SXU Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2020 Announced
Saint Xavier University announced on Friday the newest class of the SXU Athletics Hall of Fame. The 18th class of the SXU Athletics Hall of Fame is comprised by six former student-athletes and one coach, across eight athletic programs. The newest inductees bring the total number of SXU Hall of Famers to 124.
Angie Brown (Women's Basketball, 2005-07), Brendan Christy (Baseball, 2003-06), Jimmy Coy (Football, 2011-12), Rachael Dean (Women's Cross Country/Women's Track and Field, 2010-13), Samantha Lovato (Softball, 2005-07), Tom O'Malley (Men's Basketball Coach, 1997-2020), and Danielle Wagner (Women's Soccer, 2006-08) are set to be inducted in a dinner and ceremony on Saturday, April 18, 2020.
Angie Brown was a key member of two CCAC Women's Basketball championship teams, helping lead the Cougars to regular season and tournament titles in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Brown's teams were the first to win a tournament game at the NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship, and the 29 victories recorded by the Cougars in 2006-07 were a program record at the time.
Brown twice earned NAIA All-American honors in her two seasons at SXU, earning an honorable mention nod in 2006, then taking Second Team honors in 2007. She was the leading scorer on the 2006-07 squad that finished 29-3, averaging 16.2 points per game and shooting an SXU-record 52.6% from three-point range. Her 216 three-pointers stood as a program record for a decade, and her 49.2% career three-point percentage still stands as the best in SXU history.
Brendan Christy was a three-time NAIA All-American honorable mention selection for Saint Xavier baseball, playing shortstop for the Cougars from 2003-2006. Christy's teams went a combined 158-96-1 during his time at SXU, and as a senior he was part of the Cougars' NAIA World Series appearance in 2006.
Christy helped lead the Cougars to three straight CCAC championships from 2004-06, and finished his SXU career as a .347 hitter, with 25 home runs and 201 RBI. With 294 career base hits, Christy ranks 8th on SXU's all-time hits list, and is tied for 8th on the program's career RBI leaderboard. His 231 games played are the 5th-most for any player in Saint Xavier history.
Jimmy Coy led Saint Xavier's football team as quarterback from 2011-12, leading the Cougars to the 2011 NAIA National Championship in his first season at SXU. In the national championship game, Coy finished with two touchdowns, one passing and one rushing, in the 24-20 victory.
In his senior year of 2012, Coy was named the NAIA Player of the Year, after finishing with 3,427 passing yards, 3rd-most in the NAIA that season. The Cougars nearly returned to the national title game, reaching the semifinals. In two seasons under center, Coy finished with a 25-3 record at Saint Xavier.
Coy finished his career ranked first in program history with 284.7 passing yards per game, and is second all-time in passing TDs, with 77. His two seasons rank among the top four seasons by any SXU quarterback in passing yards, throwing for 42 TDs in 2011, and 35 in 2012.
One of the best runners in Saint Xavier history, Rachel Dean earned five NAIA All-American awards in cross country and track and field during her time at SXU from 2010-2013. A two-time CCAC individual champion in cross country, Dean earned All-American honors during her first two seasons as a Cougar, placing 12th and 25th at her two national championship meet appearances. At the close of her cross country career, Dean owned seven of the eight fastest times in program history, including a then-program record 17:58.
Dean was also a three-time Track and Field NAIA All-American, twice for her performance in the Indoor 3,000m Run, and once for the Indoor Mile. Her time of 5:01.97 still stands as the SXU program record in the Mile Run, and she is part of the record-holding teams in the Indoor Distance Medley Relay, and Outdoor 4x800m Relay.
Sam Lovato starred as shortstop for SXU softball for three seasons, leading the Cougars through three CCAC championships from 2005-07. In her senior season of 2007, Lovato was named the CCAC Player of the Year, hitting .401 as the Cougars claimed their second straight CCAC Tournament title. Lovato was also twice-named an NAIA All-American Honorable Mention, in 2006 and 2007.
Lovato finished her SXU with a career .385 batting average, the 5th-highest career average in SXU program history. Her on-base percentage of .451 is second all-time at SXU, and her .580 slugging percentage ranks 6th. Lovato was also a constant threat on the basepaths, stealing 24 bases in her career. In 2007, she went a perfect 16-for-16 on stolen base attempts, and is still just one of four SXU softball players to ever post a perfect stolen base percentage throughout a season.
Tom O'Malley has guided the Saint Xavier men's basketball program for 23 seasons, and will close his illustrious coaching career this spring as the all-time program leader in wins. O'Malley led the Cougars to three CCAC regular season championships and four CCAC tournament titles, along with 12 NAIA Tournament appearances.
Sixteen times in O'Malley's 22-year career, the Cougars recorded 20 or more victories. In 2000-01, O'Malley's Cougars set the program record with 30 wins, and then matched the total again in 2004-05 and 2013-14. The 2004-05 squad reached the national quarterfinal of the NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship, the deepest tournament run in program history.
O'Malley became Saint Xavier's all-time winningest head men's basketball coach on December 21, 2011, when the Cougars defeated Siena Heights (Mich.) to earn his 351st career victory. In the 85-73 win at Holy Cross last season, O'Malley recorded his 500th career win at SXU.
Danielle Wagner was key to Saint Xavier's two CCAC Women's Soccer Tournament championships and NAIA National Tournament appearances from 2006-2008. The goalkeeper would twice be named an NAIA All-American First Team selection, guiding the Cougars to a quarterfinal appearance in the NAIA Women's Soccer National Championship, their deepest postseason run to date.
Wagner still holds the all-time record at SXU for save percentage (87.2%), goals-against average (0.80), and shutouts (22), and her 38 wins in net are second-most all-time in program history. In her sophomore year of 2006, Wagner gave up just 12 goals over the course of nearly 1,800 minutes, finishing with a program-record 0.61 goals-against average. In 2007, she set the SXU single-season record with 18 victories, including an overtime shutout victory over Trinity Christian in the NAIA Region VII championship match.