2008 Woodie Awards
Holcomb among five others inducted into MT Hall of Fame
Richard Lowe
Issue date: 7/2/08 Section: Sports
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Holcomb will be inducted alongside Joe Campbell, Jerry Beck, John DoDoo, and Paul Goebel.
Holcomb was a four-year starter for the Blue Raiders (1991-94), guiding the team to a 25-6 record in the Ohio Valley Conference, including the 1992 OVC Championship. He left MT as the career leader in passing yards, passing attempts, and total offense. He passed for more than 200 yards 12 times and he threw for more than 300 yards three times and he did all of this in a run-oriented offense. Holcomb completed 58 percent of his passes during his career, which still ranks fifth in Blue Raider history.
Holcomb also holds the school record for consecutive passing completions in a game with 13 against then-No.1 ranked Florida State University. Holcomb played for Hall of Fame coach, James "Boots" Donnelly, who recruited Holcomb out of Lincoln County High School in Fayetteville, TN.
Holcomb will be apart of the largest class ever to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. In years past, the inductees were limited to three but because of the number of nominees and votes from committee members, the number of inductees grew to five.
"We have an outstanding class this year but that is always the case," Jim Simpson, director of the Blue Raider Varsity Club, told to GoBlueRaiders.com. "We have so many former greats out there that still deserve recognition and we believed this allows us to start moving forward on recognizing some of the deserving individuals."
Campbell is a former teammate of Holcomb's. He is MT's first two-time all-American and still holds the school record for most career rushing yards with 3,823 yards. He also still holds school records for 100-yard rushing games (18), career rushing yards per game (88.9) and single-game yards per carry (14.7). He was the 1990 OVC co-Player of the Year with another teammate, Marty Carter.
Beck was named the OVC Basketball Player of the Year in 1981 and 1982, and he led the Blue Raiders to the OVC Tournament Championship in 1982. He still ranks among the program's all-time leaders in scoring, rebounding and free throw shooting. He was also a member of the 1982 Blue Raider team that defeated the University of Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. That victory was the first NCAA tournament win for the Blue Raiders and is still regarded by many as the greatest victory in the program's history.
DoDoo won the OVC Indoor triple jump in 1978 and 79, and the outdoor triple jump in 1977, 78 and 79. He was also named OVC Track Athlete of the Year in 1977. He is was a part of the "Grasshopper Gang," a group of Blue Raider jumpers who were nationally known for their exploits in the long and triple jump. DoDoo's record leap of 54 feet-and-one-half inches in the OVC outdoor triple jump still stands.
Goebel was the first Blue Raider tennis player to play in the NCAA Tournament. Goebel had many great seasons for Middle Tennessee but perhaps the most memorable was the 1993-94 season when he teamed with Fred Niemeyer as a dominant doubles tandem. They were ranked as high as No. 5 nationally before finishing that season 15th. One of the highlights of the season was beating the No. 1 doubles team in the nation at the O'Charley's Tournament in Knoxville.
The induction ceremony will take place Sept. 6 at 3:30 p.m. at the Kennon Sports Hall of Fame Building and is open to the public. After the ceremony, the 2008 Blue Raider football team will be taking the field against the University of Maryland at Floyd Stadium.
Information from this article taken from MT Media Relations.
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