ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University Athletic Department has announced the seven-member class that will make up the 2024 Athletics Hall of Fame Class.
This year's hall of fame class will be formally inducted in a ceremony inside the Ballroom of the Jerry and Jean Beasley Student Center 9:00 a.m. October 19 during Homecoming Weekend.
The class is made up of one former head coach, one member of meritorious service and five former student-athletes. Former men's and women's soccer coach Steve Barrett becomes a member of the hall of the fame three years after his career concluded. Public address announcer Tom Bone was voted into the hall of fame for his service to Concord. And the five athletes that are set to become members are Tommy Bolte (men's basketball), Michelle Shinault Dye (women's soccer), Davon Marion (football), Robby Peters (men's cross country/track & field) and Ryan Weatherholtz (baseball).
The hall of fame class is voted on by a 10-member committee made up of current Concord head coaches, athletic administrators, CU faculty and local community members. The voting process uses a points system via secret ballot to determine the selections for the hall of fame each year.
Three nominees from this year's ballot will carry over to next year's voting without a formal nomination due to receiving a necessary number of points: James Doyle, Pam Vass Dunford and Andrew Seigel.
Over the course of 24 combined seasons on the sidelines, Steve Barrett racked up 73 wins with the men's soccer program at Concord and added another 87 victories with the women's soccer program. In 2002, Barrett led the Mountain Lion women's soccer team to the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) Championship—just the sixth season of the program's existence. Until last year, Barrett was the winningest coaching in women's soccer program history and still ranks second. The native of Colchester, England is the winningest coach in the history of the men's soccer program. While also coaching the women's team from 1999-07, Barrett was the men's soccer head coach from 1999-2002 and then again from 2008 until his retirement in 2021.
The Voice of the Mountain Lions on the football field and the basketball court since 1999, Tom Bone will be inducted in the CU Hall of Fame for his service to the university. Bone is the first inductee to Concord's Hall of Fame for meritorious service since Harry Finkleman in 1997. Bone was preceded by Finkleman in the football press box as the public address announcer before the turn of the century. Bone has provided his voice to Concord football and men's and women's basketball for 25 years. He got his start assisting Finkleman in the mid-1980s before taking the microphone full time in 1999. And the former sports writer for the
Bluefield Daily-Telegraph has authored countless articles on CU Athletics as a beat writer prior to his retirement in 2018.
Bolte, one of the most prolific scorers in the history of Concord men's basketball, finished his career as one of six players in program history with 2,000 career points. During his junior season of 2017-18, Bolte led Division II in scoring with 31.8 points per game. He followed it up by scoring 28.5 points per game as a senior. By leading the nation in scoring six years ago, Bolte was voted as a First Team All-American and capped his career with an All-American Second Team nod in 2018-19. Overall, Bolte scored 2,084 points which ranks sixth in program history. He also has top-10 program marks in free-throw percentage (second/85.8), free throws made (third/471), field goals made (eighth/721) and assists (nine/424). Additionally, he holds the single-game program scoring record when he dropped in 65 points in January 2019 at Charleston. Bolte was also a conference champion in 2015-16.
The first ever first team all-conference performer in women's soccer at Concord, Shinault, now Dye, was a two-time all-conference selection. The native of Mercer County in nearby Lerona, Dye was voted to the All-WVIAC First Team in 1997 before earning a spot on the All-WVIAC Second Team in 1998. Dye was a three-year captain for the Mountain Lion women's soccer program that was in its infancy at the time. In the first year of the program, Dye helped CU win nine games. She becomes the second player off Concord's first women's soccer team to be inducted into the hall of fame along with Lesley Ashford (2010).
A 2013 All-American, Marion was part of one of the most-feared defenses in Concord history. The former CU safety was a First Team All-MEC pick in 2013 after being voted to the All-WVIAC Second Team in 2012. He was a First Team All-Super Region One selection by both Daktronics and Don Hansen Football Gazette at the conclusion of the 2013 season. The Mount Hope, West Virginia native ranks in a tie for seventh in program history in interceptions (10) with five of those coming in 2013. Marion's 19 pass breaks-ups are eighth in program history. Furthermore, Marion and the Concord defense allowed just 14.2 points per game and 268 yards per game in 2013, both top three in Division II. Over his final two seasons on the gridiron, Marion rolled up 146 tackles with his 83 tackles in 2012 ranking seventh in the WVIAC.
A three-time All-WVIAC First Team selection in 2009, 2010 and 2012 in cross country, Peters concluded his career by being named the WVIAC Runner of the Year in 2012 after winning the individual conference championship. On the track, Peters was equally successful with his best year coming in 2013. The Dawson, West Virginia native and graduate of Greenbrier West won both the WVIAC Championship 5,000-meters and 10,000-meters in his final season of eligibility to be named all-conference first team in both events. Peters earned All-Atlantic Region in both events as well at the end of the 2013 season. And in 2012, Peters became Concord's first all-region cross country athlete in eight years when he finished 17
th at the Atlantic Regional Championship. Peters was All-WVIAC Second Team in the 5,000-meters in both 2011 and 2012.
Weatherholtz became one of the best pitchers at Concord, setting foot on the Anderson Field mound from 2011-14. Throughout his career, Weatherholtz was the top arm on the CU pitching staff as he finished his career with the most innings pitched in program history (328.1). He is also tied for second in wins (27), third in career strikeouts (224), tied for third in appearances (59) and seventh in ERA (4.28). Weatherholtz was a vital part of Concord's two conference championships teams in 2011 and 2013. He won at least seven games in three of his four seasons and tossed 80 or more innings three times. Weatherholtz culminated his career by being named All-MEC First Team in 2014 after going 7-4 on the mound with a 2.59 ERA in 83.1 innings and recording 58 strikeouts while issuing just 13 walks.
