WMUBroncos.com is concluding its five-week series to see who left the most lasting legacy on their respective sport at Western Michigan University.

The Leaving Their Legacy Series begins its fifth and final week with the WMU football program.

But first, the results from week four look back at the Western Michigan women's basketball team.

The winner (188 total votes), with 42.0% of the vote (79 votes), is Casey Rost, followed by the 1984-85 team with 27.1% (51 votes). Rounding out the voting was Carrie Moore with 21.8% (41 votes), program founder Fran Ebert with 8.0% (15 votes) and All-American Kina Brown with 1.1% (2 votes).

Voting for the most lasting football legacy will take place until Sunday night and will be at the bottom of the front page of WMUBroncos.com. Vote as often as you would like and then check back the following Monday for the results from the previous week and the next poll.

LEAVING THEIR LEGACY
FOOTBALL BASKETBALL

Greg Jennings

Former WMU stand out and rising NFL star Greg Jennings is easily one of the Broncos' most recognizable prot?g?s. He is the all-time leader in career receptions (238), touchdowns (39) and all-purpose yards (5,050). He holds the single-season record for yards (1,259), touchdowns (14, twice) and receptions (98) and led the nation in receptions in 2005 with 98. HE was a Biletinikoff Award semifinalist and was named AP All-America.

Jennings, a Kalamazoo native, also became the first football student-athlete to win both the MAC Offensive Player of the Year and the Vern Smith Leadership Award since Randy Moss (1997).

He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 2006 with the 52nd overall pick.

Tim Lester

Tim Lester is WMU's all time leader in career passing yards (11,299), completions (875), touchdown passes (87) and total offense (11,081). He finished his career ranked fifth in NCAA passing yards and seventh in touchdown passes.

Lester was a two-time All-MAC Second Team Selection (1998-99) and was named MAC Freshman of the Year in 1996. His senior season, he was named the West MVP of the MAC Championship Game, and was a Burger King Scholar Athlete.

John Offerdahl

John Offerdahl joined WMU's program as an undersized walk-on linebacker and left as the Mid-American Conference's most prolific tackler. A second round draft pick by the Miami Dolphins, he later went on to become possibly the most decorated NFL player ever to come out of Western Michigan's program.

Best known for his goal line collision with Auburn's Bo Jackson that stopped the Heisman Trophy winner from scoring in the Senior Bowl, Offerdahl later went on to have a Pro Bowl career with the Dolphins.

While at WMU, he took the MAC record for career tackles (964), and he still owns the school record for recovered fumbles (8). He was named third-team Associated Press All-American in 1984, and was a second-team selection in 1985 along with being named the league defensive player of the year.

Offerdahl topped the MAC in tackles three times and was second as a freshman in 1982. He was selected to play in both the East-West Shrine and Senior Bowl games, winning defensive MVP in the latter. In 1995 his uniform number 49 was retired by WMU, and he was inducted into WMU's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.

Jerome Persell

In 1976 sophomore tailback Jerome Persell gained 241 yards in the season opener against Eastern Michigan and never looked back. By season's end he had picked up 1,505 yards to rank No. 2 nationally behind Pitt's Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett. He scored 19 TDs to equal Sam Dunlap's school record, which was set in 1916.

Persell was named a third-team All-American that year and won the first of his three MAC Offensive Player of the Year awards while WMU's defense led the country in passing yield.

In 1977 he was a second-team All-American, gaining 1,339 yards to finish behind Heisman winner Earl Campbell of Texas and Okalahoma State's Terry Miller on the national level.

His senior season, Persell gained 1,346 yards and became just the third runner in NCAA Division I-A history to top 4,000 yards in three seasons. In the process, he tied a then-NCAA record with three straight 200-yard performances.

Jason Babin

Jason Babin was drafted by the Houston Texans in the first round (27th overall) of the 2004 NFL Draft, becoming the highest drafted player in school history and the only Bronco ever to be selected in the first round.

During his time at WMU, Babin was twice named MAC Defensive Player of the Year, was tabbed second team All-America by The Sporting News for two straight seasons, and topped the nation in tackles for losses (2.75 per game/ 33 total) during his senior season. Also that year, Babin was ranked fourth nationally in sacks (1.25 per game/ 15 total).

 

We know there are many worthy candidates for this list and we want to know who, in your mind, has left a legacy in their respective WMU program. Please provide a name, team or moment so we can share with all of the Bronco fans later this summer. You are also more than welcome to send your thoughts or memories of someone from the list above. Please send your first name and location (city, state) along with your selection/comment to Matt Holmes at matt.holmes@wmich.edu.