MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas University Department of Athletics has announced that it will add eight new individual members to its Sports Hall of Fame as the 20th class was elected by the Hall's induction committee earlier this summer.
 
The newest class will be formally inducted during a ceremony at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, October 6 in the Grand Hall of the Donald W. Reynolds Campus and Community Center. The class will also be publicly introduced at halftime of the October 7 Homecoming game against Oklahoma Baptist.
 
The 2023 Southern Arkansas University Sports Hall of Fame Class is comprised of eight former student-athletes of which one also coached at the University. Read about the newest members of this year's hall of fame class below.
   
A native of Atlanta, Texas, Jerry Chandler burst onto the track and field scene in the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference earning all-conference outdoor honors as a member of SAU's speedy 4x400 relay team during his true freshman season of 1986. Chandler joined teammates Reggie Mitchell, Al Hagen and Roderick Henderson as the group's second leg and the foursome ran to a winning time of 3:12.95. The unit qualified for the national outdoor championship just months after racing to a fourth-place finish in the event at the national indoor championship.
 
Chandler's career was defined by speed. The Texan notched several notable results that still resonate around the program today. In addition to his All-AIC 4x400 first team result, Chandler earned All-AIC second team honors in 1987 after earning a fifth-place finish in that year's 400m event at the conference championships.
 
As a senior co-captain of Dan Veach's Muleriders in 1989, Chandler won the 300m event at the unofficial AIC Indoor Championship in Searcy. A couple of weeks later, he swept the 200 meter (21.1) and 400 meter (47.2) events at SAU's home-opening outdoor meet and in the process beat Central Arkansas' Kenneth Davis, the future 400m national champion, in the latter competition. He bested a heavy Division I field at the Stephen F. Austin Relays as a senior and in the '89 AIC Championship prelims, Chandler posted a 46.5 in the 400m; a result only topped by fellow SAU Sports Hall of Famer Sammy Epps.
 
Chandler qualified for the NAIA Outdoor T&F National Championship, his first as an individual, and earned a seventh-place finish in the 400m.
 
Following his career on the track, Chandler served as a student assistant coach for Veach during the 1990 season.

    
Hall of Fame teams are led by Hall of Fame players. An essential member of Southern State College's 1965-66 and 1966-67 Mulerider Men's Basketball teams which won back-to-back Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference championships and made consecutive trips to the NAIA national tournament, Charles Jones takes his rightful place inside the SAU Sports Hall of Fame after a spectacular career as not only a standout on the court, but on the diamond as well.
 
First, Jones the hooper. A native of Banks, Arkansas, Jones arrived on campus for the 1963-64 season as a first-year player for first-year head coach W.T. Watson. While the Hall of Fame duo's arrival may not have immediately signified that a change was coming for a program that had won just 13 games over the previous three seasons combined, a change was nonetheless on the way. Jones helped ignite the program's turnaround as Watson's 'Riders won 17 games combined over the 1963-64 and 1964-65 seasons with Jones leading the squad in scoring both seasons; averaging 13.4 ppg over 48 games played, which included 14.2 ppg as a true freshman.
 
With the program headed in the right direction, Jones' final two seasons saw the Muleriders reach new heights on the hardwood. SSC won 20 games in consecutive seasons for the first time in program history, claimed the AIC title for the first time in 31 years with its '65-66 championship and added a second title the following year and earned opening round wins in both national tournament appearances.
 
Jones once again led the squad in scoring as a junior posting 12.6 ppg. He reached the 1,000-point scoring milestone in the second round of the national tournament to become just the third Mulerider at the time to accomplish the feat. As a senior, Jones again delivered as a scorer notching career highs in made field goals (151), field goal attempts (326), field goal percentage (.463) and points scored (375). He also posted career-best marks in rebounds (83) and rebounding average (3.0).  
 
At the time of his graduation, Jones had scored the third-most points in program history behind four-consecutive 300-point scoring seasons, the first Mulerider to ever reach that scoring mark in four-straight seasons, to finish with 1,375 points; currently the sixth-most among players in the pre-three point shot era and the 12^th-most all-time.
 
For his career, Jones, who was a three-time All-AIC honoree with a first-team selection as a senior, averaged 13.2 ppg in 104 games played. He shot 43.1% (518-of-1203) from the floor, while connecting on over 70% of his free throw attempts. He collected 280 rebounds.
 
Secondly, Jones the hurler. Each season when the action on the court subsided, Jones took his talents to the pitching rubber. In his sophomore season of 1965, Jones earned All-AIC Honorable Mention honors as a starting pitcher for SAU Sports Hall of Famer Delwin Ross. The success would continue the next season as Jones was named an All-AIC Second Team performer after winning five of SSC's 11 games.
 
Jones' final act as a Mulerider saw him match an All-AIC First Team performance on the hardwood with an All-AIC First Team performance on the diamond after a senior season of 1967 resulted in five more wins behind 41 strikeouts in 55 innings of work.  

     
If you tried to sum up the Southern Arkansas Softball career of Maddie (Dow) Ray, you would most likely use phrases such as "immediate impact" and "lasting legacy." But that still might not do her time as a Mulerider justice.
 
A native of Bonham, Texas, Dow's journey in Magnolia began as a true freshman in 2014. In a season that saw Southern Arkansas capture the program's first conference tournament championship and earn its first-ever NCAA regional tournament bid, it was the collegiate rookie Dow who led the offensive charge by hitting 21 home runs and accounting for 61 RBI; both of which at the time were SAU and Great American Conference single season records.
 
That was just the beginning for Dow as the first baseman/designated player's prowess at the plate led to her becoming one of the most feared hitters that Division II softball has ever seen. Dow's final season as a Mulerider resulted in her being named the GAC's first-ever consensus first team All-America selection, with top honors from the D2CCA and NFCA, following a 64-game season that produced a .423 average and 71 hits with 35 going for extra bases which included 22 home runs. She added 61 RBI and scored 66 times, while drawing twice as many walks (54) as strikeouts (27) with an additional 24 hit-by-pitch to post a hefty .598 on-base percentage. She garnered 2017 GAC Player of the Year honors and was the conference's 2016-17 Female Athlete of the Year.
 
Individually, Dow, who was a four-time all-region honoree, concluded her illustrious career at the top of a dozen career statistical records at Southern Arkansas including batting average (.363), on-base percentage (.522), hits (244), home runs (74 – 7th All-Time Division II), RBIs (224), walks (175 – 5th All-Time Division II) and total bases (502). That production helped lead Southern Arkansas to 162 wins in four seasons, two GAC Tournament titles with Dow garnering MVP honors in 2016, two NCAA regional tournament appearances, the 2016 NCAA Central Region title and the program's first-ever NCAA DII World Series berth in 2016.  
 
With that kind of power there were undoubtedly several big swings throughout her career in Magnolia. However, two of her finest came during her junior season of 2016. Down 2-1 in the seventh and needing to force the "if-necessary" game against Harding in the conference tournament, Dow launched a walk off, two-run shot out to right field to give SAU a 3-2 win and send them to a winner-take-all final which SAU would claim 7-0. Eleven days later, with the Muleriders on the brink of a historic Central Region title, Dow lifted a 2-1 pitch, which some in attendance described as going a "mile high", to straightaway center field to cushion a four-run fifth inning against Arkansas Tech in game two of the Central Super Regional. Two innings later, SAU punched its World Series ticket.
 
A three-time all-conference performer with a pair of first team accolades, a five-time GAC Player of the Week with national honors as a senior and the aforementioned honors bestowed during her senior season, Dow's impact on the conference was never more evident than in January of 2020 when she became one of three Muleriders honored on the Great American Conference's All-Decade Team as a designated player.
 
As dominant as she was on the field, she was just as, if not more, impressive in the classroom. A two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team honoree with two Academic All-District 7 First Team distinctions, Dow received the highest academic honor an NCAA Division II softball player can earn. She was named the 2017 CoSIDA Academic All-America of the Year. Additionally, Dow earned three Academic All-GAC honors and two GAC Crafton Tull Distinguished Scholar Athlete awards.

   
A junior college transfer from Pima College (AZ), Aharon Eggleston packed more success into two years as a Mulerider than arguably any other transfer player in the program's storied history. Among the most feared hitters the program has ever seen, Eggleston grades as arguably the purest of them all.
 
A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, Eggleston's presence in the lineup was a highly welcomed one in his first season of 2004. Over a 60-game slate, Eggleston produced a .431 average, a mark that ranked inside the top 30 nationally, with single-season program records in at bats (239), hits (103) and runs scored (87); a mark that also led the Gulf South Conference. As much of a threat as he was in the batter's box, Eggleston was just as dangerous on the base paths. He nabbed a GSC-leading 37 bags and ranked inside the top 20 in NCAA Division II in steals per game which helped position him to an eighth-place ranking nationally in runs per game at nearly 1.5.
 
For his efforts, Eggleston was named a Rawlings/ABCA Third Team All-America outfielder which followed All-South Central Region first team, South Central Region All-Tournament team and All-GSC first team honors.
 
The following season, Eggleston added his second All-GSC first team selection to his accolade list as he led the Muleriders in average (.375), hits (84), triples (5), total bases (120), fewest strikeouts (6) and stolen bases (29), while registering his second-straight season fielding north of 97% in the outfield.
 
In 463 career at bats across 117 games, Eggleston hit .404 with 187 hits, 45 of which resulted in extra bases including 31 doubles, nine triples and five home runs. Twenty years after breaking the single-season hit record with 103, no Mulerider has crossed over the century mark since. He scored 147 runs, tallied 95 RBI and stole 66 bases. In 538 career plate appearances, Eggleston struck out two dozen times; just four percent of the time when he stepped into the box, which included a mere six strikeouts in 258 trips to the plate as a senior.
 
His .431 average as a junior is the eighth-best single season effort all-time and the third-best average among all Muleriders since the start of the 2000 season. Eggleston scored 87 runs in 2004 which set a new program record and it remains the second-most in a single season. He ranks fourth all-time in single season at bats with his 239 in 2004 which stood as a program record five years after his graduation. Eggleston's career average of .404 ranks seventh all-time and is the fourth-best average since the start of the 2000 season, while his 66 career stolen bases are the ninth-most all-time.
 
Eggleston's two-year stint in Magnolia foreshadowed what was to come on the diamond as he followed up an All-American collegiate career with a 13-year professional career in independent baseball that spanned from 2005 through 2017 and included stints with multiple clubs. He began his career with the Edmonton Cracker-Cats (2005-06) which preceded stints with five other teams from 2007 through 2012, while also seeing action with a pair of teams in the Venezuelan Winter League from 2013 through 2016. In 2013, Eggleston joined the Somerset Patriots where in 518 games across five seasons he would record 538 hits with 26 home runs and 223 RBI, while being named a four-time Atlantic League All-Star, the 2016 Atlantic League Outfielder of the Year and becoming a member of the Patriots All-Decade Team (2010-2019).
 
In all, Eggleston hit .298 with 1,367 hits with 813 runs scored and 587 RBI to go with 189 stolen bases in more than 1,200 professional games played. Eggleston was honored as a midseason independent league all-star seven times, while receiving multiple end-of-year honors as well. Currently, Eggleston serves as the hitting coach for the Frederick Atlantic League Professional Baseball Club after a 2022 season, his first as a coach, with the Washington Wild Things of the Frontier League.

     
Describing a four-year stretch of Southern Arkansas Volleyball, from 2007 to 2010, in a single phrase, could simply be: "Maggie's got the middle." A native of Waxahachie, Texas, Maggie Ross Glover arrived at Southern Arkansas in 2006 and after four seasons, the Texan cemented herself as one of the top performers in program history and remains the gold standard in the program's Rally Scoring Era.
 
One of three players to start all 30 matches in her redshirt freshman season of 2007, Glover produced 207 kills at 1.95 per set with an attack percentage of .219. She led the team in block solos (35), block assists (76), total blocks (111) and recorded a single-season program record in blocks per set (1.05) which remains the standard today.
 
If opponents weren't aware of Glover's impact in the middle after the '07 season, they were certainly put on notice over the next two seasons. Glover earned consecutive All-Gulf South Conference second team honors behind a combined 530 kills, 194 digs, 157 total blocks (83 solo) and 53 service aces over the 2008 and 2009 seasons. She averaged 2.4 kills per set and 0.71 blocks per set over those two years.
 
In her final season, Glover's performance spurred a 19-game improvement in the win column as SAU reached the 20-win mark for the first time in seven seasons. In one of the most impressive single season efforts in program history, Glover played and started all 32 matches recording 299 kills at 2.65 per set behind a single-season program record .440 attack percentage; currently the third-highest attack clip in Gulf South Conference volleyball history. She led the team with 96 total blocks, which included a program record 44 block solos, at 0.85 per set. Within her senior season is a September 18 performance against Philander Smith in which Glover broke the single match attack percentage record with an .875 (14-0-16).
 
She became the first player in the program's Rally Scoring Era to reach 1,000 career kills and 300 total blocks and remains one of just two Muleriders to notch those career totals. Glover was named a 2010 Daktronics All-South Region Second Team performer which followed an All-GSC First Team accolade; the first NCAA all-region selection and the first three-time all-conference honoree in program history.
 
Glover holds the career record in block solos (162), total blocks (364) and attack percentage (.295), while ranking in the top three in career kills (1,037 – 2^nd), blocks per set (0.83 – 2^nd), points (1,385.0 – 2^nd), sets played (441 – 3^rd) and matches played (125 – 3^rd).
 
A two-time GSC All-Academic Team honoree, an ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District VI Second Team selection and 2010 GSC "Top-Ten" Award recipient as a senior, Glover was awarded the 2011 Gulf South Conference Commissioner's Trophy. The award is the league's highest individual honor presented "annually to the student-athlete who best combines outstanding performance on the field or court and high academic achievement in the classroom with significant community service and extracurricular activities."

     
There's decorated. Then there's Trevor Rucker's career at Southern Arkansas. A native of nearby Prescott, Rucker didn't have to look far to find a collegiate home on the diamond as the former Curley Wolf weaved and winded his way down Highway 371 to Magnolia where over the course of four seasons in the Blue and Gold, he would produce one of the most remarkable careers ever by a Mulerider hitter.
 
His opening act resulted in the Natural State product being named the 2014 GAC Freshman of the Year as well as an all-conference second team outfielder following a 56-game rookie campaign that included 50 starts. Rucker hit .342 with 64 hits totaling 23 for extra bases to go along with 37 RBI, while leading the team with 35 stolen bases. He helped lead SAU to its third-straight GAC Tournament title and the program's seventh-consecutive NCAA regional bid.
 
His sophomore and junior seasons each resulted in All-GAC performances as he hit north of .300 in both seasons, while combining for 119 hits with 19 doubles, five triples and 16 home runs to go along with 66 RBI and 45 stolen bases; leading the team in swipes each year. As a sophomore, the Muleriders won both the GAC regular season and tournament titles and earned an eighth-straight NCAA postseason berth.
 
Rucker saved his best for last as he dazzled in an encore campaign as a senior. He finished year four atop seven major offensive categories in the GAC: slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored, doubles, home runs, total bases, and hit-by-pitch. He was one of just four players in all of NCAA College Baseball, and the only non-Division I player, to hit 20 home runs and 20 doubles and he was the only player of those four to add 20 steals to his statistical ledger.
 
With the success, well-deserved accolades followed. A first-team All-GAC outfielder and the league's unanimous 2017 GAC Player of the Year, Rucker was the consensus Central Region Player of the Year, a first team All-American from Daktronics/D2CCA and the NCBWA with second team honors coming from Rawlings/ABCA and was a finalist for both the 2017 Tino Martinez DII Player of the Year Award and the 2017 Josh Willingham DII Most Valuable Player Award. Rucker was named the 2017 Natural State Baseball All-Arkansas Collegiate Player of the Year and capped his senior season as the 2016-17 GAC Male Athlete of the Year.
 
A 4x All-GAC selection with five player of the week honors in addition to bookending his career with freshman and player of the year honors, Rucker was honored as one of the league's very best in its first ten years as he was named to the GAC All-Decade Team in January of 2020.
 
In four seasons spanning 210 games with 202 starts, Rucker hit .341 (261-for-766) with 200 runs scored, 54 doubles, 11 triples, 42 home runs, a career record at the time of his graduation, 154 RBI, 100 stolen bases, a slugging percentage of .604 and an on-base percentage of .430. Rucker remains inside the top five all-time in 11 career categories including games played, games started, hits, at-bats, runs scored, doubles, triples and home runs among others. He is among the top five single season efforts in five categories including slugging percentage, total bases, hit-by-pitch, home runs and fielding percentage.
 
Following his collegiate career, Rucker signed with the Frontier League's Southern Illinois Miners following his collegiate career.

    A standout signal caller at Jessieville High School, Tyler Sykora continued his playing career behind center at the collegiate level as he joined the quarterback room at Southern Arkansas University. One of nearly two dozen signees for first-year head coach Bill Keopple in February of 2009, Sykora's leadership was immediately evident and his talent would soon blossom in Magnolia.
 
The Natural State product's career is synonymous with Southern Arkansas' gridiron transition from the uber-competitive Gulf South Conference to its current membership in the Great American Conference. Sykora helped spur the Muleriders' turnaround from four combined wins over the 2009 and 2010 seasons to 17 total from 2011 to 2013, the program's first three years as a GAC member. That three-year win total included an eight-win season, the first in nearly a decade and a berth in the inaugural C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl in 2012; the program's first postseason berth since 2003.
 
Sykora's program-shifting junior campaign saw him garner All-GAC honors as well as All-Super Region 3 Third Team honors from the Don Hansen Football Committee. No Mulerider quarterback in the program's previous 90+ years enjoyed a passing season quite like Sykora did over 11 games in 2012. The Natural State product set program passing records in attempts (398), completions (245), completion percentage (61.6%), yards (3,393) and touchdowns (31), while the becoming the first Mulerider quarterback to pass for five touchdowns in a single game which he did twice in home wins over Southern Nazarene and Arkansas Tech. His nearly 3,400 yards passing remains the top single season passing mark in program history.
 
Sykora was also impressive as a senior as he tossed for over 2,600 yards with 27 touchdowns in ten games. He once again was named an All-GAC quarterback, earned Team MVP honors from the Little Rock Touchdown Club, was a finalist for the Arkansas Star of Tomorrow award and garnered both the Auburn Smith Male Athlete of the Year honor as well as SAU's Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. A two-time GAC All-Academic team honoree, Sykora was a candidate for the National Football Foundation's (NFF) National Scholar-Athlete award.
 
At the conclusion of his career, Sykora owned 17 passing records (7 single-season, 7 career, and 3 game) and currently ranks in the top three of 18 single game, single season, and career records. He threw for over 9,000 yards, which at the time was more than 5,000 yards than any other Mulerider quarterback, while his 82 career passing touchdowns were 47 more than the next closest SAU passer.

     
A respected leader, a proven winner and one of the all-time great baseball coaches the state of Arkansas has ever seen. That's Allen Gum. A native of Bentonville, Arkansas, Gum has carved out a hall of fame coaching career in the Natural State that has spanned nearly thirty years and includes 16 highly-impactful seasons as a collegiate head coach.
 
After serving two seasons (2004-05) as an assistant coach at Southern Arkansas, Gum grabbed the reigns of one of the state's most successful programs and led the Muleriders on a dominant five-season run. Under Gum's leadership, Southern Arkansas won 226 games (.769 – program-best career winning percentage), the third-most by any head coach in program history, and enjoyed 40 or more wins in all five seasons with a program-record 52 victories coming in 2009.
 
The Muleriders earned four NCAA regional berths and served as South Regional host for the first time in 2009. In his first season of 2006, Southern Arkansas claimed the Gulf South Conference Tournament Championship and three seasons later, the Muleriders won both the GSC West Division Regular Season title and tournament title with Gum honored as the GSC Coach of the Year both seasons in addition to being named the NCBWA South Region Coach of the Year in 2009.
 
His final season in Magnolia saw the Muleriders win 40+ games for a program-record fourth-consecutive season, while laying claim to a second-straight GSC West Division regular season championship. Under his tutelage, twenty-seven different players earned All-GSC honors, 13 received all-region recognition and eight were named all-American with four others earning academic all-America plaudits. Eight Muleriders were drafted, including a program-record four following the 2010 season with several more going on to sign independent league contracts.
 
After five seasons of annually ushering the Muleriders into the national postseason conversation, Gum became the head coach at Division I Central Arkansas. And the success continued. In 11 seasons in Conway, UCA's baseball program was transformed under Gum as the Bears won 310 games, the most by a head coach in program history and the eighth-most victories by a head coach in Southland Conference history.
 
Central Arkansas earned eight-consecutive SLC Tournament berths (2012-19) with four championship game appearances including back-to-back appearances in 2013 and 2014 with the Bears winning the '13 title. That victory, which was one of a program-record 42 that season, earned UCA its first NCAA regional bid where the Bears won three games, including one against host Mississippi State in Starkville.
 
During his time at UCA, Gum saw 11 players drafted, 26 named to All-SLC teams, which included an SLC Pitcher of the Year and SLC Freshman of the Year, and 17 players earn SLC All-Tournament honors.
 
Preceding his coaching career was a very successful career as a player. Gum arrived in Magnolia following two seasons at Crowder College. In 1990, Gum led SAU in hitting as a junior outfielder with a .338 average and fielded .975 as Southern Arkansas won the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) championship with a 20-4 record and finished the season 27-23 overall. As a senior, Gum hit .328 and fielded .961 while helping the Muleriders win their sixth consecutive AIC championship with a 20-4 record and an overall record of 44-15-1. SAU won the NAIA District 17 title to earn a trip to the 1991 NAIA World Series where Gum was honored as the Charles Berry Hustle Award winner.
 
Following his playing career, Gum assisted the Sheridan High School baseball program for six seasons and served as head baseball coach at Batesville where in three years he led the Pioneers to a 75-25 record with Class AAAA state runner-up finishes in both 2002 and 2003.