Williams, Nehemiah, Norris Inducted Into University Alumni Hall Of Fame
5/31/2005 8:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
June 4, 2005
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - National championship coach Gary Williams, a 1968 Maryland graduate who resurrected his alma mater's basketball team into a position among the nation's elite, and Renaldo Nehemiah, a 1981 graduate and one of the most recognizable names in U.S. track and field history, were among those inducted into the University of Maryland Alumni Association Hall of Fame on Saturday, June 4, 2005.
In addition to Williams and Nehemiah, two-time All-ACC wrestling champion and 1967 graduate Tom Norris was inducted. Norris, a former Navy SEAL, is a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for acts of valor during the Vietnam war.
Since returning to the College Park campus in 1989, head coach Williams has led his alma mater's basketball program into an era of national prominence. With 11 straight NCAA tournament berths from 1994-2004, seven Sweet Sixteen appearances, a pair of consecutive Final Four showings, the 2004 ACC Tournament title and the 2002 national championship, Williams and his staff have forged what is now more than a decade of dominance.
Williams owns nearly 550 victories in his 27 seasons as a head coach, with more than 330 coming at the University of Maryland. He is the 12th-winningest active coach in America, and is one of only 11 coaches ever to lead his alma mater to the national title.
Williams has become the fifth-winningest coach in ACC history after transforming the Maryland program into one of the nation's most formidable, and building a Baltimore-D.C. area following that has consistently resulted in packed arenas. For the third straight season Maryland set a new home attendance record in 2004-05, as 299,391 fans came out to support the Terps at Comcast Center.
The former Terrapin point guard is an active member of the University of Maryland and greater Baltimore-Washington, D.C., community. Williams is involved in extensive charity, fund-raising and public speaking events throughout the year, particularly in the offseason.
In September of 2004, University President C.D. Mote Jr. announced that Williams would co-chair the scholarship component of Maryland's upcoming $200 million fund-raising campaign. In addition to a pledge of a half-million dollars of his own for academic scholarships at the university, Williams has represented the University at various functions and performed various networking duties to spearhead the fund-raising effort in his capacity as co-chair.
Over the course of the past season, Williams was inducted as part of the inaugural class into the Washington, D.C., Sports Hall of Champions. In January he was named a "Washingtonian of the Year" by Washingtonian Magazine. Last Spring, Williams served as the commencement speaker at the graduation proceedings for the Robert H. Smith School of Business. Williams, a 1968 business school grad, addressed the Class of 2004 at the Comcast Center ceremony.
Williams has been heavily involved in the NABC's Coaches vs. Cancer efforts - a partnership between the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the American Cancer Society. He has also worked with Maryland grad Boomer Esiason and others to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, hosting charity basketball games and golf events.
For the past three years, Williams has served as the honorary chairman for the Walk Far for N.A.A.R., which has raised more than $1 million for the National Alliance of Autism Research. He has also chaired the Salvation Army's FORE Kids golf tournament in 2003 and 2004, which raises proceeds for Washington, D.C.'s youth.
Nehemiah was a five-time All-American and three-time NCAA champion while competing for the Terrapins in 1978 and 1979.
As a standout in the 110-meter high hurdles outdoors, Nehemiah was the world's top-ranked athlete in that event in four straight years, from 1978 through 1981. While at Maryland, he won three NCAA championships, winning the 60-meter high hurdles indoors in 1978 and 1979, as well as the 110-meter high hurdles outdoors in 1979. In that race, he had a wind-aided mark of 12.91.
Nehemiah held the world record in the 110 hurdles while he was a student-athlete at Maryland, running times of 13.16 and 13.0 - an improvement of 0.2 seconds over the former record. Also, during 1979, he won the Pan American Games and the World Cup in the hurdles. In 1981, in Zurich, Switzerland, Nehemiah became the first athlete to run the event in under 13 seconds, lowering the mark officially to 12.93. Some 24 years later, the current world mark has been lowered only slightly, to 12.91 seconds.
Nehemiah also held indoor world records at 50 yards (6.04), 50 meters (6.36), 55 meters (6.89) and 60 yards (6.89).
After missing the 1980 Olympics due to the U.S. boycott of the games in Moscow, Nehemiah turned his sights to football. He played for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League from 1982 through 1985. After his football career, Nehemiah returned to track and field in 1986, achieving world rankings four more times from 1988 through 1991. He was named to the U.S. team for the 1991 World Championships, but an injury kept him from competing.
In 1997, Nehemiah was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame. He entered the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame the next year.
Norris, meanwhile, was a Terrapin ACC wrestling champion at the 115-pound weight class, both in 1965 and 1966. Norris' heroics as a Navy SEAL in Vietnam included rescuing two downed airmen, and earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor. He went on to serve as an undercover agent in the FBI despite sustaining injuries in combat.
Also among those entering the University of Maryland Alumni Association Hall of Fame in June were broadcast journalist Connie Chung, Seinfeld creator and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David, business executive Carly Fiorina, Maryland State Senate president Mike Miller and legendary DeMatha high school basketball coach Morgan Wootten.
For more information regarding the Maryland Alumni Association, click on here.
