CEDAR CITY, Utah – Southern Utah University Athletics inducted its latest Hall of Fame class Friday night at the America First Event Center, including surprise inductee Dixie Leavitt.
The Hall of Fame Committee inducted Tysson Poots, Elise Wheeler and Lori McCurdy Lopez, who were part of the original induction announcement earlier in October. In a surprise announcement, Leavitt was also inducted for his contributions as a student-athlete and for his advancement of Southern Utah University and Thunderbird Athletics.
"This is a historic night for Southern Utah Athletics," said SUU Director of Athletics Debbie Corum. "It is impossible to measure what this class of inductees has done for our athletic department and the university as a whole. There is so much history attached to these four individuals in terms of the establishment of SUU and the pioneering of women's sports. We are so grateful for their contributions to SUU and inducting them into the Hall of Fame was well deserved and long overdue."
As part of the induction ceremony, SUU also honored Hall of Fame namesake Kent "Red" Dover, who passed away last week.
Leavitt has been a long-time supporter of Southern Utah Athletics. He served in the Utah State legislature and was a vital part in the construction of the Centrum Arena, which is currently the America First Event Center. Dixie was also a two-sport athlete playing football and running track for Branch Agricultural College (BAC). He was the first four-year letterman for the football program and the first student to letter all four years in two sports.
In her first year at SUU, McCurdy Lopez led the volleyball team in hitting and blocking while also leading the conference and district in those categories. In 1981, she led both the volleyball and softball teams to nationals. That same year she was named volleyball team MVP after the team placed fourth at the national tournament. In 1982, McCurdy Lopez once again led the team, conference, and district in hitting and blocking. Her blocking average was just under .700 through two years on the volleyball team.
McCurdy Lopez led the softball team, conference and district with a .667 batting average and a .191 ERA. After the team placed third at nationals, she was named team MVP.
Additional honors for McCurdy Lopez include being named Female Athlete of the Year in 1982 as well as All-Conference, All-District and All-American in 1982 in both sports.
In the most updated version of the FCS Record Book, Poots sits 8th in career yards per game with 99.4, 12th in career touchdown repetitions with 43, 19th in career receptions with 282 total catches, 21st all time in career yards with 3,975, 19th in career receptions per game at 7.05.
To this day, Poots still holds every major receiving record in the Southern Utah Football Record Book.
Following his football career at SUU, Poots signed with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent. He went on to play in the Arena Football League. He played professional arena football for five seasons and won two Arena Bowl titles.
Regarded as the best gymnast in the history of the program Wheeler made a massive statement right away to start off her career, as the San Diego native won WAC Freshman of the Year during her first campaign as a Flippin' Bird.
As both a sophomore and a junior, Wheeler qualified for the NCAA National Championship meet in the all-around. Following her junior season, she was named NCAA North Central Region Gymnast of the Year and WAC Gymnast of the Year.
To cap off her career as a Thunderbird, Southern Utah won the WAC Championship as a team in 2010. She was also NCAA North Central Region Gymnast of the Year and WAC Gymnast of the Year. This all culminated with her making her third-consecutive NCAA Championship appearance in the all-around, where she finished in 12th place.
To this date, Wheeler holds the top four all-around scores in the history of the program, with the top score standing at 39.575.
Wheeler earned All-American status on bars (first team), beam (first team) and floor (second team) during her junior season.
Track Southern Utah Athletics 24/7 by following @SUUThunderbirds on Twitter and Instagram, and by liking the Southern Utah Athletics page on Facebook.
