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 21st 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 4 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 4 Homecoming game against Southern Nazarene.
The 2024 Southern Arkansas University Sports Hall of Fame Class is comprised of eight former student-athletes representing six of the department's athletic programs. Read about the newest members of this year's hall of fame class below.
Brooke Goad
Modern Era | Softball
No other female athlete in the history of Southern Arkansas Athletics brought more notoriety to the department than Waxahachie, Texas native Brooke Goad.
The most decorated female athlete in the history of the Muleriders, Goad was a key catalyst for Mulerider Softball's rise to national prominence as her illustrious career in Magnolia stands as one of the best ever in all of collegiate softball.
The Texan showcased a plate prowess unmatched at the NCAA Division II level and arguably in the history of NCAA Softball. She finished her celebrated Mulerider career as the Division II career leader in home runs (90) and walks (218) as well as the single season Division II record holder in those categories as well (32 HR, 91 BB; 2018).
Never a stranger to adversity, Goad's impressive career numbers did not come without hardship. Battling back from multiple knee injuries, Goad's final season in Magnolia was nothing short of remarkable.
That year, which saw the Muleriders earn a trip to their second World Series appearance in three seasons and one that saw Goad tabbed as a consensus first team All-America honoree, she was responsible for setting nine single-season program hitting records, which included slugging percentage, on-base percentage, games played, runs scored, RBI, home runs, total bases, walks, and intentional walks; an output that helped her finish her career as the sole owner of nine career program hitting records, all of which she still remains in sole possession of.
In all, Goad finished her five seasons, which included 238 games, as a Mulerider with a .365 career average as a result of 245 career hits. Of those base knocks, 143 went for extra bases as she added 51 doubles to her absurd HR total to slug .849 for her career. She scored 262 runs and recorded 213 RBI. Goad posted an on-base percentage of .534 behind 218 free passes and 29 hit-by-pitch.
A multiple time All-America, all-region and all-conference honoree, Goad, who appeared in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" in May 2018, was named to the GAC's All-Decade Team in January of 2020.
Following her playing career, Goad served as an assistant coach for the Mulerider Softball program for four seasons. She helped lead SAU to 134 wins, three GAC regular season championships and three NCAA regional tournament appearances.
Cedric Thornton
Modern Era | Football
It was only fitting that the Muleriders signed Arkansas Delta product Cedric Thornton out of Star City because by the time his run ended in Magnolia, the relentless defender had become a star destined for a successful career in the National Football League.
A member of the D2Football.com All-Decade Second Team, Thornton's successes in Mulerider Country included him spending a majority of his time in the opponent's backfield. The defensive lineman recorded 50 career tackles for loss totaling 156 yards to go along with thirteen quarterback hurries and a dozen career sacks; numbers that catapulted him into the upper echelon of defenders that wore the Blue and Gold.
As a senior in his final season of 2010, Thornton, whose motor continually ran hot, recorded 52 total tackles with 13.0 tackles for loss totaling 35 yards and five quarterback hurries in eight games played. That season, Thornton was named a first-team All-Gulf South Conference performer in addition to earning a pair of all-region nods and a pair of all-America honors.
The year prior, Thornton was named a consensus first-team All-America honoree following a season highlighted by an impressive 23.0 tackles for loss as part of 80 total tackles and 8.5 sacks (7th All-Time). Thornton currently ranks sixth all-time in program history with 12.0 total sacks.
As a professional, Thornton spent his first five seasons (four active) with the Eagles after joining the franchise as an undrafted free agent in 2011. He followed with one season as a member of the Dallas Cowboys, one year with the Buffalo Bills and a short stint with the San Francisco 49ers. In 89 career games at the highest level of professional football, the Arkansan made 48 starts and recorded 220 career tackles, 29 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, four fumble recoveries, two forced fumbles, a touchdown and a safety.
Karonce Higgins
Modern Era | Football, Men's Track & Field
Searcy, Arkansas native Karonce Higgins remained in the Natural State when it came time to take his talents to the collegiate level and to say the Muleriders benefitted would be a vast understatement.
A two-sport star for Southern Arkansas over the course of his career, it was Higgins' 2018 year which resulted in arguably the most dominant 12-month calendar stretch of any athlete in department history. Higgins captured the Great American Conference's High Point Award at the league track and field championships in April, competed in two events at the national championship in May and was named a Harlon Hill Trophy award finalist, the top honor in Division II football and the first Mulerider to reach the final ballot, in December.
That spring, Higgins won the 200M and Long Jump individual titles at the GAC Championships, was a member of SAU's championship-winning 4x100 (anchor leg) and 4x400 (third leg) relay teams, totaled 33 points and helped the Muleriders claim the program's first conference championship in its NCAA era.
He added those successes to a GAC long jump title in 2016 in addition to running the third leg of the GAC-winning 4x400 team in 2019. In all, Higgins finished his track career as an 11-time All-GAC first team honoree and a two-time All-GAC second team honoree with 17 career individual event wins, 21 career relay event wins and 66 podium finishes across individual and relay events. A four-time GAC Athlete of the Week (3 Track, 1 Field), Higgins competed in both the 2016 (200M, LJ) and 2019 (100M, 200M) national championship meets earning all-region honors in both sprint events his final year.
In the fall of 2018, Higgins orchestrated one of the program's most prolific receiving seasons by placing his name atop a pair of prestigious records with 198 career receptions and 2,969 yards receiving. His 1,150-yard receiving campaign, the second-most ever in a single season, made him just the second wideout to reach that yard mark in program history and he is one of only two to catch 30 touchdowns in a career. He became just the second SAU wide receiver in the program's NCAA Division II Era (1995-96) to be named an All-America performer (D2CCA, D2Football.com).
A unanimous All-GAC First Team selection and an all-region honoree, Higgins concluded his senior season with 73 catches for 1,150 yards and nine touchdowns and added 190 yards on eight kickoff returns. One of the nation's biggest receiving threats, Higgins recorded 26 plays of 25 or more yards that season, while 42 of his 73 catches went for a first down, including seven of his touchdown grabs. He finished a single reception shy of the single-game record and posted the second-most receiving yards in a single game in a career-best effort at Southwestern Oklahoma State.
Since his departure from Magnolia, Higgins has played multiple seasons of professional football both indoors and outdoors. Most recently with the Billings Outlaws of the Arena Football League, Higgins has played in The Spring League and the Champions Indoor Football League where he was named the league's offensive player of the year with the Gillette Mustangs in 2023.
Skyler Stromsmoe
Modern Era | Baseball
As successful academically as he was athletically, Etzikom, Alberta, Canada native Skyler Stromsmoe proved to be one of the program's most versatile players on the field and in the classroom.
Stromsmoe's first season in Magnolia ended with the program's first championship, the 2006 Gulf South Conference Tournament title, of its NCAA membership and its second NCAA regional appearance.
An All-GSC first-team selection in back-to-back seasons, Stromsmoe earned the plaudits at two different positions claiming the honor as an outfielder in 2006 and as a second baseman in 2007. In both of those seasons, Stromsmoe received CoSIDA Academic All-America honors as a third-team selection in '06 and as a first-team honoree in '07. His final season, Stromsmoe became a Daktronics/D2CCA All-Region First-Team selection.
In his career at SAU, Stromsmoe hit .331 (145-for-438) with 30 doubles, six triples, six homeruns and 76 RBIs. He holds a top ten career ranking in hit-by-pitch (33) which includes a top ten single-season mark of 19.
A speedster on the base paths, Stromsmoe swiped a total of 103 bases in 117 career attempts for a success rate of 88%. His 103 career stolen bases rank second all-time at SAU and make him one of just three players in program history to swipe 100+ bags in a career. Additionally, in 2007, Stromsmoe would steal a SAU single-season record 52 bases. He's one of five players to steal four bases in a single game and one of only two in program history to do it twice.
Following his career as a Mulerider, the highly-versatile Stromsmoe signed with the San Francisco Giants as a free agent in 2007 and spent nine seasons totaling 576 games played at eight positions in the Giants' organization reaching as high as AAA Sacramento. He concluded his minor league playing career with 400 hits, including 75 doubles, nine triples and a dozen home runs in addition to scoring 243 runs, collecting 123 RBI, drawing 221 walks and stealing 60 bases.
He impacted internationally as well representing his home country of Canada in winning the Gold Medal at the Pan Am Games in 2011 and 2015 with Stromsmoe scoring the tying run on a wild game-ending sequence to secure the top podium spot in '15. Additionally, Stromsmoe helped lead the Canadians to a Bronze Medal finish at the 2011 World Cup.
Brittany Wright Manley
Modern Era | Volleyball
Carlsbad, New Mexico native Brittany Wright Manley is not only one of the top Mulerider Volleyball performers of the program's early rally-scoring era, but one of the best to ever represent the Muleriders in over five-plus decades of program history.
A two-time All-Gulf South Conference selection, with first-team recognition in her senior season of 2003, as well as an all-academic team honoree, Wright was the first player in the program's rally-scoring era to earn a superlative all-league accolade when she was named the 2003 GSC West Division Player of the Year.
That season, Wright set the program record for points scored in a single season with 567.0 which remains the program's top mark. That total came as a result of a program record 4.54 points per set. Her 495 kills across 125 sets played that season remain the second-most by a Mulerider in a single campaign, while her nearly 4.0 kills per set at 3.96 are the program standard.
Wright's points and kills during that '03 season came behind an efficient effort on the attack as she posted the second-highest attack clip (.334) in a single season in program history (495-110-1151). That effort was highlighted by the best single match hit clip of .708 which Wright delivered on October 28 against Arkansas Tech.
Despite her career at Southern Arkansas coming near the forefront of the rally-scoring era, Wright remains inside the top ten of eight career categories including kills (903), kills per set (3.31), attack attempts (2,234), attack percentage (.287), block assists (129), total blocks (151), points (1,022.5) and points per set (3.75).
Val Morris
Golden Era | Football
Before SAU Sports Hall of Famers Nik Lewis and Karonce Higgins made their mark as Muleriders, there was Shreveport native Val Morris who set the standard for all other SAU pass catchers to follow.
In the early 1990s, Morris could be found on the gridiron showcasing his exceptional pass-catching abilities. But he could rarely be caught. The speedy wideout hauled in a then-program record 151 passes over four seasons (1990-93), set a new single-game receiving yards record with 216 (vs. Howard Payne; 1992) and became the second wide receiver in program history to cross over 2,000 career receiving yards.
His 838 yards receiving in 1993 set a new program record and he is one of only two in the modern era, of which he became the first, to record two seasons of 750 yards receiving. Morris' career ended with 16 receiving touchdowns; the third-most at the time by any Mulerider pass catcher.
All of Morris's records held for at least a decade and the Pelican State native remains in the top five of nearly every major receiving category.
His prowess on the outside earned him All-Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference honors in three different seasons which included a unanimous first-team selection in 1993 and a first-team honor as a wideout and a second-team plaudit as a punt returner in 1992.
His 493 career punt return yards were the third-most at the conclusion of his career and he was the first Mulerider to record two seasons of 25 or more punt returns.
A two-time NAIA All-District 17 selection, Morris was named NAIA honorable mention All-America as a wide receiver in 1992 and 1993.
The Bayou State native attended camp with both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Miami Dolphins in 1994 and '96 and eventually began playing in the arena league back home for the Shreveport-Bossier Battlewings from 2001-2003.
Michael George
Golden Era | Men's Track & Field
Michael George played a key part of Southern Arkansas Men's Track and Field's jump to national notoriety. A native of Texarkana, Arkansas, George set the standard for Mulerider jumpers in the mid-1980s.
George's 1984 and 1985 seasons are two of the most dominant ever recorded by a Mulerider in the sand and aided an SAU squad that claimed Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference hardware each year.
An all-league honoree following both campaigns was just the start for George whose impact on the program expanded to the national stage. The AIC's back-to-back triple jump champion in '84 and '85, George competed in the NAIA National Championship both seasons.
In his first, he broke the program's triple jump record with a mark of 49' 9" to earn a bronze medal podium finish and a first team All-America honor as a result. He added a second All-America plaudit in the long jump event nailing 23' to place sixth. George's efforts pushed the Muleriders to a fourth-place team finish, its highest ever, at the national championship.
A year later, George grabbed a third All-America award with a fifth-place triple jump result of 48' 6 1/4" as SAU placed tied for tenth at the national championship to become the first program in department history with back-to-back top 10 finishes nationally.
Sherman Evans
Golden Era | Men's Track & Field
A native of Dallas, Texas, Sherman Evans' name sits among the fastest in a storied history of the Mulerider Men's Track and Field program.
Evans was a key part of history in the 1991 season as his blazing efforts as the anchor leg of SAU's 4x100 meter relay team earned the squad a national runner-up finish; the highest postseason result by any group or team in department history.
That '91 campaign saw Evans earn All-Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference honors as a sprinter in addition to All-America acclaim following the Muleriders' silver finish in the 4x100 relay.
The following year was one of the most successful in department history and Evans found himself in the middle of it as a member of the Muleriders' 1992 4x100 meter relay national championship unit; the program's first and only gold medal podium finish.
Evans again garnered all-league and All-American recognition and his speed remains among the program standard decades later.
During his time in Magnolia, Evans delivered multiple 8+ podium finishes in sprint events in each of his final two seasons.
