Athletics Hall of Fame Announces 50th Class

OMAHA, Neb. —The Creighton University Athletics Hall of Fame will add three all-time greats to its ranks on Sunday, April 23 at D.J. Sokol Arena inside the Wayne and Eileen Ryan Athletic Center.

This year's inductees in the 50^th Hall of Fame class are former head men's soccer coach Bret Simon, as well as former student-athletes Vernon Moore (men's basketball) and Tara (Oltman) Higgins (softball).

Simon served as head coach with the Creighton men's soccer program from 1995-2000, compiling a 96-26-8 record in six seasons. He led Creighton to its first College Cup in 1996, then brought the Bluejays back in 2000, when it advanced to the only national title game appearance in school history in any sport. Simon's teams reached the NCAA Tournament in all six years, combining for two Missouri Valley Conference regular-season (1995, 1996) and four MVC Tournament (1995, 1997, 1998, 2000) titles. Simon coached future US National Team players Richard Mulrooney and Brian Mullan, as well as 1996 Soccer America and 1997 Hermann Trophy and Missouri Athletic Club National Player of the Year Johnny Torres. Simon remains Creighton's all-time leader in winning percentage (.769) and ranks second with 96 wins. The 22 victories by the 2000 club is a program-record, as well. Simon served as a Creighton assistant in 1993 and 1994 before his promotion to head coach.

Moore was a standout men's basketball player from 1981-85 and still ranks 10^th in program history with 1,654 career points. Creighton's first recruit under Willis Reed, Moore averaged 21.0 points per game as a senior when the 6-foot-2 guard shot an MVC-record 67.4 percent to also shatter the Creighton mark of 59.5 percent that he set as a junior. Moore also set a single-season mark with 52 steals as a junior, and led the team in assists per game three times. He was a Second Team All-MVC pick as a junior, then earned First Team honors as a senior in 1984-85. Moore still ranks in Creighton's top 10 in career field goal percentage (5^th), field goals (7^th), free throws made (8^th), steals (8^th) and assists (8^th). Moore was drafted in the third round of the NBA Draft by the Washington Bullets in 1985 after earning Associated Press honorable-mention All-American acclaim.

Oltman Higgins is the only female student-athlete in school history to earn first-team all-conference honors all four years of her career and the only three-time Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year in league history. She still holds Missouri Valley Conference career records for wins (118), strikeouts (1,086), appearances (187), starts (143), complete games (128) and innings pitched (1,064), as well as the single-season mark with 32 wins in 2010. She helped the Bluejay softball program to a record of 155-70-1 from 2007-10, including MVC Tournament championships in 2007 and 2010, and NCAA Tournament bids in 2007, 2008 and 2010. Oltman was a three-time CoSIDA Academic All-American for her efforts in the classroom and community, as well as a three-time Easton All-American for her work on the diamond.

On the night of the event, the social hour starts at 5 p.m., with dinner to follow at 6 p.m. The 2017 Rev. Carl M. Reinert, S.J., Female and Male Scholar-Athletes of the Year will also be awarded, and all of CU's coaches and student-athletes will also be honored at the event. Banquet tickets are $50 per person or $500 for a table of 10. For more information about the event, contact Rachel Grosvenor at 402-280-2720 or by e-mail at athleticevents@creighton.edu.

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