her senior year. She owns over a dozen other Top 10 records. In 97-98 Council’s Lady Hawks went 16-11, the last winning season prior to the Fred Batcehlor era.
She went on to play professionally in Greece and has started her own non-profit organization Hoopz & Dreamz, Inc. Council is currently a women’s assistant coach at Wilmington University. Before her collegiate position, she was a successful high school coach at Churchland H.S. in Portsmouth, Va. (06-08). She graduated in 2000 and is originally from Suffolk, Va. now residing in Smyrna, Del.
Thomas “Tee” Trotter – Men’s Basketball 2000-2004
Thomas “Tee” Trotter, played for the Hawks from 2000-2004 and was one of the Hawk’s most prolific scorers of all-time. He amassed 1,923 points, second all-time in school history and first in the Division I era. He was an All-MEAC Second-Team selection in 02-03 and 03-04 and to this day holds MEAC records for most points in a tournament game (40 in 2002), most free throws made (19-2002) and most free throws attempted (20-2002). He is ranked fifth all-time in field goals in a season (183 in 2003) and ranked in the Top 5 twice in free throws made in a season.
Trotter also ranks fourth all-time in free throw percentage (85 percent in 2004). He was an All-MEAC Rookie Team selection 2001 and finished third in the league in scoring each of his last three seasons. He completed his career ranked first in the MEAC in all-time scoring in the past 20 years (since 95-96) and currently stands third overall. In that same time span Trotter is 3rd overall in free throw percentage and is 4th overall in points per game for a career (17.8) among all MEAC players.
Just 5-foot-11, the under-sized guard carried the weight of the offense all four years, playing for his father, Thomas Trotter Sr. who is eighth in school history in all-time coaching wins. The younger Trotter graduated in 2004 and currently works in the Chicago Public School system as the Dean of Students and Athletic Director at Hirsch High School.
Trent Harris – Men’s Basketball 1956-1960
Playing under the tutelage of legendary coach Nate Taylor, Robert Trent Harris Sr. led his 1960 Maryland State College Hawks to the NAIA District Championship with wins over Albany and Montclair. That same squad made an appearance in the NAIA National Tournament, falling to Westminster 64-63. They finished 22-6 on the year. Harris, playing alongside other Hawk Hall of Famers like Dave Riddick and Jesse Williams, was named All-CIAA Honorable Mention in his career. He stands 3rd and 9th All-Time in single season rebounds with 485 in 1960 and 361 in 1959.
He tallied more than 1,000 rebounds in his career and stands third overall in the Hawk record books. In his senior season of 1960, he shot a blistering 53 percent from the field, good enough for fourth all-time in single season field goal percentage. That season, Harris averaged 14.1 points per game and a staggering 17.3 rebounds per game. He grabbed 31 boards that year against Virginia State. The previous season, Harris averaged 14.7 points and 20 rebounds per game, showing off against Virginia State, collecting 32 caroms. Harris’s teams went from just seven wins as a freshman to 22 as a senior.
Harris, a native of South Boston, Virginia, passed away shortly after his time in Princess Anne in September of 1971. He worked as a patient technician for Chestnut Large Hospital in Rockville, Maryland. Harris’s son, Robert Trent Harris Jr. went on to embrace his father’s love of basketball, serving as the head coach at Shenandoah University for 11 seasons, including an exhibition win in 2007-08 when they topped UMES in Princess Anne. Harris Sr. also had a daughter, Teresa Medley who works with the Federal Government.
Jana Milin – Women’s Volleyball 2002-2005
Recruited by current Hawks head coach Toby Rens in his first stint at UMES, Milin was instrumental in transforming the volleyball team to its present day state. Milin dominated the MEAC in her three years at UMES, owning the school record for kills in a career with 1,795 and in service aces in a career with 315. She also finished with 1,062 career digs. Milin was the 2002 MEAC Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year and went on to earn the Player of the Year award again in 2003. She was a First-Team All-MEAC selection each season (02-04) and led the league in kills in 2002 (534) and in 2003 (644). She also led the league in service aces in 2002 (95) and 2003 (104). She was named to the MEAC All-Tournament Team in 2003 and 2004 and won numerous Player of the Week honors.
Beyond the conference, Milin dominated nationally, leading the NCAA in aces per game in 2004 (0.94) and was fourth in the nation the prior two years, serving up .88 aces per game. She also finished in the Top 30 in the nation in kills per game each year. Milin still holds the school record for kills and aces in a season and kills in a match (40) along with attacks in a match (81). She was a six-time member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) 30-kill club, a 12-time member of the AVCA’s Triple Double Club and had a 30-dig club nod as well. She recorded one quadruple-double in her career. In 2004, Milin was the CoSIDA Academic All-District First-Team honoree.
Upon graduation Milin ranked first in nine single-season and 10 career categories including kills, service aces, digs and points. Milin graduated from UMES with a degree in general studies with a concentration in hotel and restaurant management. She is using the degree back home in Pula, Croatia.
Barnabas Togom – Men’s Track & Field/Cross Country 2002-2004
Brought from his home of Kenya to the United States by head coach Ernest Barrett, Togom set the standard for current Hawk distance runners. He was named the MEAC Championship Most Outstanding Performer in 2004, blistering the course with a first-place time of 25.56 and pushing his Hawks to a runner-up finish. He avenged his runner-up finish in the MEAC Championships in 2003.
Togom is part of the school-record holding Distance Medley Relay (DMR) Team in indoor track with a time of 10:06.63, set in New York City in January of 2003. He claimed the MEAC individual title in the 5000-meter run at the conference championships in 2003. He went on to set then school-records in both the 3,000 and 5,000-meter runs and in the 3,000 meter-steeplechase. Named the 2003 UMES Male Athlete of the Year, Togom won MEAC Academic honors three straight years. He did all of that and graduated UMES in just 2.5 years as a computer science major.
Dr. Kirkland J. Hall – Coach (7 sports)
Already inducted as a student-athlete, Dr. Hall returned to work at his alma mater for much of his adult career. The Somerset County native coached for 33 years at his alma mater, including short stints with football, women’s basketball, swimming and tennis. Hall’s first love however was basketball, a sport he served as the head coach of for eight years. He amassed 76 career wins, the fourth most all-time, including back-to-back winning campaigns in 79-80 (16-9) and 80-81 (17-15). Those were the last two winning seasons before now coach Bobby Collins took over in 2014-15. Hall won the prestigious Loyola Holiday Tournament in the 79-80 season and went on to make the NAIA District 19 playoffs. The following season, he returned to the playoffs and his Hawks ranked in the Top 20 in the nation in FT percentage.
Hall also served as head baseball coach, posting 105 wins over 14 seasons. Including a 15-win campaign in 83-84. He ranks first all-time with 105 wins. On the other diamond, Hall led the Lady Hawks in softball, amassing 128 wins, the most all-time in school history, including a 27-18 campaign in the 94-95 season.
Hall is a member of the Eastern Shore Baseball Hall of Fame, the MEAC Hall of Fame and the American Civil Liberties Union Wall of Fame. While his ability to coach is unquestioned, his best accolade can be seen in those he coached. UMES Hall of Famers Robin Pettit (softball), Kenneth Simmons, Allen Davenport, Alan Faulks and Donnell Boney (all from men’s basketball), Ian Daily (track & field and basketball) and Ira Smith (baseball). Smith is also a MEAC Hall of Famer who was the first ever two-time NCAA batting champion.
The 1963 Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Team
In 1963, two-time defending CIAA champion Maryland State College entered the year as the favorites to win the conference again in men’s track & field. What they did was so much more.
In February of that year, the Hawks proved to be one of the strongest teams in the east. Facing off against the University of Maryland and Morgan State in the final mile relay, anchor Charlie Mays ran past two runners, IC4A champion Hubie Brown and ACC quarter-mile record holder Chris Stauffer, the win the relay for the Hawks; that indoor accomplishment set up the historic outdoor season.
Coached by the legendary Cappy Anderson, the Hawks were expected to win the outdoor crown in Petersburg, Virginia, but they did so in dominating fashion. MSC earned 54 points in the meet to win, beating Morgan State by 15. The team earned numerous top-three finishes, including once again winning the mile relay and Mays taking the broad jump with a leap of 24 feet and two inches.
But the Hawks were not done. MSC took the NAIA National championship and later the NCAA Division II National title (then known as the College Division) in June.
Maryland State first took the NAIA title, scoring 82 points in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, besting runner-up Nebraska-Omaha by 49 points (33). They claimed four individual championships there, still tied for the 11th most by a school in NAIA history. Russ Rogers still stands as one of eight men ever who have won five individual titles at the NAIA Championships, two coming in 63 with the 440-yard high hurdles and 120-yard high hurdles. He won three straight in the 440 yarders, from 61-63 and was the Herbert B. Marett Outstanding Performer in 61 and 62. Mays added on taking the triple jump title with a 47-8 ¾ leap in 63 and the mile relay team dominated posting a time of 3:13.5 with Ed Skinner, Rogers, Mays and Earl Rogers combing for the win.
In Chicago, UMES scored 98 points to top Fresno State by 34 points and win the NCAA College Division National Championship, now known as Division II. The Hawks claimed six individual champions at that meet with Skinner in the 440-meter dash (47.1), Raymond “Packrat” Jackson in the six-mile run (29:59.4), Russ Rodgers in the 440-meter intermediate hurdles (51.9), Charlie Mays in the long jump (24-5 ¼) and Al Santio in the shot put (54-0) and discuss (173-4).
The team won 11 All-American honors for their effort at the NCAA Championships with Mays taking the honors in the 100-yard dash, the 220-yard dash, the long jump and the triple jump. Santio earned the honor in the shot put and discuss while Russ Rodgers and Richard Davis both took home the honor in the 120-yard high hurdles and the 440-yard Intermediate Hurdles. Earl Rogers and Skinner both took home the honor in the 440-yard dash. Jackson won it in the 6-mile run.
Eight of the nine members of those teams, Russ Rogers, Richard Davis, Bob Brown, Al Santio*, Earl Rogers*, Ed Skinner, Charlie Mays* and Raymond Jackson* were already inducted as individuals in the hall with James Liggons, the ninth member now standing alongside of them.
Tickets can be purchased for the Hall of Fame banquet by calling the UMES Athletic Office at 410-651-6496.
*deceased
COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS
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