Five former UC Davis student-athletes and a former coach have been selected for induction into the Cal Aggie Athletic Hall of Fame and will be honored in ceremonies on June 8 at Freeborn Hall.
The honor recognizes those who have achieved or contributed to UC Davis intercollegiate athletics with unusual distinction.
The honorees are:
Kimberly Haskell, the school's first-ever state representative for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. Haskell captured both All-Northern California Athletic Conference and All-West Region honors for three straight seasons. The three-time soccer team Most Valuable Player and captain scored 10 goals and had 14 assists in her career, capping her career by leading UC Davis to its first appearance in the NCAA tournament in 1996.
Mike Ichiyama, a versatile football player who earned first team All-America honors as an all-purpose back in 1994. He is best known for posting consecutive 300-yard rushing games in the final two weeks of his career, becoming the first collegiate player in NCAA history to achieve such a feat. Ichiyama remains among UC Davis' all-time leaders in all-purpose yards, receptions, receiving yards, rushing yards, punt returns and kickoff returns.
Suzanne Jones-Quirarte, perhaps the most prolific middle-distance runner in school history having won All-America honors in outdoor track, indoor track and cross country. In doing so, Jones-Quirarte is the only UC Davis athlete to have won All-America distinction in each of the three NCAA seasons. She captured an individual NCAA title in the mile run in 1996, has twice qualified for the Olympic Track and Field Trials, and holds four school records.
Kimberly Nelson, the Aggies' top offensive player of the early 1990s, who in 1994 became the first player in program history to earn first team All-America honors. In softball that year, she batted a school-record .452, earned NCAC Player of the Year honors and captured UC Davis' Heitman Award as the year's most outstanding female athlete. Perhaps most impressively, Nelson achieved most of her success after losing a year and a half due to a knee injury.
Richard Watts, a member of the juggernaut Aggie baseball teams of 1993 and 1994 who re-mains the only catcher in school history to win All-America honors. In two-years, he garnered All-West Region and All-NCAC honors in each season, batted .384 with 12 home runs and 106 RBI and was one of five players from the 1994 Aggie senior class to be drafted by a major league franchise.
During Watts' career, UC Davis went 90-26 overall, 62-7 in conference play and reached back-to-back NCAA West Region Tournaments.
Selected as a non-participant is Bob Foster, who guided UC Davis women's tennis to back-to-back Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Division III titles in 1980 and 1981 and mentored the Aggie football team to a 30-11-1 record and three conference titles in four seasons.
Foster previously served as defensive coordinator for 11 seasons during which the Aggies finished among the national top 10 in scoring defense. He later served as a development officer for UC Davis Athletics, raising funds for UC Davis' initial grant-in-aid program, before coming out of coaching retirement to assist University of Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti. This fall, he begins his first year as assistant coach at UC Berkeley.
In addition to the hall of fame awards, longtime Cal Aggie Boosters and TeamAGGIE Board member Rita Mt. Joy will receive the Special Recognition Award, given to those who have contributed to athletics in a volunteer capacity.
The June 8 ceremonies also include the awards for the university's outstanding male athlete, female athlete and scholar-athlete of the year.