Folks had fun at the OSU Hall of Fame banquet
The entire 2023 Oregon State Athletics Hall of Fame class (courtesy Karl Maasdam/OSU Sports Communications)
Over a long career in sportswriting, I have attended dozens of Hall of Fame-type banquets.
I’ve attended big ones (Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, College Sports Information Directors Hall of Fame) and small ones (Pendleton Sports Hall of Fame). I have helped organize them (Oregon Sports Awards).
Some events are better than others. All are important to somebody. The best ones are important to a lot of people.
I would put the recent Oregon State Athletics Hall of Fame in the latter category.
I can’t imagine the school having a more satisfying celebration — nor a more complete Hall of Fame class — than it did last Friday night in the Toyota Club at Reser Stadium.
The class featured big names who went on to successful pro careers (Steven Jackson, Rachel Rourke and Brent Barry), teams that achieved greatness (the 2006 softball team that reached the College World Series, the 2016 basketball team that made the Women’s Final Four), football walk-ons who earned national awards (Mike Hass, Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top receiver; Alexis Serna, Lou Groza Award as the nation’s top kicker), stars who came back to work at the university (Serna and Mandi Rodriguez), a rower who gained national prominence (Josh Inman), the administrator who got the Raising Reser project started (Bob De Carolis) and the winningest coach in the football program’s history (Mike Riley).
The evening began with addresses from university president Jayithi Murthy and athletic director Scott Barnes. Their messages projected positive vibes about the future of OSU athletics, perhaps something those in attendance needed to hear.
Ron Callan did a nice job as emcee, expertly moving along the show and keeping its length at a reasonable two hours and 20 minutes. There were no speeches, though some of the inductees commandeered the microphone to have a say about something important (fortunately, nobody went overboard). Callan asked a few questions of each honoree, giving each his/her moment in the sun.
Brent Barry, flanked by Mike Riley and Mike Hass, holds court during Hall of Fame banquet (courtesy Karl Maasdam/OSU Sports Communications)
Barry was witty and funny. Jackson was poignant and gracious. On the stage where the inductees gathered, women’s basketball player Jamie Weisner Scott held her infant daughter, conceived with husband Larry Scott, the former Beaver cornerback (not the ex-Pac-12 commissioner, thank God).
Former Beaver All-America basketball player Jamie Weisner Scott, with daughter in her lap, speaks during Hall of Fame ceremony (courtesy Karl Maasdam/OSU Sports Communications)
Nobody touched more people at Oregon State than Riley, who served as football coach for 14 years.
OSU Athletics Hall of Fame inductees representing football, from left: Mike Hass, Mike Riley, Steven Jackson, Alexis Serna (courtesy Karl Maasdam/OSU Sports Communications)
“I coached so long, I’ve had thousands of players,” he said. “Every one of them is special; every one of them has been a big part of my life. I have had coaches who are dedicated to being coaches, and if they were going to work for us, they had to be dedicated to the development of young people, too. I learned that along the way, that there was way more than coaching football. And I was fortunate enough to work with so many others who worked behind the scenes and did so much without getting any attention.”
Riley also thanked the boosters, many of them in attendance, “who believed in us and helped us achieve what we were able to achieve.”
Inman is unique in that, not only wasn’t he recruited, he had never rowed before he came to Oregon State.
“Never heard of the sport before I got here,” said the 6-8, 215-pound Inman, who would go on to be named 2005 U.S. Male Rowing Athlete of the Year after graduation.
De Carolis, suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, came to the stage with a walker. His remarks about what the Hall of Fame honor meant to him were powerful. He said completion of Reser Stadium “is what we need. The project we created gives us a chance to compete at the highest levels, not only in football but in all programs in the athletic department. That’s what came to my mind when we started the thing 20 years ago, and now it’s done.” Later, he added emphasis to the messages of optimism from Murthy and Barnes: “Beavers fight, they fight hard, and they don’t give up.”
The evening flowed well, and there was good cheer to the crowd that numbered nearly 400. Event organizers committed only one major blunder. Tables in the back of the room (yep, where I was located) were far from the stage. It was difficult to hear the speakers and impossible to get a good look at them. There were big screens on both sides of the stage; a camera should have been focused on the speakers and their images projected onto the big screens, so the attendees could actually see the people they were honoring.
Prior to the event, I wrote stories on four of the inductees:
I also conducted short interviews with three others headed for the Hall of Fame. To wit:
MIKE HASS: The only player in Oregon State history with three 1,000-yard receiving seasons and who still holds the career receiving yardage record (3,924) was already a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, the state of Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and the Jesuit High Sports Hall of Fame.
“This is the last one I can get, so it’s fantastic,” said Hass, 40, who lives in Sherwood and works as project manager for Pacific Geosource, which handles pavement needs with cities, counties and departments of transportation. “This is a special one because of the fun I had playing at Oregon State and the people I encountered along the way.”
Hass’ story is well-chronicled — the state Offensive Player of the Year as a senior at Jesuit, but offered no scholarships to play college football. Too small? Too slow? Yeah, sure.
“The long road I took to get here is a cool story for a lot of people to hear about,” Hass said.
Hass’ Oregon State career coincided with the beginning of the Raising Reser project.
“Seeing the growth of the program since I played has been pretty cool,” he said. “The new stadium is beautiful. I remember playing on Astroturf, with the bleachers on one side. It’s fun to be a part of something that has become so big.”
I asked if it were meaningful for him to enter the Hall of Fame with his coach (Riley) and two former teammates (Jackson and Serna).
“Absolutely,” Hass said. “People always ask me the best players I ever played with. I say Steven Jackson and (Chicago Bears linebacker) Brian Urlacher. They’re just different dudes than the rest of us. Watching Steven succeed made all of us better. Coach Riley is a legend. His induction is a no-brainer. Alexis has a story similar to mine. We both started down in the ranks. In his case, he had a tough first game and came back to be a national award-winner. A perfect example of perseverance.”
► ◄
MANDI RODRIGUEZ: Though she was raised in the east Los Angeles community of Baldwin Park, few people were a better fit for Oregon State than Rodriguez.
“My time at Oregon State was not only transformative for me as a person, but also the best thing that ever happened to me,” said Mandi, 34, a seven-time All-American who was named 2009 Pac-10 Gymnast of the Year. “I met so many wonderfully incredible, influential people.
“As a student, and as I worked in the athletic department after graduation, I knew I was meant to be at Oregon State. My experience as a student-athlete was top-notch. I’m grateful for the four years and the relationships that continue to be impactful in my life even today. And I’m thrilled to be going into the Hall of Fame. It’s always great when gymnastics gets recognition.”
Rodriguez performed a variety of jobs within the “academics for student-athletes” field at OSU. She started as a study facilitator, then became coordinator of the BEST Summer Bridge program. After that, she was a full-time academic counselor for several sports. As a grad student working on her Masters degree, she spent three years as a volunteer assistant coach for gymnastics, and also put in time as a sports psychology consultant/mental coach.
“I had a lot to do with the gymnastics program as well as academics, working as a resource to the team but also to student-athletes,” said Rodriguez, who earned her bachelor’s degree in exercise and sports science and a Masters in sport and exercise psychology.
Mandi is married to Kyle Bjornstad, co-director of Dam Nation, Oregon State’s NIL collective. They live in Canby, and Mandi is currently a stay-at-home mom with their children, Allie (9) and Archer (5 1/2).
“I have committed to start my doctoral program for clinical psychology at Pacific,” she said. “My end goal is to be a sports psychology consultant full-time, working with college athletes.
“When I was working at OSU, numerous students would come into my office and be struggling with mental health issues. I wasn’t equipped to work with them. I plan to get more education and training and be a resource as a consultant to work on the performance side of things, which is needed in college athletes.”
► ◄
BOB DE CAROLIS: This is De Carolis’ second Hall of Fame honor. He is a member of the Bloomsburg (Pa.) University Sports Hall of Fame, having played football and baseball and served as an assistant coach in both sports there.
But going into the Oregon State Athletics Hall of Fame might be even more meaningful.
“Oh my gosh, it’s quite the honor,” said De Carolis, 71, who served as assistant athletic director from 1998-2002 and as AD from 2002-15. “It bridges players, coaches, administrators and university employees through a lot of years. It’s pretty cool.”
De Carolis was AD and instrumental in the Raising Reser project, which began in 2003 and got the West side of the stadium renovated.
Quips De Carolis: “I knew we were going to finish it. I just didn’t think it would take 20 years.”
“It shows the resilience of Beaver Nation and the drive to get it done,” he adds. “There was a lot done during my time (at OSU). My thought process was always, no matter what job I took, how do I make the situation better? Doing that takes a lot of people. We had a lot of great people there.”
De Carolis marvels at Pat Casey’s national baseball championships in 2006 and ’07.
“I remember (former OSU coach and administrator) Paul Valenti looking at me and saying, ‘Mac, baseball national champions, Corvallis, Oregon — are you kidding me?’ ” De Carolis said. “That said it all. You had to pinch yourself. All that hard work with everybody working together got things done.
“The other thing from the administrative side, even with all the stuff we went through, we had fun on the job. We worked hard, but we had fun. With the Pac-12 mess, I’m not so sure they’re having fun right now.”
De Carolis, now retired and living in Tigard, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2011 and continues to deal with the disease.
“I’ve had my challenges,” he said. “I’ll just keep on fighting it every day and try to do the best I can to stay positive. There’s no cure, but you can still have a good quality of life. I try to do something moving the body every day — some days more than others.”
► ◄
Readers: what are your thoughts? I would love to hear them in the comments below. On the comments entry screen, only your name is required, your email address and website are optional, and may be left blank.
Follow me on X (formerly Twitter).
Like me on Facebook.
Find me on Instagram.
Be sure to sign up for my emails.
