Michigan State’s athletic department and director of athletics Alan Haller formally inducted the 2024 class into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday. The class features Jessica (Beech) Bograkos (softball), Anson Carter (hockey), Darqueze Dennard (football), Laura (Kueny) Smith (women’s golf), Beth (Rohl) Saylors (women’s track and field), Paul Terek (men’s track and field) and the 1965 and 1966 football teams.
"Congratulations to the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2024," said Haller back when the class was announced in July. "The individuals in this year's class represent some of the very best Spartan athletes in each of their respective sports.”
Carter played for the Spartans from 1992-96, becoming an All-American and Hobey Baker finalist during his time in East Lansing. He went on to play 10 NHL seasons for eight different teams and is now an NHL analyst with TNT.
“It’s just amazing,” Carter said. “I think back to 1992, when I first stepped foot on campus. It isn’t something I ever thought about, it really isn’t.”
Bograkos is the eighth softball player to be inducted. Her 72 career pitching wins, 659 strikeouts, 24 shutouts, and four no-hitters are all program records. Following her playing days, she stayed with the team as an assistant coach from 2007 to 2016 before moving into an operations role.
“It’s such an honor to see your name with the legends that are up on the wall,” Bograkos said. “It’s hard to feel deserving to have your name up there, but it is truly, truly such an honor.”
Football was the most represented sport at the ceremony with the enshrinements of two of the greatest teams in MSU history and former unanimous First Team All-American Darqueze Dennard.
“It’s definitely a blessing to even be mentioned with the greats,” Dennard said Friday. “All your hard work, all your dedication, all those invisible nights that people don’t know. I’m definitely grateful.”
The 1965 and 1966 football teams both won Big Ten and national championships. MSU was ranked No. 1 by the Coaches Poll in ‘65 and were declared co-champions with Notre Dame in ‘66 after its 10-10 tie in the “Game of the Century.”
“It’s like we went to practice yesterday,” said former quarterback and 2018 inductee Jimmy Raye. “We just came back and just started right where we left off.”
Another lasting legacy of the teams was that Black players were a major part of head coach Duffy Daugherty's program. Four of the top eight players selected in the 1967 NFL draft were Black players from MSU. In the 1960s, this was a big step in integrating college football.
“It changed intercollegiate football at the Division I level, particularly in the South,” Raye said. “It had a tremendous impact in the Jim Crow South, where we came from.”
To this day, the national titles from those two teams are still the most recent for the MSU football program.
More recently, Dennard is well-known as a defensive back on MSU’s “No Fly Zone” defense. Dennard says the idea for the name came to him while in a marketing class. Coming out of high school in Georgia, Dennard said that his only offer had been from Middle Tennessee State, but the Blue Raiders pulled it. Later on, Dennard visited MSU with Keith Mumphery, who was committed. Mark Dantonio gave Dennard an offer, and the future first-round pick took it.
“That’s how I became a Spartan.”
His induction also comes after the unfortunate death of rapper Rich Homie Quan on September 5. Dennard introduced the 2013 team to his music, more specifically the song “Type of Way.” The track ended up becoming a beloved tradition for the team, and Rich Homie Quan celebrated with the team after the Spartans beat Stanford in the Rose Bowl.
“[I have] so many memories," Dennard said. "Quan, that’s my brother. He actually was invited here to come experience this with us today. Unfortunately, the situation happened with his life. His spirit lives on.”
Track and field was the only sport with multiple individual inductees, with one former male, Paul Terek, and female athlete, Beth (Rohl) Saylors.
Terek competed with the men’s team from 1998 to 2002. At the conclusion of his four years, he had won six Big Ten titles and held conference records in the decathlon, heptathlon, and the indoor and outdoor pole vault. The Livonia, Mich., native later on competed in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, after placing third in the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Saylors started out as a walk-on to the women’s track team in fall, 2008. She hadn’t picked up track and field until she was a senior at New Buffalo High School. As a true freshman walk-on, she won an indoor Big Ten title in the weight throw and was awarded Big Ten Indoor Freshman of the Year. Saylors ended her career with seven first team All-America awards (three in the weight throw and four in the discus), multiple school records and five Big Ten titles.
Rounding out the class is Laura (Kueny) Smith. The seventh-ever inductee from the women’s golf team, Smith helped elevate the program during her time in East Lansing, which stretched from 2006 to 2010. She helped the Spartans to four NCAA Regional appearances, twice advancing to the NCAA Championships. Individually, she was second team All-America in ‘09 and ‘10, first team All-Big Ten three times and the conference Player of the Year in 2010.
The class will also be recognized during the football team’s game with Prairie View A&M on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:40 p.m. EST.
Plaque unveilings:
