ABILENE – After COVID-19 caused a one-year delay in announcing their inclusion in the ACU Sports Hall of Fame, seven Wildcat greats will finally be honored when they are inducted during the university's 38th annual ceremony in October.
This year's inductees are Joseph Thompson, Mike Love, Dennis Hagaman, Shawna (Hines) Nehl, Kevin Dilworth and Maresa Cadienhead. The late Dr. Curt Dickson will be inducted as this year's Lifetime Achievement Award winner, the 28th person to earn that distinction since the first induction class in 1986-87. Love and Hagaman will also be inducted posthumously.
The Class of 2021-22 will be celebrated Friday, Oct. 15, at 6 p.m. in ACU's McCaleb Conference Center in the Hunter Welcome Center.
With the addition of the seven members of this year's class, the ACU Sports Hall of Fame now includes 233 men and women. Here's a look at each new inductee:
Maresa Cadienhead, women's track and field (2000-03)
Cadienhead was a two-time Lone Star Conference high jump champion with three NCAA Division II indoor titles (2001-02-03) and two outdoor titles (2001-02). Her winning jump of 6-4.75 (1.95m) at the 2002 national outdoor championship meet had Division II's best-ever and best female collegiate high jump mark in the U.S. that season. Cadienhead was a four-time All-America honoree for the Wildcats, and her Wildcat teams won four LSC titles and one NCAA indoor championship for coaches Jon Murray and Freddie Williams.
Kevin Dilworth, men's track and field (1995-96)
Dilworth was one of the top collegiate long jumpers in the U.S. during his illustrious Wildcat career, capturing the NCAA Division II indoor national championship in the long jump in 1996. He was the top collegiate performer in the U.S. in 1996 with a best jump of 27-9.50 and was also a two-time U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier (1996 and 2000). Dilworth was a member of the U.S. team at the IAAF World Championships in 1999, Pan American Games in 2003, World University Games in 1997 and 1998 Goodwill Games. In international competition, he had a best finish in the long jump of fifth at the Goodwill Games and the World University Games.
Dennis Hagaman, football (1963-66)
One of the greatest big-play players in Wildcat football history, Hagaman still holds the ACU record for longest run from scrimmage, a 98-yarder vs. Texas-Arlington in 1963. He also teamed with Bubba Brown on a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown vs. UTA the following seaon. Hagaman had a 79-yard punt return for a touchdown against Lamar in 1963, a 78-yard punt return for a score against Northwest Louisiana in 1964 and a 93-yard punt return for a TD against North Texas in 1963. He led ACU in rushing yards in 1963 (459 yards on 74 carries) and 1964 (487 yards on 111 carries), and was his team's total offense leader in 1963 (459 yards). He was a first team All-Texas College and honorable mention All-America in 1963, and first team All-Southland Conference in 1964. Hagaman scored 17 career touchdowns and averaged 8.4 yards every time he touched the football, and he graduated from ACU in 1967 with a marketing degree and joined the Marine Corps in March 1968. Hagaman died tragically when the Phantom 4 jet he was aboard as a radar intercept officer crashed at Homestead AFB in Florida. He was posthumously inducted into the Greater Pueblo (Colorado) Sports Association Hall of Fame in 1975.
Shawna (Hines) Nehl, volleyball (2007-10)
One of the greatest players in Wildcat volleyball history, Nehl was a 2010 NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship recipient and winner of the Paul Goad Award as the top female athlete at ACU in 2010-11. She was third team NCAA Division II All-America as a junior in 2009 by both the American Volleyball Coaches' Association and Daktronics and honorable mention All-America by Daktronics as a senior in 2010. Nehl was twice voted first team All-South Central Region (2009 and 2010), and honorable mention All-Region as a freshman in 2007. In each season from 2008 to 2010, she was named first team All-LSC, LSC Defensive Player of the Year and Academic All-LSC. She was her team MVP in 2008 and 2009 and was team MVP on offense in 2010, and she is second in ACU history in career blocks (613) and single-season blocks (190 in 2009). Nehl is also third and 10th in ACU history in single-season blocks with 166 in 2010 and 136 in 2008, respectively. Her 11 solo blocks in a Nov. 13, 2009, match vs. Angelo State remain the second-highest single-match total in ACU history, and she's tied for third (with 10) and tied for seventh (with eight) in single-match solo blocks. In her final three seasons, ACU was a combined 82-21 (33-6 in league play), reached the conference tournament championship match twice (2008 and 2009) and the regional tournament in 2010. She was twice named All-LSC Post-Season Tournament (2008 and 2009).
Mike Love, football (1963-66)
Heavily recruited out of Odessa Permian High School, Mike Love was widely regarded as one of the most important signings in ACU football history, rushing for 1,837 yards during his four-year Wildcat career. He was named All-Southland in 1965 and 1966 and second-team All-America in 1965 after being named the nation's "Sophomore of the Year" by
Sports Illustrated in 1964. Love was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers with the ninth pick of the 15th round in the 1967 NFL draft. He passed away in November of 1993 but was named to ACU's All-Decade Team for the 1960s and was a second-team All-Century selection in 2005.
Joseph Thompson, football (2004-08)
An anchor at tackle on some of the finest teams in ACU football history, Thompson was second team NCAA Division II All-America, first team All-Region in 2008, and first team All-LSC in 2007 and 2008. He and his offensive line teammates helped the Wildcats post one of the top offenses in Division II history in 2007 and 2008 when the Wildcats went a combined 21-4 and won the 2008 LSC title. In those two seasons, the Wildcats scored 1,267 points (50.7 per game) and racked up 13,787 yards of total offense (551.5 per game) behind one of the most dominant offensive lines in the country. Two of Thompson's fellow linemen – guard Nathan Young and center Sam Collins – are also in the ACU Sports Hall of Fame. Their blocking helped running back Bernard Scott rush for 4,321 yards and 63 touchdowns in just two seasons. Scott finished second in 2007 for the Harlon Hill Trophy, given annually to the top player in Division II football, and ran away with the award in 2008 on 2,156 yards rushing and 28 touchdowns behind a dominant offensive line led by Thompson. He helped lead ACU to national playoff berths in 2007 and 2008, the Wildcats' first Division II football playoff victory (56-12 over Mesa State in 2007), first perfect regular season since 1950 (10-0 in 2008), and, in 2008, their first LSC title since 1977.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Dr. Curt Dickson
Dickson, a 1966 ACU graduate and lifelong fan of Wildcat athletics, died on Jan. 6, 2020, after an extended illness. After graduating from Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School in Fort Worth in 1955, Dickson took classes at the University of Texas at Arlington and TCU while working several jobs. He and his wife, Bobbie June, moved in 1963 to Abilene, where Dickson began his first of many roles on campus, serving as men's dormitory supervisor while completing a bachelor's degree in physical education and mathematics in 1966 and a master's degree in guidance services in 1967. Meanwhile, he also served as intramural sports director, an instructor in the Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (HPER), taught swimming at the Christian Youth Center and ACU, and was a deacon at Minter Lane Church of Christ. In 1969, the family moved to College Station where he completed a Ph.D. in health and physical education at Texas A&M University. The family returned to ACU in 1971 and Dickson became aquatics director in the new Gibson Health and P.E. Center. He was instrumental in creating the Human Performance Lab in 1974, which became a center for research in the department, and in organizing the first beginning ski class in 1975, an annual course that became a lasting part of the university and Dickson family culture. While leading the department and pursuing his research agenda, he continued teaching activity classes including long-distance running, swimming and badminton, in addition to exercise physiology courses for HPER majors. He served as Camp Wildcat director, a social club sponsor and city league softball coach. From 1982-90 he served as HPER department chair and in various roles with the Texas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance from 1972-90. His interests in fitness and health inspired ongoing involvement in the Human Performance Lab, where he led testing of world-class athletes and mentored students preparing for futures in teaching, health clubs and emerging fields such as physical therapy. In 1986, he studied the science of strength training at the National Center for Sport in Moscow. ACU's College of Professional Studies honored him as faculty member of the year for 1992-93. A consummate fan of the Wildcats, Dickson regularly attended ACU basketball and football games with his family, always preferring to sit with students.
#GoWildcats
