BOULDER, Colo. — University of Colorado at Boulder will restore its "Athletic Hall of Honor" and open a new "Legacy Wing," the CU Athletic Department announced Monday.
The Athletic Hall of Honor recognition was presented to a person who, while attending the University of Colorado, was awarded a Varsity “C” and attained distinguished achievement in his or her chosen field. There were 65 members of the original Athletic Hall of Honor, said CU.
CU's Hall of Honor debuted in 1967 and was discontinued in 1987.
Former CU football players Jim Hansen and Dr. Eric McCarty will be the first chosen inductees in 35 years.
McCarty, a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship, is in his 19th year working with the CU athletic department after joining the school’s sports medicine team in 2003. He’s also a team doctor with the Colorado Avalanche.
Hansen served as a professor at M.I.T. before accepting his current position at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
CU also announced Monday that CU “super fans” Peggy Coppom and the late Betty Hoover will be the first inducted into a new Legacy Wing in the Hall of Honor.
Known fondly as CU's “Twins,” the pair together attended more than 3,000 football, basketball and Olympic sporting events at CU after moving to Boulder in 1940.
CU athletic director Rick George delivered the news to Peggy in person at her home in Boulder.
“It’s a tremendous honor for you and Betty and we want to protect your legacy for what the two of you have meant to our athletic department for decades,” George said when informing Coppom.
The twins, Hansen and McCarty will be honored along with the Athletic Hall of Fame class over the course of Oct. 27-29, 2022, said CU.
“This is a tremendous honor for which I am very thankful and deeply humbled,” McCarty said. “I was floored and it meant so much when Rick George called me about this, especially since I have known him since my playing days as a Buff. I am thankful for him and the current leadership we have here at CU. The history of student-athletes at the University of Colorado is rich and deep and I am grateful to even be considered for inclusion in the Hall of Honor alongside the great names in CU history.”
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