UR National Champs Headed To Hall Of Fame
12/02/2008 | Women's Tennis
Dec. 2, 2008
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. -
Two former student-athletes who went on to distinguished athletic careers in the community, a member of the first men's basketball post-season squad, and the only national championship team in school history help comprise the University of Richmond's Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2009, announced today by Director of Athletics Jim Miller.
The five-person class, to be inducted Sat. Jan. 17 in a 4 p.m. ceremony at the Jepson Alumni Center on campus, includes Claudia Dodson (field hockey, basketball, lacrosse) posthumously, Kelvin Johnson (men's basketball), Bill Long (football), Erwin Matthews (football) and Dr. Larry Zacharias (team physician). The 1982 AIAW Division II National Champion Women's Tennis Team will be honored as the 2009 Team of Distinction. The Class of 2009 will be honored at halftime of the Spider men's basketball contest against St. Bonaventure at 7 p.m. in the Robins Center.
Claudia Dodson ('63)
A three-sport standout in field hockey, basketball and lacrosse, Claudia Dodson also made her mark on Westhampton College, and gave a foreshadowing of her future career, by serving as President of the Freshman Class and later as an officer in the Athletic Association.
She joined the Virginia High School League in 1971, becoming only the fourth female in the nation to be hired as a state association administrator. When she began her tenure with the VHSL, there was only one championship competition for girls in Virginia. Her relentless efforts during the next 30 years increased that number to 31 championships in 12 sports, earning her notoriety and accolades as "a pioneer of female athletics" and "a trailblazer in expanding female athletics in Virginia."
Claudia also served as women's basketball coordinator of the 1978 Olympics and was a women's basketball observer for the Atlantic Coast Conference. She retired from the VHSL in 2002, but continued to support girls' athletics as president of Women in Sports, a group she co-founded in 1997.
She has previously been inducted into the Virginia High School Hall of Fame, the Virginia Softball Hall of Fame and the National Federation of State High Schools Hall of Fame.
Claudia Dodson passed away August 18, 2007, 13 days shy of her 66th birthday.
Kelvin Johnson ('85)
A four-year men's basketball starter and two-time captain, Kelvin Johnson was an integral member of the Spiders' first post-season team that appeared in the 1982 NIT, and the school's first NCAA team which defeated Auburn in the first round of the 1984 tournament.
He scored 16 points in the triumph over the Charles Barkley-led Auburn squad, and followed that with a game-high 27 points in a second round NCAA game against Indiana.
In 1985, Kelvin was named second team All-Colonial Athletic Association and CAA All-Tournament Team.
He is second all-time at Richmond for free throw percentage in a season (87%) and sixth in a career (80%). He is also seventh in career assists with 324 and eighth in career steals with 129. A workhorse for the Spiders, Johnson is eighth on the all-time minutes played list, averaging 33.2 minutes per game during his career.
Bill Long ('49)
Bill Long stepped foot on the University of Richmond campus in the fall of 1940 but, before the end of his first semester, he found himself marching in the U.S. Army. He served his country during World War II, rising to the rank of 1st Sergeant. Undaunted, following an honorable discharge in 1945, he returned home and re-enrolled at Richmond in 1946, joining the Spider football team.
He played from 1946-1949. In his senior season, he played strong side end in an unbalanced line in a single-wing style attack.
In 1954, he accepted a position at Douglas Freeman High School, just three miles from the UR campus. He was athletic director, and coached the football, basketball and track teams. He was 109-36-9 as football coach, including a state title in 1967. His basketball teams won nearly 60 percent of their games, and his track squads were victorious in 90 percent of their dual meets and won eleven consecutive district championships.
Following his retirement as a coach, he remained at Freeman as an Assistant Principal, also spending time back at his alma mater as a volunteer assistant coach for the Spider football team.
Among his long list of honors, he was inducted into the Virginia High School League Hall of Fame in 1992 and received the Richmond Touchdown Club's Bunkie Trinite Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. In October 2008, Douglas Freeman High School announced the creation of its own Athletics Hall of Fame, and named Bill Long as its first inductee.
Erwin Matthews ('89)
During his brilliant four-year Spider football career, Erwin Matthews totaled exactly 4,000 yards as a runner, receiver and kick returner, ranking him second all-time in all-purpose yards.
In 1987, he rushed for 1,234 yards, which is fifth on the Spiders' single-season rushing list. He scored a school record six touchdowns in a four-overtime, 52-51 victory against Massachusetts.
His most memorable performance that season, however, may have come on the night of October 29. With a national television audience watching on ESPN, Matthews rushed for 206 yards and two touchdowns as the Spiders defeated Boston University, 33-24, to clinch their first and only Yankee Conference title.
For his efforts, Matthews was named first team All-Yankee Conference and Honorable Mention All-American in 1987.
He still holds the school mark for All Purpose yards in a game (365 vs. UMass 9/19/87) and his three career kickoff returns for touchdowns is also still a school record.
Dr. Larry Zacharias ('52)
For more than 20 years, from 1971-1993, Dr. Larry Zacharias served his alma mater in the role of football and men's basketball team physician. He devoted countless hours of his time to the well-being of all Richmond student-athletes, coaches and staff, who remember him for never saying no to any request. He was always available for diagnosis and treatment of injuries and illness.
He is a graduate of the University of Richmond and a long-time, ardent supporter of the entire Spider athletic program.
1982 AIAW Division II National Champion Women's Tennis Team
Led by head coach Eric O'Neill and two future UR Athletics Hall of Famers, All-Americans Martha Beddingfield and Sharon Dunsing, the 1982 women's tennis team captured the AIAW Division II National Title - the University of Richmond's first - and to this day - only national championship in any team sport.
Returning all but one player from the 1981 squad that went 27-5 and finished second nationally, the '82 Spiders went 23-5, winning State and Regional titles, and claiming victories over every Division I team in the state, including Virginia and Virginia Tech.
The team traveled to Greely, Colorado at the University of Northern Colorado for the national championships. The Spiders won the crown, outdistancing a field that included Boston College, Notre Dame, Georgetown, William & Mary, Charleston and Georgia Southern.
In addition to Coach O'Neill, Dunsing and Beddingfield, the 1982 team included Sue Claggett, Sue Eshelman, Phoebe Figland, Margie Hernandez , Anne McLean, Beth Seubert, Cathy Shields, and Lisa Tullai.