Online Banquet Registration
 
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University Athletics Hall of Fame Committee has announced the seven-member class of 2023 that will be enshrined at the annual Rock Athletics Hall of Fame Banquet Sept 9.
 
The Class of 2023 includes:
 
• Thomas Bell – Football (class of 2001)
• Kayla Blackburn – Women's Tennis (class of 2009)
• Cameron Daugherty – Men's Track & Field (class of 2012)
• Rodney Irwin – Wrestling (class of 1972)
• Amanda (Seigworth) Quigley – Women's Track & Field (class of 2011)
• Melinda (Hale) Rhoads – Women's Basketball (class of 1990)
• Ronald Wasko – Baseball (class of 1987)
 
The 39th annual induction ceremony will take place Sept. 9 prior to SRU's home football game against West Chester University. The event will be hosted at the Robert Smith Student Center Ballroom and begins with a social hour at 1:30 p.m., followed by dinner and the induction ceremonies at 2:30 p.m. The induction class will then be recognized during halftime of the football game (6 p.m. kickoff) at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
Tickets for the 2023 SRU Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are $60 each for adults. A full table (eight tickets) can be purchased for $480. Children under 12 will be admitted for $20. All tickets include access to the social hour and a catered dinner. Tickets can be ordered online at the link above. Any questions should be directed to the Athletics Office at 724.738.4117.
 
The addition of the seven-person Class of 2023 increases the number of former SRU student-athletes, coaches and contributors inducted into the Hall of Fame to 271 since the inaugural class was inducted in 1984.
 
The following are brief profiles of members of the Hall of Fame Class of 2023, listed in alphabetical order.
 

---

THOMAS BELL
- Sport: Football
- Graduation Year: 2001
- Highlights: Three-time first team All-PSAC offensive lineman on powerhouse SRU teams of the late 1990s … All-American guard in his senior year … helped lead SRU to four conference titles and three appearances in the NCAA Division II Playoffs, including trip to semifinals in 1998.
 
Tom Bell was among the most important pieces of one of the best four-year stretches in Slippery Rock football history, starting all four years as a guard on the offensive line and helping lead The Rock to four straight Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference titles between 1997-00.
 
For his dominance on the line, Bell was recognized as a first team All-PSAC performer for three straight years between 1998 and 2000 and wrapped up his career by being named to first team All-Region and honorable mention All-America honors in 2000.
 
He helped lead a dynamic Slippery Rock offense that reached the NCAA Division II Playoffs three times, advancing as far as the national semifinals and climbing all the way up to a No. 2 national ranking, the highest in program history.
 
"Tom was THE guy on the interior of our offensive lines on those teams that went on the run in the 1990s," says former SRU head coach George Mihalik. "We wouldn't have been nearly as dynamic on offense if it wasn't for Tom's presence in the middle of that offensive line. He was one of the best to ever play the position here."
 
Bell earned his health and physical education degree from SRU in 2001 and went on to earn a master's degree in exercise science and physical education from McDaniel College in 2006.
 
He turned his passion for teaching and his academic background into a full-time career as a physical education teacher and coach, working at Red Lion High School in York, Pennsylvania. Bell also serves as an assistant football coach with the Red Lion varsity football team and works as a driver's education instructor at Red Lion. In addition to his work at Red Lion, Bell has also spent the last six years volunteering as a youth football coach in the York area. He is a member of the Pennsylvania State Football Coaches Association and SHAPE PA, a professional organization for health and physical educators. 
 
Bell and his wife, April, who also teaches in the Red Lion School District, have two children, daughter Addison and son Ashton.
 

---

KAYLA BLACKBURN
- Sport: Women's Tennis
- Graduation Year: 2009
- Highlights: All-time leader in SRU program history in career wins with 191 combined wins … ranks first in SRU history in singles wins (98) and second in doubles wins (93) … four-time first team All-PSAC … PSAC Rookie of the Year in 2006 … led SRU to NCAA Tournament all four years of her career, including trip to quarterfinals in 2008. 
 
Simply put, Kayla Blackburn is the winningest women's tennis player in Slippery Rock program history. She racked up more singles wins than any other woman to wear the Green and White with 98 individual wins and combined that with 93 doubles wins to set the SRU program record with 191 career wins, a record that still stands today.
 
Blackburn burst onto the scene her freshman year in 2005-06 and went on to be named the PSAC and East Region Rookie of the Year while also being named to first team All-PSAC honors. Along the way that year, she teamed with Ashley Michaux to set the SRU program record for a doubles winning streak when they won 12 straight matches. She helped lead SRU to the NCAA Tournament for the first of what would become four-straight appearances in the national tournament.
 
She picked up right where she left off the following year, earning first team All-PSAC honors and leading SRU back to the NCAA Tournament in 2006-07, setting up for an even more memorable junior year in 2007-08. The following year, she tripled up her first team All-PSAC awards and led SRU on its deepest postseason run in program history, advancing to the national quarterfinals as one of just 16 teams that earned a trip to the finals site in 2007-08. That year, she put together two of the best streaks in program history when she won 14 consecutive singles matches and teamed with Laura Handy to tie her own record with 12 straight doubles wins.
 
Blackburn and Handy would finish their doubles career with an astounding 53-14 record together, establishing an SRU standard that is 17 wins more than any other doubles combo in program history.
 
She closed her career with another stellar season in 2008-09, winning 24 individual matches at the No. 1 position and leading SRU back to the NCAA Tournament for a fourth time. Over her four-year career, The Rock posted an incredible 81-22 overall record in dual matches.
 
Blackburn graduated from SRU with a degree in marketing in 2009 before her career took her to Texas, where she currently works for Signify Health, a healthcare company providing home and virtual health care to Medicare and Medicaid members. She stays connected to tennis by teaching lessons and working with Sets & the City, a non-profit in the Dallas area that works to grow the game of tennis among adults. The group also organizes fundraisers for the Dallas Tennis Education Association, which provides financial support and scholarships to underprivileged kids.
 
She and her wife, Monica Leary, reside in Richardson, Texas.  
 

---

CAMERON DAUGHERTY
- Sport: Men's Track & Field (pole vault)
- Graduation Year: 2012
- Highlights: 2012 outdoor national champion in the pole vault … Five-time All-American … SRU and all-time PSAC record holder … four-time PSAC champion … 2013 indoor Atlantic Region Athlete of the Year … Academic All-American.
 
Cameron Daugherty is the best male pole vaulter in the history of a Slippery Rock track & field program that has traditionally excelled in the event. He earned that title by way of his record-setting jumps both indoor and outdoor, in addition to his outstanding finishes on the national level.
 
Daugherty earned his undergraduate degree in 2012 and wrapped up his athletic career at The Rock in 2013 as the all-time SRU and PSAC record holder in both the indoor and outdoor pole vault. He still holds both SRU records with clearances of 5.20 meters (17'0 ¾"), a mark that still stands as the all-time PSAC record outdoors and ranks No. 2 all-time in PSAC history indoors.
 
He won four individual PSAC titles and was the conference runner-up on two more occasions to earn six All-PSAC awards in the pole vault, setting conference championship meet records and breaking his own records along the way.
 
Daugherty made his biggest leap in performance from his freshman to sophomore seasons when he picked up the first pair of what would become five All-America awards. He qualified for the National Championships both indoor and outdoor in 2011 and placed fourth indoor and sixth outdoor.
 
His junior indoor season in 2011-12 saw him place ninth at nationals, a finishing spot that would be All-America under current rules, but was one place outside the honors at the time. He refocused heading into outdoor nationals later that spring and shocked the field to win the 2012 outdoor national title, becoming the second SRU male to ever win a pole vault national title and the first since Todd Wunderlich in 1977.
 
Daugherty followed that up with another pair of top-three finishes at nationals during his senior year in 2012-13, first placing second at the indoor national meet before finishing third at outdoor nationals. He was named the Atlantic Region Field Athlete of the Year in 2013 for his efforts.  When it was all said and done, Daugherty qualified for six straight National Championship events and placed in the top-10 at all six of them, including three finishes on the top-three podium.
 
In addition to his excellence in competition, Daugherty was among the top student-athletes in the country in academic performance as well. He was named to CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, was a U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic honoree and was a PSAC Top 10 selection.
 
Following his athletic career, Daugherty spent time working as a volunteer assistant pole vault coach at Slippery Rock, where he earned the USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Assistant Coach of the Year award in 2017.
 
Daugherty currently serves as a systems analyst for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). He, his wife, Amanda, and their son Macklin currently reside in West View, Pennsylvania.
 

---

RODNEY IRWIN
- Sport: Wrestling
- Graduation Year: 1972
- Highlights: 1972 NCAA national champion at 134 pounds … two-time NCAA All-American … posted 52-12 overall record at 134 pounds over final two seasons at SRU. 
 
Rod Irwin is one of just three men in Slippery Rock wrestling history to stand on the top step of the podium as a national champion, a feat he accomplished at the College Division National Championships in 1972, just two years before SRU made the move to NCAA Division I status.
 
Irwin now takes his rightful place alongside the only other two men to win a wrestling national title at SRU, Stan Dziedzic and Jack Spates, in the Rock Athletics Hall of Fame. Dziedzic was enshrined in the inaugural Hall of Fame class in 1984 and Spates joined him in 1992.
 
Before climbing to the top step of the podium in 1972, Irwin laid the foundation for his national title run with a stellar junior campaign in 1970-71 when he went a perfect 16-0 in dual matches at 134 pounds. He was 6-4 in tournament competition that year, ultimately placing fourth at the National Championships to earn his first of two All-America honors.
 
Irwin followed that effort up with another strong showing as a senior, going 10-1 in dual matches and 20-7 in tournament competition in 1971-72. He came up just short of winning a conference title with runner-up finish at the Pennsylvania Conference Championships, but used that as motivation for the national tournament. Irwin earned his second career All-America award at the College Division National Championships when he picked up the national title at 134 pounds. His victory gave Slippery Rock two national titles in 1972 as Dziedzic also won the title at 158 pounds.
 
Over his junior and senior years at Slippery Rock, Irwin combined to post a stellar 26-1 record in dual matches and an overall record of 52-12 in 64 matches at 134 pounds.
 
Immediately following his undergraduate career, Irwin joined head coach Fred Powell as a graduate assistant the following year, helping to coach Spates to the first of his two national titles in 1973. Irwin earned his master's degree in education from SRU in 1973.
 
Following his collegiate career, Irwin played on two national soccer tournament teams with the Pittsburgh Greyhounds before embarking on a lengthy career in education. He spent 35 years teaching in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District, retiring in 2008.
 
Irwin taught health and physical education for 25 years and spent 10 years as a special education teacher. In addition to his teaching career, he also served as a head middle school wrestling coach for 12 years, leading his squad on an undefeated stretch that included 36 wins over three seasons to close his career. He also coached track & field for 12 years, girls' soccer for three years and tennis for two years.
 
Irwin, who resides in Pittsburgh, is the father of three sons, Todd (Christine), Khip (Kate) and Travis (Danielle), and the grandfather to five grandchildren, Dan, Kate, Joe, Mary and Grady.
 

---

AMANDA (SEIGWORTH) QUIGLEY
- Sport: Track & Field (hurdles/sprints)
- Graduation Year: 2011
- Highlights: 12-time PSAC champion in 400-meter hurdles and relay events … two-time All-American … SRU record holder in three different events … three-time national qualifier in 400-meter hurdles.  
 
Amanda Quigley is the best women's intermediate hurdler in Slippery Rock history and earned her place in the Hall of Fame for her efforts in the 400-meter hurdles and as a member of the two fastest 4x400-meter relays in SRU history.
 
Quigley, whose maiden name is Seigworth, was part of a 1-2 punch with teammate and close friend Allison Smith that gave SRU one of the best intermediate hurdle rosters in the country during a four-year stretch between 2007 and 2011. That daily competition of having two of the best hurdlers in the nation pushed Quigley to the fastest 400-meter hurdle time in SRU history when she clocked a time of 59.23 seconds on two different occasions in 2010 and again in 2011. Her record still stands as the best time in program history more than a decade later.
 
In addition to her excellence in the 400-meter hurdles, Quigley also teamed with Smith, Tiffany Tedesco and Lacey Cochran to run the fastest 4x400-meter relays in Slippery Rock history. That group shattered the outdoor school record on the way to earning All-America honors at the National Championships in 2009 when they ran 3:44.83, a mark that hasn't come close to being threatened at SRU since. The same foursome also ran 3:51.53 during the indoor season in 2009 to set the SRU indoor record as well.
 
Quigley picked up her second All-America award the following year when she placed sixth in the 400-meter hurdles at the National Championships in 2010, breaking her own school record with a time of 59.23 seconds in the finals. She also qualified in the 100-meter hurdles and placed 19th at that same national meet.
 
She qualified for the national meet in both the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles again in 2011 and posted the fourth-best time in the country in the 400-meter hurdles 2011, but came up just short of an All-America finish with top-15 placings in both events at nationals that spring.
 
Over her four-year career, Quigley would win an incredible total of 12 PSAC championships in individual and relay events. She helped SRU to PSAC titles in the 4x400-meter relay on six different occasions, helped SRU to the 4x100-meter relay title on three different occasions and she claimed her own individual title in the 400-meter hurdles in three out of her four years on the team.
 
She also helped Slippery Rock to eight team trophies during her four-year career with four PSAC titles and four runner-up finishes at the indoor and outdoor championship meets.
 
After earning her undergraduate degree in biochemistry from SRU 2011, Quigley would go on to add a bachelor's degree in nursing from Edinboro in 2013 and a master's degree in nurse anesthesia from the University of Pittsburgh in 2018.
 
Quigley currently works as a certified registered nurse anesthetist for North American Partners in Anesthesia / UPMC Northwest. She lives in Grove City, Pennsylvania with her husband Gary and their three combined children, Logan, Eliyana and Ariyella. The Quigley's are also part owners of Jellystone Park at Kozy Rest, a local campground.
 

---

MELINDA (HALE) RHOADS
- Sport: Women's Basketball
- Graduation Year: 1990
- Highlights: First four-year starter in SRU women's basketball history … helped SRU to 52-20 record over four years in mid-1970s … went on to highly successful career as a member of U.S. handball team that competed in two World Championships … member of 1984 U.S. Olympic Team … 1992 Pittsburgh Women's Hall of Fame inductee.   
 
Melinda Rhoads was one of the first standout female student-athletes on the SRU campus in the early years after the passing of Title IX in 1972. She came to SRU in the fall of 1973 and would become the first four-year starter in women's basketball history before embarking on an even more successful career as a handball player with the U.S. National Team.
 
She joined head coach Anne Griffiths' basketball program as a freshman in 1973-74 and helped the squad to a 9-1 record just one year after the passing of Title IX. That squad would put together a 16-2 overall record in 1974-75 and would go on to post a record of 52-20 during the four years Rhoads was on the roster. The Rock picked up a consolation bracket win at the 1975 EAIAW Tournament and took down Penn State before losing to Maryland in the 1976 Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships. Rhoads also spent time on the Slippery Rock tennis, lacrosse, softball and track & field teams during her time on campus.
 
Before she graduated, she took the opportunity to try out for the U.S. Handball Team when a tryout was held at SRU in 1975. She earned a spot on the U.S. National Team as one of the first five original members and would eventually play nine years with the U.S. squad from 1975-84.
  
Rhoads would put together a decorated career as a handball athlete, helping the U.S. team to two World Championship appearances and landing her a place on the 1984 U.S. Olympic Team. She did not get the chance to compete in the 1980 Olympics because the United States boycott the 1980 games, but Rhodes got the chance to compete in the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984 when the U.S. finished fourth in handball.
 
She was named the Most Valuable Player on the U.S. Handball Team at three different national championship events and would help lead the team in a number of prestigious tournaments, including the West Point Tournament and multiple Olympic Sports Festivals. The highest honor of her career came in 1980 when she was named the Player of the Year on the U.S. team. Following her time as a player, Rhoads gave back to the sport of handball by serving as a coach for the national team, coaching at numerous Olympic Festivals and serving as a committee chair and vice president of the United States Team Handball Federation.
 
Rhoads was honored in 1996 when the Summer Olympics returned to the United States when she was given the chance to be one of the Olympic Torch Bearers at the Atlanta Games.
 
She finished her degree at Slippery Rock in 1990 and spent her professional career as an educator and coach. Rhoads returned to the Slippery Rock area and worked as a paraprofessional and coach at Slippery Rock Middle School, where she coached junior high boys' and girls' basketball. She has spent more than 30 years coaching, "sharing a passion for sport with every kid that walked in the gym," in her own words.
 
Rhoads married former SRU men's basketball coach Robert "Posey" Rhoads, who passed away in 2013. The couple raised three daughters that were all exceptional athletes and are now successful adults. Jence Rhoads was a Division I All-American and one of the best basketball players in Vanderbilt University history that later made the U.S. National Handball team as well. Twin sisters Karly and Kourtney Rhoads were standout basketball players at Division II Kentucky Wesleyan, where they are tied for the program record in games played after playing in 115 career games each. Karly was a Division II All-American and Kourtney went on to join Jence as a member of the U.S. Handball Team.
 

---

RONALD WASKO
- Sport: Baseball
- Graduation Year: 1987
- Highlights: Two-time first team All-PSAC pitcher … ranks second in SRU history in pitching wins with 20 … ranks 10th at SRU in total innings pitched with 197.1 … Two-time PSAC West Pitcher of the Year.
 
Ron Wasko is the only pitcher in Slippery Rock baseball history to ever be named as the Pitcher of the Year in the PSAC and he accomplished that feat twice, winning the Western Division's top honor in both 1986 and 1987.
 
Wasko posted a 2-3 record in his freshman season in 1984 before going 5-1 as a sophomore in 1985 while nearly doubling his total innings pitched. His breakthrough would come the following spring during his junior year when he put together one of the best single-season pitching efforts in program history.
 
A two-time first team All-PSAC honoree, Wasko was nearly unstoppable in 1986 when he posted a 7-1 record on the mound with a 1.62 ERA, an average that still ranks fourth all-time in SRU baseball history for single-season ERA. He became the first SRU baseball player to ever be named PSAC West Pitcher of the Year following that spring, while also picking up first team All-PSAC and second team All-Region honors.
 
He followed that up in 1987 with a senior year that saw him post a 6-1 record with a 2.60 ERA in just under 70 innings pitched. His efforts again landed him as the PSAC West Pitcher of the Year and a first team All-PSAC honoree.
 
In total, Wasko posted a 20-6 overall record during his career with 102 strikeouts and just 65 earned runs allowed in 197.1 innings of work.
 
A 1987 graduate from Slippery Rock, Wasko currently serves as a senior graphic designer with United Natural Foods, Inc. in Chesterfield, New Hampshire. He and his wife Leslie, a 1985 SRU graduate herself, are the parents of one adult daughter, Meg, who recently earned a master's degree in athletic leadership from Castleton University.
 

---

About the Rock Athletics Hall of Fame: Established in 1984, the Slippery Rock University Athletics Hall of Fame aims to recognize and honor outstanding accomplishments and excellence of SRU student-athletes, coaches, administrators and/or other contributors. Student-athletes that have earned at least an undergraduate degree are eligible for nomination 10 years after their final year of eligibility. Nominations for the Hall of Fame are accepted year-round and can be completed online HERE. Exceptional student-athletes that meet the requirements are encouraged to fill out a nomination form.




To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on Twitter (@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics) and Instagram (RockAthletics).