Western Michigan University Athletics

*All inductee information current up to the year they were inducted. 

Bill Perigo
Basketball, 1932-34
Inducted 1977
Delphi, Indiana

• Tallied 338 points for teams that won 40 of 53 games and was considered by “Buck” Read to be one of the top 12 players during his 27-year Western Michigan coaching tenure.
• Coached two seasons at Markelville, Ind. High School before a 14-year stint at Benton Harbor. His clubs there had 122-64 mark, won seven conference and two state championships while two others reached state finals.
• Complied a 41-27 record in three seasons as Western basketball coach with 1952 team sharing Mid-American Conference title.
• Head coach at the University of Michigan (1953-60) where his 1959 team was second in the Big Ten.
• Was Michigan’s assistant director of student community relations (1960-71) and was first basketball coach at Washtenaw Community College.

Jerome Persell
Football, 1976-78
Inducted 1999
Detroit, Michigan

• Lettered in 1976-78 … in 1978 was recognized as Offensive Player of the Week by Sports Illustrated … UPI Midwest and twice for the Mid-American Conference as well as being named to the UPI’s National Backfield … a two-time AP All-American with third-team honors in 1976 and second-team 1977 … was the MAC Offensive Player of the Year and an All-MAC First Team pick in 1976, 1977 and 1978 and the WMU MVP those same three years.
• Had three consecutive seasons with over 1,000 yards … also set the MAC mark for career attempts (842) and tied for touchdowns rushing (39) … had a career carrying average of 5.0 yards and was the owner of 20 100-yard efforts and seven 200-yard performances in his 31 games as a running back … still ranks among the NCAA Division I-A all-time top 20 for three-year rushing (4,190) … had career per game rushing mark of 136.2 yards, which at the time was the fifth-best mark in NCAA Division I-A history (trailing at that time only Ed Marinaro, OJ Simpson, Tony Dorsett and Howard Stevens and ahead of Heisman Trophy winners Steve Owens, Archie Griffin, John Cappelletti, Mark Garrett and Earl Campbell.
• Was second in the nation in rushing (150.5) and scoring (11.8) and third in all-purpose rushing (156.1) in 1976 … was fourth in the nation in rushing (133.9) in 1977 … is WMU’s all-time leading rusher (4190) and owns career rushing attempts (842).

Shannon Pickell
Basketball, 1985-88
Inducted 2016
Newaygo, Mich.

• Held single-season scoring record (19.9 ppg) for 19 years from 1998-2007
• Fifth-most points in a single season (538) in WMU history
• First Team All-MAC in 1987
• Finished career with 1,327 points (12.3 per game), 573 rebounds, 547 field goals, 473 free throws and 70 assists
• Fourth all-time in program history in career field goal percentage and single season field goal percentage
• Member of 1984-85 MAC Championship team
• Member of 1985 Indoor MAC Championship team, where she finished third overall in the heptathlon with a then WMU record 4,250 points

Ron Pohlonski
Swimming 1964-66
Inducted 1980
Dearborn, Michigan

• Won six Mid-American Conference freestyle championships.
• Tied a league record in 1965 by capturing the 200, 500 and 1,650-yard events and set MAC marks in these distances.
• Swimming coach at Lansing Eastern High School (1967-80) and had dual meet record of 84-67.
• Continued swimming in master’s program and set several Michigan age group records. Earned All-American honors and was five-time national winner of two-mile swim.
• Coached East Lansing High water polo team to 1971 state runner-up finish and also played on four state championship squads in this sport.

Dick Pond
Track and Field, 1960-61
Inducted 2014
Lombard, Illinois

• Member of the 1960 and 1961 MAC Track Championship teams
• 1960 and 1961 Central Collegiate Conference Indoor Mile Champion
• WMU record holder for indoor mile (4:10.2) and outdoor mile (4:07.6)
• Ranked in the top 25 milers for 1961 in the U.S. by Track and Field News
• MAC Champion in the mile (1961)
• Member of the 4xMile Relay that set a new collegiate and American record (1961, 16:40.4)
• Member of the winning Distance Medley Relay team at the Drake Relays (1961)
• All-American in cross country, after finishing 14^th at the 1960 NCAA Championships
• Member of 1960 and 1961 MAC Cross Country Championship teams
• Finished as runner up in the 1960 MAC Cross Country Championship
• Founded Dick Pond Athletics in 1969

Zakiya Pope
Volleyball, 1998-01
Inducted 2016
East Lansing, Mich.

• Led WMU to MAC Regular Season and MAC Tournament Titles in 2000
• Named MAC Player of the Year and MAC Tournament MVP in 2000
• First Team All-MAC in 2000 and Second Team All-MAC in 2001
• Named to the WMU Volleyball All-Decade Team (1994-03)
• First Team Academic All-MAC in 2000 and 2001
• Seventh all-time in program history in total blocks (352) and tied for eighth in blocks per set (1.05)
• Tied for fifth all-time in career attack percentage (.326) ninth all-time in attack percentage in a season (.353)

Harry Potter
Football, 1921-23
Baseball, 1922-24
Basketball, 1921
Inducted 1979
Manistique, Michigan

• Halfback on football teams that compiled a record of 18-3-1. Captain of 1923 team and was picked by Walter Eckersall as one of the top six halfbacks in the Midwest.
• Outstanding catcher in baseball and was offered a professional contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.
• Had a lengthy temper as a coach and athletic director at Muskegon High School before retiring in 1966.
• Started Muskegon’s baseball program and coached this sport for 30 years. Won numerous league titles and won then state record 55 straight games from 1941-45.
• Head football coach (1942-56), posting a 87-24-8 record and winning mythical state Class A championship in 1951.

Bill Powell
Swimming, 1956-59
Inducted 2005
Wyandotte, Michigan

• Team captain in 1959
• Was a Mid-American Conference finalist in the backstroke three straight years
• Initiated swimming program at St. Joseph, winning 73 of 86 dual meets in six years, named Michigan High School Coach of the Year, 1968
• Ranks as the second-winningest coach in NCAA Division I men’s swimming history with a 330-74 dual record (81.6 percent)
• Western Kentucky University’s pool was renamed in his honor in 2004, becoming the Bill Powell Natatorium

Stephanie Prychitko
Tennis 1948-51
Inducted 1984
Hamtramck, Michigan

• Played No. 1 singles her four collegiate seasons after earning a spot on the Junior Wightman Cup team.
• Served as boys’ tennis coach for three years at State High School in Kalamazoo.
• Went to Grosse Pointe South High in 1952 as girls’ tennis coach. From 1952-84, had a record of 233-30-3, plus winning 12 league, 11 regional and eight straight (1976-83) state championships.
• Michigan Interscholastic “coach of the year” (Class A Girls) in 1979 and 1982 and Michigan High School Coaches Association “coach of the year” (girls) in 1981.
• National High School Tennis “coach of the year” for 1984

Al Pugno
Basketball, 1931-33
Inducted 1988
Detroit, Michigan

• Center-forward on teams that compiled record of 42-11 and won three Michigan Collegiate Conference championships.
• Taught and coached three years each at Grant and Fremont High Schools, winning three league football titles.
• Joined Mutual of New York Life Insurance Company in Fremont in 1940. Earned lifetime membership in its Million Dollar Roundtable and won 1960 “man of the year”.
• First president of Western Michigan University Alumni Association.
• First recipient of Distinguished Alumni Award and was the first national chairman of annual food drive.

William Pyle
Track and Field, 1954-57
Cross Country, 1954-57
Inducted 2012
Alma, Michigan

• Three-time two mile run MAC Champion in track and field
• Individual MAC Champion in cross country in 1956, also helping WMU to a team MAC Championship in 1957
• Earned Cross Country All-America in 1956 after finishing 14^th at the NCAA Championships, with a time of 20:40
• One of five All-Americans from WMU Cross Country to come from the 1950’s
• Member of 1956 and 1957 distance medley relay championship team at Drake Relays
• Earned All-America in 1956
• Three-time Central Collegiate Champion (one mile, XC, two mile)