The 17th class to be inducted into the Purdue Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame has been announced and will include former All-American swimmer Vilmos Kovacs, who was a four-year letter winner on the men’s swimming & diving team from 1996-1999.
The induction ceremony will take place on April 18th.
Kovacs is one of 9 who will be inducted in the class. His resume includes three All-America awards and four individual Big Ten titles, including the 200 breaststroke for three straight seasons. He also set Purdue Records in the 100 and 200 yard breaststrokes.
The entire class, including detailed bios on each athlete, can be seen below.
~ Brian Cardinal, basketball, 1997-2000
~ Yvonne (Netterville) Carter, track & field, 1983-86
~ John Charles, football, 1964-66
~ Katie Douglas, basketball, 1998-2001
~ Andrea Hillsey, softball, 2002-05
~ Vilmos Kovacs, swimming, 1996-99
~ Taylor Stubblefield, football, 2001-04
~ Howie Williams, basketball, 1946, 1948-50
~ Robert Woodworth, administration, 1928-64
This group includes former athletes who were team captains, team most valuable players, all-conference honorees, All-Americans, a Rose Bowl MVP, an NCAA record setter and a Big Ten Athlete of the Year. They also won Big Ten and NCAA championships. After college, their collective accomplishments include winning an NBA Championship, a WNBA Championship, an Olympic Gold Medal and being named to the Hall of Fame of his profession.
These Purdue greats will join 134 Boilermakers from 16 previous Hall of Fame classes who have been inducted since 1994, when the selection process began.
The latest honorees will be recognized during the Hall of Fame induction ceremony beginning at 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, in Mackey Arena on the Purdue campus, following the Boilermakers’ spring football game. Tickets will be available in March through the John Purdue Club and at the Athletics Ticket Office.
Seven of the nine inductees are expected to attend. Williams and Woodworth are being honored posthumously and will be represented by family members.
The Class of 2015 was chosen by a committee of Hall of Fame members, former student-athletes and current university administrators. Biographical sketches on the honorees follow.
Brian Cardinal, a four-year letterwinner in basketball (1997-2000), played for Hall of Fame head coach Gene Keady. Cardinal was team captain his sophomore, junior and seniors and was selected third team All-Big Ten in 1999 and second team All-Big Ten in 2000. He was team Most Valuable Player in 2000, Doc Combs “Play Hard” Award winner in 1999 and 2000, Courage Award winner all four years (given to the player who takes the most charges), Ray Eddy “Mr. Hustle” Award winner all four years and carried a career average of 12.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Cardinal ranks sixth on the Purdue career rebounds list (749), 16th in points (1,584) and 19th in assists (277). He left Purdue as the career steals leader and now is second with 259. He also ranks sixth in career games played (132) and second in career games started (125). Cardinal holds the school game steals record with seven and has the second-most steals in a season with 78 as a junior. His 11-year NBA career was highlighted by an NBA championship with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. Cardinal Court, Purdue’s practice gymnasium in the renovated Mackey Arena, is named in honor of Brian and his wife, Danielle (a former Purdue women’s basketball player), in recognition of their generous donation. Brian currently serves as an assistant director in the John Purdue Club.
Yvonne (Netterville) Carter was a four-year letterwinner (1983-86) in track and field under Hall of Fame head coach Fred Wilt. She was named team captain in 1985 and team Most Valuable Player in 1985 and 1986 while earning NCAA All-America status twice (1984 outdoors and 1985 indoors) in the triple jump. She was named Purdue Female Athlete of the Year in 1985 and was a six-time Big Ten champion (three times in both the high jump and triple jump). She set Big Ten meet records in the high jump in 1983 (6-feet) and the triple jump in 1985 (41’1-3/4”), when she was named Outstanding Athlete of the Big Ten Outdoor Championships. She is married to former Purdue football player Rodney Carter.
John Charles, a three-year letterwinner (1964-66), played football for Hall of Fame head coach Jack Mollenkopf as a defensive back, garnering first team All-America honors his senior year and earning Most Valuable Player accolades at the 1967 Rose Bowl. Purdue went 22-7-1 during his three-year career. Charles was selected in the first round of the National Football League Draft (21st overall) by the Boston Patriots in 1967 and played for them for three years. He went on to play for the Minnesota Vikings (1970) and Houston Oilers (1971-74). Charles was known for his tenacity and aggressiveness on the field and was tabbed as “the best defensive back I’ve ever coached” by his Purdue position coach, Bernie Miller.
Katie Douglas, a four-year letterwinner in basketball (1998-2001) as a guard/forward, was a starter for three seasons under head coaches Carolyn Peck and Kristy Curry. Douglas ranks second in school history with 327 career steals, third with 526 assists, fifth with 1,965 points and 10th with 727 rebounds. She was named first team Kodak All-American, Big Ten Player of the Year and Purdue Female Athlete of the Year both her junior and senior years. She was a second team Academic All-America selection her junior year, first team Academic All-America as a senior and a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree. Douglas was a member of Purdue’s 1999 NCAA Championship team and the 2001 NCAA Championship runner-up squad. She was named to the Final Four All-Tournament Team in both 1999 and 2001. She was selected to the USA Basketball Team in 1998 and participated in the 1999 World University Games. Douglas continued her success in the WNBA with the Orlando Miracle, Connecticut Sun and the Indiana Fever, whom she helped win the WNBA Championship in 2012. She was named Most Valuable Player of the 2006 All-Star Game and completed her 14th season in the WNBA last summer with the Sun.
Andrea Hillsey was a four-year letterwinner in softball (2002-05) as a second baseman and shortstop under head coach Carol Bruggeman. Hillsey garnered NFCA All-America honors in 2003 (the only player so recognized in program history) and All-Mideast Region accolades in 2003 and 2005. She also was All-Big Ten the same two years and Academic All-Big Ten three consecutive years (2003-05) while winning the Big Ten Medal of Honor in 2005. Hillsey was a GTE/Verizon Academic All-American and Academic All-District V selection in 2003; team captain in 2003, 2004 and 2005; and team Most Valuable Player in 2002, 2003 and 2005. Hillsey is one of two players in school history with a record three doubles in a game and one of seven with two triples in a contest. She set season records in batting average (.454), walks (40) and on-base percentage (.563) in 2003. Hillsey is Purdue’s career leader in on-base percentage (.487) and walks (116) while ranking second in batting average (.374) and tied for third in runs scored (140). She is the first softball player to be inducted into the Purdue Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame.
Vilmos Kovacs was a four-year letterwinner in swimming (1996-99) under head coach Dan Ross. Kovacs was the No. 1 seed in the 200 breaststroke for the 1996 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships and earned All-America recognition in the 100 and 200 meter breaststrokes in 1996 and 1997 and honorable mention in the 200 in 1998. He shattered pool and NCAA records all over the nation, competed in the 1997 U.S. Open Swimming Championships and entered the finals seeded No. 1 in the 100 breaststroke after posting a time of 1:03.73 and finished fourth overall. Kovacs was named Purdue Male Athlete of the Month four times and Big Ten Male Athlete of the Month twice. He won four Big Ten individual titles during his career: the 200 three straight years and the 100 once along with being part of Purdue’s winning 400 medley relay in 1997. That year, he helped the Boilermakers place 19th at the NCAA Championships, their best finish since 1957. Kovacs also competed in the World University Games in 1995 and 1997 for his homeland of Hungary. He set Purdue records in 1997 in both the 100 (54.34) and 200 (1:56.80) that stood for four and eight years, respectively.
Taylor Stubblefield was a four-year letterwinner in football (2001-04) under Hall of Fame head coach Joe Tiller. Stubblefield set the NCAA record for career receptions (316) that stood for seven seasons. He earned consensus All-America status as a senior while amassing career totals of 325 receptions (the NCAA did not include bowl games in its statistics until 2002), 3,629 receiving yards and 21 receiving touchdowns. His other accomplishments include being named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team in 2001, leading the Big Ten with 7.7 receptions per game in 2002, being named second team All-Big Ten and Academic All-Big Ten in 2003 and first team All-Big Ten in 2004 and leading the conference in receptions in 2002, 2003 and 2004. He also set a Sun Bowl record with 196 receiving yards against Washington State in 2001 and was on the receiving end of the second-longest scoring play in Purdue history, 97 yards against Notre Dame, during a memorable 41-16 victory in South Bend in 2004.
Howie Williams was a four-time basketball letterwinner (1946, 1948-50) and a three-year starter for head coach Mel Taube and Hall of Fame head coach Ray Eddy. Following his freshman season, Williams served in the military for one year before returning to Purdue. Near the end of his first season back, he was involved in one of the most memorable plays in the history of the Purdue-Indiana series as he hit the game-winning shot from the seat of his pants, grabbing his own rebound after getting knocked to the floor in a wild melee under the basket and giving the Boilermakers a 51-49 double overtime win in Bloomington. In 1949, he set the conference record with 22 consecutive free throws and led the league with a .857 shooting percentage at the line. Williams earned All-Big Ten status in 1949 and 1950 and also was team Most Valuable Player both years. He was chosen as a member of the 1952 United States Olympic Team, which won the Gold Medal in Helsinki, Finland. He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1989. Williams, who had a 35-year career with Caterpillar Inc., died in 2004.
Robert Woodworth served as Purdue’s publicity director/sports information director for 36 years (1928 to 1964) and also spent one year as acting athletics director when Noble Kizer was gravely ill. Woodworth was one of the founding fathers of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and was elected to its Hall of Fame in 1968. He graduated from Purdue with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1926. Twice Woodworth was honored by the Football Writers Association of America for outstanding service and also worked as acting general director of the Purdue News Bureau three times during his tenure. He was a member of the Ethics Committee and Publications Committee of CoSIDA. The previous Ross-Ade Stadium press box was named in his honor. For many years at Purdue, Woodworth was on the Victory Varieties Committee, which brought top talent to the campus for weekend shows from the entertainment world. In 1938, Woodworth was awarded the Leather Medal, presented to the man who annually makes the greatest contribution to the welfare, success and reputation of Purdue University. Woodworth died in 1964.
