KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan Division of Intercollegiate Athletics will induct the 2016 Hall of Fame class on Friday, Sept. 23, at the Fetzer Center and this week www.wmubroncos.com will take a look at each of our inductees: Kenny Cunningham (men's basketball), Jeff Kraft (men's gymnastics), Pat Locanto (Baseball), Shannon Pickell (women's basketball/track & field) and Zakiya Pope (volleyball).
Shannon Pickell
Pickell was a standout for the WMU women's basketball team and is being inducted posthumously after she passed away unexpectedly in 2012. A Newaygo, Mich., native, Pickell was one of the top women's basketball players Western Michigan has ever seen. During her time as a Bronco from 1985-1988, she set the single season scoring record (19.9 ppg) which held for 19 years. She currently owns the fifth-most points in a single season (538) and finished with 1,327 points in her career, a mark good for 11th place right now. She's fourth all-time in program history in career field-goal percentage (.527) and single season field goal percentage (.566). She was named First Team All-Mid-American Conference in 1987 and was a member of the 1984-85 MAC Championship team. She was also a dual-sport athlete at WMU in track & field, where she was a member of the 1985 Indoor MAC Championship team. She finished third overall in the heptathlon with a then WMU record 4,250 points.
Q&A with Maureen Madrid, Shannon Pickell's Aunt
Q: When you learned your sister was going into the WMU Hall of Fame, what was your reaction?
At first, it made me sad because she can't accept it on her own. It was bittersweet, but I was so proud of her because she is such a small town girl and she made everyone proud. For her kids to see her inducted, that'll be very special.
Q: What do you think Shannon would say she liked most about WMU? Favorite Memory?
When I think of Shannon at WMU, all I can think about it basketball. It's completely intertwined, Shannon and Bronco basketball is one in the same. I had one child and when he was about a year old, we traveled everywhere to see her play.
She loved her time at Western Michigan. Other than the birth of her kids and being married to Ken, those years at WMU were the best years that she had. She was healthy, having fun and she was loving everything. Shannon set the bar for all our family. She was really one of a kind.
Q: What do you remember about Shannon in her playing days?
The thing about Shannon was that she was dominant at everything. You didn't want to make her mad. If she was going to drive the basket, she would. I wouldn't want to play against her. I remember going with my mom to her games, she could hit shots from the outside, she could drive, she could do it all. Every single game there would be something that would bring you out of your seat.
Q: Did she stay active in basketball or track after she graduated?
Not so much in track, she would do some events. Afterwards she did play in Europe and the Dominican Republic. Had there been a WNBA when she was around, I'm positive she would have been in it. She was just a few years too early.
