University of Richmond Athletics
Richmond Athletics Announces Hall Of Fame Inductees
12/19/2007 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 19, 2007
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. -
An integral member of four men's basketball post season teams, a first-ever women's soccer inductee, and a World Series hero help comprise the University of Richmond's Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2008, announced today by Director of Athletics Jim Miller.
The five-person class, to be inducted Sat. Jan. 26 in a 4 p.m. ceremony at the Jepson Alumni Center on campus, includes Lew Burdette (baseball) posthumously, Curtis Blair (men's basketball), Bill Jordan (track & field/cross country), Matt Joyce (football) and Jaclyn Raveia Schmitt (women's soccer). The 2000 Women's Soccer NCAA squad will be honored as this year's Team of Distinction. The Class of 2008 will be honored at halftime of the Spider men's basketball contest against Dayton at 7 p.m. in the Robins Center.
Curtis Blair ('92)
Men's basketball's fifth all-time leading scorer (1,630 points), Curtis Blair capped a brilliant four-year career as team captain his senior season when he was named Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year, averaging 20.3 points per game.
His single greatest performance may have come during his junior year, when he led the Spiders to the NCAA Tournament and a landmark first round victory over Syracuse, 73-69. Blair scored a team high 18 points, added six assists and three steals in the first-ever victory for a number 15 seed over a number two in NCAA Tournament history.
As a senior, Blair was named CAA First Team, All-Defensive Team and All-Tournament Team, as well as First Team All-State. As a junior, he was the team's leading scorer (16.1 ppg), while being named First Team All-CAA, All-Defensive Team and All-Tournament Team, as well as Second Team All-State.
Blair appeared in two NCAA Tournaments and two NIT's during his four year career. Hall of Fame head coach Dick Tarrant's Spiders' won at least 21 games each season and compiled an 87-38 (.696) record.
Blair was selected in the second round of the NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets in 1992. Currently, he is working as a basketball official in the NBA's Developmental League, and has also worked as a college basketball referee.
Lew Burdette ('49)
Following an unlikely road to the University of Richmond and later to becoming a World Series MVP, Lew Burdette pitched for the Spiders in 1946 before gaining fame in the Major Leagues with the Milwaukee Braves.
Burdette, whose hometown high school in Nitro, West Virginia didn't have a baseball team, was nonetheless spotted by the Rev. Alfred Montgomery R'38, who helped him gain a scholarship to Richmond.
In 1946, Burdette took the hill for the Spiders, and was named All-Virginia Big Six, pitching for legendary coach Mac Pitt. But Burdette's blazing fastball and endurance caught the attention of the New York Yankees, who signed him in 1947. Three years later, the Yankees traded him to Milwaukee, where Burdette's career flourished.
Burdette won 203 games in 18 big league seasons, was a two-time All-Star, led the league in wins in 1959 and twice led the league in shutouts (1956, 1959).
His crowning moment, however, came in the 1957 World Series, when he won three games - two by shutout - against the team that originally signed him - the Yankees - in leading the Braves to the World Series title. Burdette was named MVP after holding New York scoreless for 24 consecutive innings and winning game seven, 5-0. He was later named Associated Press "Sportsman of the Year" for his accomplishments.
Lew Burdette, who died Feb. 6, 2007, is also a member of the Braves Hall of Fame in Atlanta and the State of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame.
Bill Jordan ('53)
Credited with being a main force behind the success of the track & field and cross country programs, Bill Jordan's career as a student-athlete, coach and administrator has spanned nearly 40 years at the University of Richmond.
As a student-athlete from 1948-53, he won awards in both cross-country and track, setting the UR cross-country course record, and earning a state championship in the Two Mile and Cross Country events.
He was part of a group affectionately known as "Lumpkin's Lopers" - the 1949 cross-country team coached by William Lumpkin that is the only unbeaten cross-country squad in school history.
After a ten-year stint as head track coach at Wake Forest (1956-66), he returned to his alma mater, working for 19 years directly with his lifetime friend and Hall of Fame coach Fred Hardy. Under their guidance, the Richmond program grew to one of the premier programs in the NCAA. During their tenure, 10 National Champions were crowned, 65 All-Americans were honored, and they coached three Olympians.
In 1976, Jordan established the University of Richmond Women's Track & Field program as a varsity sport. His former student-athletes honored him with a plaque naming the Head Women's Track Coach's office for him. A commemorative plaque is currently on display outside the office in the Robins Center.
Matt Joyce ('94)
He was big (6-8, 287 lb), but Matt Joyce played even bigger during his career as the anchor of the Spiders' defensive line. He was named First Team All-Yankee Conference as a senior and Second Team as a junior. During those two years, he was credited with 10 quarterback sacks and nine tackles for loss. He never missed a game in his collegiate career, playing all 44 contests during four years.
He was signed as a free agent by the Dallas Cowboys, who switched him to offensive line, where he became a fixture during an eleven-year NFL career, also playing for Seattle, Arizona and Detroit. He played every position except center along the offensive line, primarily as a starter. He made a career-high 15 starts for Arizona in 1999.
Joyce retired following the 2004 season and now resides in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Jaclyn Raveia Schmitt ('01)
One of the most award-winning student-athletes in school history, Jaclyn Raveia Schmitt becomes the first women's soccer player in the sports' 12-year existence to be inducted into the University of Richmond Athletic Hall of Fame.
Raveia was named First Team All American following her 2000 senior season, when she helped lead the Spiders to their first NCAA Tournament appearance, and a home-field victory over West Virginia in the first round. She also garnered honors as NSCAA Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Spider Club Student-Athlete of the Year in 2000.
She was named First Team All-CAA, All Mid-Atlantic Region, and Virginia Sports Information Directors All-State First Team in each of her four seasons. She was honored as a two-time CAA Defensive Player of the Year in 1999 and 2000.
Raveia was a team captain of the 1999 and 2000 squads. During her four years, the Spiders compiled a record of 52-31-2.
2000 Women's Soccer Team - Team of Distinction
The 2000 women's soccer team, led by Peter Albright - to this day the program's only coach - established itself as Richmond's first women's soccer squad to advance to the NCAA Tournament. The Spiders earned an at-large berth and a first-round home game. Senior Brooke Sands scored twice in a 5-1 triumph over West Virginia in front of 1,300 screaming fans.
The 2000 squad, captained by seniors Jaclyn Raveia, finished 13-7-0, at the time equaling the school record for wins. Among the victories was a 1-0 decision over ninth-ranked Maryland and a 4-1 verdict at 16th-ranked Virginia.
Raveia was named First Team adidas All-American and CAA Defender of the Year. Sands earned Third Team adidas All-America honors, while setting Richmond career records for points and goals. Junior goalkeeper Kristen Samuhel set a school mark for goals against average (0.97). Albright was named CAA Coach of the Year in the school's final season in the league before moving to the Atlantic 10.
