Noles News: FSU announces new Hall of Fame class

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Florida State University’s Athletics Hall of Fame announced Tuesday the selection of eight new members, including current men’s basketball coach Leonard Hamilton, who will make up the 2021 class. The induction ceremony, which is traditionally held the night before FSU’s first home football game, is being postponed. The Athletics Hall of Fame committee will announce the induction date once it is scheduled.

Florida State’s 2021 class includes former basketball star Toney Douglas, ACC indoor volleyball Player of the Year the late Brianna Barry, All-American golfer Jonas Blixt, women’s soccer All-American Becky Edwards, 2008 Lou Groza Award winner and current NFL star Graham Gano, retired long-time athletic trainer Randy Oravetz, track and field sensation Ngoni Makusha, and Hamilton who is Seminoles’ all-time winningest basketball coach and currently the fifth all-time winningest coach in ACC history.

BRIANNA BARRY

Volleyball (2006-09)

Brianna Barry was a star on and off the volleyball court from her freshman season in 2006 through her senior year when she became the first Seminole ever named ACC Player of the Year.

Barry led the Seminoles as a rookie with 109 blocks and was fourth in the ACC and Top 100 nationally with a .325 hitting percentage. She led the team in blocks again as a sophomore (97) and was third on the team with 325 kills.

As a junior, she ranked 51^st in the NCAA with a .349 hitting percentage and was named to the CoSIDA/ESPN Academic All-District team. She averaged 2.83 kills, 0.91 blocks and 3.51 points per set and earned Academic All-ACC honors for a third straight season.

Barry’s senior year elevated her to a place among FSU’s all-time elite athletes. She was the 2009 ACC Player of the Year, earned American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America Second Team honors, was named All-ACC and was AVCA All-Region after helping lead FSU to the Elite Eight in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, a 31-3 record and a final ranking of 11^th in the country. At the time of her induction, Brianna still held the record for the best hitting percentage in school history (0.371) and remains in FSU’s top 10 in blocks with 399 (9^th) and points 1,386 (3^rd).

JONAS BLIXT

Men’s Golf (2004-08)

Jonas Blixt began his Florida State career in 2004, coming to Tallahassee from Hammaro, Sweden.

The talented golfer’s All-America career helped launch the Seminoles’ strong run of success under current head coach Trey Jones. As a freshman, he earned his first collegiate win at the Gator Invitational, then lowered his scoring average by nearly a full stroke as a sophomore when he shot 73.19 in the 2005-06 season.

Blixt became a star during his junior and senior years. He led FSU to its first-ever ACC Championship in 2007 and earned second-team All-America honors in that same junior season. Blixt won two tournaments in the 2006-07 year, getting a victory at the Shoal Creek Intercollegiate and at the ACC Championship en route to all-conference honors. In his senior year, he shot a career-low 71.33, earned eight Top 10 finishes and ended his Seminole career as a first-team All-American by both the Golf Coaches Association of America and Golfweek. He was named to the Ping All-Southeast Region team and was an All-Nicklaus honoree. Blixt once again earned All-ACC accolades and finished his FSU career with four tournament wins while being just the third first-team All-American in program history in 2008.

Blixt earned his first start on the PGA Tour in 2012, and he has three tour victories to date. He finished tied for second in his first Masters Tournament in 2014.

TONEY DOUGLAS

Basketball (2007-09)

Toney Douglas transferred to FSU in 2006 from Auburn, where he earned third-team All-SEC and Freshman All-America honors.

Douglas was FSU’s second-leading scorer (12.7 ppg) as a sophomore in 2007, starting 28 games at point guard for the Seminole team that finished 22-13. As a junior, he led the 2007-08 team in scoring, averaging 15.4 points while leading the ACC in both assists and steals per game. He was named to the All-ACC Defensive Team and was an All-ACC Third-Team selection.

His senior season was one of the best in FSU history, and it launched the program back into the national spotlight as FSU earned an NCAA bid finishing 25-10 and No. 16 in the country. Toney was named All-America Third Team by both AP and Sporting News in 2008-09 and was a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s best point guard. He led the ACC in scoring, averaging 21.5 points per game, and was the 2009 ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Runner-up for ACC Player of the Year and a first-team All-ACC and All-ACC Defensive team selection. He led the Seminoles to their first-ever berth in the championship game of the ACC Tournament. His 1,665 career points at FSU ranks fifth in school history. Douglas is ranked in the top-10 in seven different statistical categories including career free throw shooting and steals.

Douglas was the first round selection of the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and traded to the New York Knicks on draft night in 2009.

BECKY EDWARDS

Soccer (2006-09)

Becky Edwards signed with Florida State in 2006 out of Downington West High School in Downington, Pa., and became one of the best soccer players in Florida State history.

Edwards started 25 games as a freshman and led the Seminoles with eight assists and five game-winning assists. She led a defensive backline that set single-season records for shutouts (14) and GAA (0.67) earning a place on the ACC All-Freshman Team and the Top Drawer Soccer National All-Freshman Team. She started all 27 games as a sophomore scoring three goals and assisting three more. She was named to the NSCAA All-Region First Team and the CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District First Team.

In 2008, she entered the season on the preseason MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List and ended the season as an NSCAA First Team All-American for the first of two straight years. As a junior, she helped lead the Seminoles to their third consecutive Elite Eight appearance after FSU reached the College Cup the previous two years. She finished her senior season in 2009 as an NSCAA First Team All-American for the second consecutive season. She was also named an NSCAA First Team Scholar All-American in 2009.

Over her four years at Florida State, she was a part of a defense that produced 50 shutouts over 102 games.

GRAHAM GANO

Football (2005-08)

Graham Gano signed with Florida State in 2005 out of Tate High School in Pensacola and became one of the greatest special teams players in Seminole football history.

Gano handled kickoffs for the Seminoles as a freshman in 2005 and was FSU’s starting punter and kickoff specialist as a sophomore and junior. He averaged 40.8 yards per punt as a sophomore in 2006, including averaging over 40 or more yards per punt in eight of the Seminoles’ 13 games. He posted his career-high punting average as a junior with an average of 43.4 yards per punt and 16 punts over 50 yards.

He entered his senior season as a preseason All-American and Ray Guy Award watch list member and was slated to become the first player in school history to handle all kicking duties (punt, KOs and field goals). A preseason injury forced coaches to limit him to field goals. After missing the first two games, he became the best kicker in the country, winning the 2008 Lou Groza Award. He led the FBS in field goals made (24 ), field goals made from 50 yards or more (5), and field goal percentage (92.3). Remarkably, he finished his career as the Most Valuable Player in FSU’s Champs Bowl win over Wisconsin after adding punting duties. He kept the Badgers pinned all day, dropping four punts inside their 10.

Gano entered his ninth season as one of the premier kickers in the NFL in 2020.

LEONARD HAMILTON

Basketball (2002-Pr.)

The most successful coach in Florida State history, Leonard Hamilton is the Seminoles’ all-time winningest coach and the fifth all-time winningest coach in ACC history.

Under Hamilton, Florida State won the first ACC Championship in school history in 2012, won the regular-season championship of the ACC for the first time in 2020, has won at least 20 games in 13 of his 19 years and has advanced to the postseason in 16 of his 19 seasons. In 2020, he was named the ACC Coach of the Year for the third time in his career.

In 2019, he guided the Seminoles to a school-record 29 victories. The Seminoles’ 2019 team also defeated six nationally-ranked teams, advanced to the ACC Tournament championship game, and the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Coupled with the Seminoles’ appearance in the Elite Eight of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, the 2019 season marked the second time in school history that the Seminoles advanced to at least the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons. In 2018, Florida State advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for the first time under Hamilton and for only the third time in school history.

The Seminoles are the second-winningest team in the ACC since the start of the 2016-17 season and are one of just three teams in the nation who have advanced to the Sweet 16 in each of the last three NCAA Tournaments. His graduation rate at Florida State is better than 97 percent.

NGONI MAKUSHA

Track & Field 2008-2011

Ngoni Makusha’s path to Florida State’s Hall of Fame began as a freshman when he won the NCAA Outdoor long jump title, which he followed with a fourth-place finish for his native Zimbabwe at the 2008 Olympic Games. And he never slowed down, en route to becoming one of the greatest collegiate track and field athletes of all time.

Over his historic career as a Seminole from 2008-2011, Makusha won six NCAA titles between the long jump (four), 100-meter dash and the 4x100 relay team, added six ACC titles, and played a key role on Seminoles’ 2008 NCAA National Championship team.

The eight-time All-American set an NCAA and ACC record in the 100 in 2011, which remains the best in FSU and ACC history. His five NCAA individual titles rank as the second-most ever for an FSU male track athlete, and his eight All-America honors rank as the sixth most in Seminole male track history.

Makusha won The Bowerman Award in 2011 – the track & field equivalent of the Heisman Trophy - and was named NCAA Male Track Athlete of the Year as a senior when his performance at the NCAA Outdoor Championship was heralded as one of the greatest ever. He won the 100-meter title in a collegiate record 9.89 and added a long jump crown with a Drake Stadium record of 8.40 meters. In doing so, he became just the fourth man in history to complete that double, joining legends Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis and DeHart Hubbard. He also ran the second leg on FSU’s victorious 4x100-meter relay team.

RANDY ORAVETZ

Administration (1979-2010)

Randy Oravetz graduated from FSU in 1979 and worked under legendary athletic trainer Don Fauls as a graduate assistant and assistant before taking over as Director of Sports Medicine in 1986 and served in that capacity until 2010.

He supervised a staff who oversaw the medical care of over 500 athletes in 19 varsity sports and served as the primary liaison between the FSU team doctors and the coaching staff. In addition, he was directly responsible for the daily care and treatment of the football team.

During Oravez’s tenure, five FSU football players earned the Piccolo Award, which is given annually by the ACC to the “Most Courageous Player” in the league. Honorees, Dan Footman (1992), Sam Cowart (1997), Corey Simon (1998), Chris Weinke (1999) and Anquan Boldin (2002) all battled back from injury to not only excel at the collegiate level but also in the NFL. The award is a tribute to not only the hard work and character of the winners but also the professionalism and dedication of the athletic trainers and medical staff who assist the players throughout their rehabilitation.

In 2007 Oravetz was named to the Athletic Trainers’ Association of Florida (ATAF) Hall of Fame. Well respected nationally, Oravetz was honored by the National Association of Athletic Trainers in 1988 when he was awarded the National Service Award and again in 2000 when he received the Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award.