LAS VEGAS (March 23, 2017) - Six different Rebel sports will be represented during ceremonies this spring as the UNLV Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2017 was announced by the school Thursday.

In what will be the first such event in five years, six former Rebel standout players, one head coach and a distinguished contributor will join one team in being inducted on Thursday, May 4, at the Strip View Pavilion at the Thomas & Mack Center on campus. The ceremony is open to the public and a limited number of tickets are available for $125 each by calling Tod Bannister in the RAF at (702) 895-3075.

The Class of 2017 is made up of the most decorated student-athlete in UNLV history in the form of men's golfer and 2004 NCAA individual champion Ryan Moore, football players Jamaal Brimmer and Tony Terrell, women's basketball player Gwynn Hobbs, men's basketball player Mark Wade, baseball player Eric Nielsen, softball coach Shan McDonald, the 2003 Baseball Team as well as longtime Voice of the Rebels Dick Calvert as a distinguished contributor. Also scheduled to be honored that night posthumously is former Rebel football assistant coach and longtime local businessman and UNLV supporter Rich Abajian, who passed away in 2016. He will be the third recipient of the prestigious Silver Rebel Award.

"I commend the Hall of Fame Executive Board for selecting a terrific group of honorees," said UNLV Director of Athletics Tina Kunzer-Murphy. "There are truly some Rebel greats representing many different eras and programs. It's a fitting class for our first induction ceremony since 2012."

The Class of 2017 will also be recognized at the UNLV vs. Fresno State baseball game the following evening (May 5) with a ceremonial first pitch before the 6 p.m. contest at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.

Born in 1987, UNLV's Athletics Hall of Fame will now grow to 123 members strong after what will be its 14th induction ceremony. Under the hall's bylaws, former student-athletes must have completed their eligibility at least 10 years earlier to be selected. Coaches and administrators must have stopped working at the University five years previous.

Jamaal Brimmer Football Athlete (2001-04)
DICK CALVERT Distinguished Contributor/Voice of the Rebels
GWYNN HOBBS Women's Basketball Athlete (1992-95)
Shan McDonald Softball Coach (1987-2003)
Ryan Moore Men's Golf Athlete (2002-05)
Eric Nielsen Baseball Athlete (2002-04)
Tony Terrell Football Athlete (1999-2002)
MARK WADE Men's Basketball Athlete (1986-87)
2003 UNLV BASEBALL TEAM Head Coach: Jim Schlossnagle

SILVER REBEL AWARD WINNER
RICH ABAJIAN (Posthumous) Football Assistant Coach/Longtime Supporter

CLASS OF 2017 INDUCTEES BIOS

One of only three All-Americans from UNLV football who played on the defensive side of the ball, Jamaal Brimmer was a local kid who became a nationally known playmaker in the secondary. Signed by coach John Robinson out of Las Vegas' Durango High School, Brimmer exploded onto the conference landscape as a sophomore in 2002, including leading the MW with 17 tackles-for- loss and pacing the squad with 5.5 QB sacks. Hence, he was the pick of both the coaches and media for league defensive player of the year honors. One year later, his stats only improved as he led the league with six interceptions and four forced fumbles, two of which led to key defensive scores. The first non-senior to earn All-America at UNLV since Randall Cunningham in 1983, Brimmer also became the first non-punting first team honoree for the Rebels since 1975. The hometown hero introduced himself to the nation early in the 2003 season with the greatest single defensive performance in school history in leading his team to a stunning 23-5 upset at 14th-ranked Wisconsin on national TV. Brimmer's phenomenal day, which included 11 tackles, two interceptions, one fumble forced and another one returned 55 yards for a TD and two quarterback sacks, earned him the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week honors. The first UNLV semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award became the school's first two-time All-American since Cunningham with nods from AP (third team) and The Sporting News (second team) as a senior. That followed being named a community service All-American as a member of the 2004 AFCA Good Works Team. The third UNLV player selected to compete in the prestigious Senior Bowl (joining UNLV Hall of Famers Ickey Woods and Kevin Thomas), Brimmer was the program's second three-time first team all-conference honoree and won at least one MW Player of the Week nod in each of his final three years on the team. Ranked the nation's No. 2 strong safety by the Sporting News in 2004, Brimmer left UNLV ranked fifth in career tackles with 280 and second in school and league history with nine forced fumbles. After going through camp with the NFL's Seattle Seahawks he returned to Las Vegas and is currently working in special education at Bob Miller Middle School while also coaching as the defensive coordinator at Canyon Springs High School.

BRIMMER'S CAREER STATS

DICK CALVERT - DISTINGUISHED CONTRIBUTOR

One of the longest serving game announcers in all of sports, Distinguished Contributor Dick Calvert worked his first UNLV sporting event 47 years ago. Since then, the legendary "Voice of the Rebels" has worked more than 4,000 UNLV contests and events in his nearly five decades on the microphone as game announcer, emcee, host and radio and TV play-by-play man. A veteran of the U.S. Army, the UCLA alumnus played minor league baseball before becoming a scout in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. He and his wife, Anne, moved to Las Vegas in 1970 and Calvert has had the unique opportunity of working for every UNLV athletics director in history. One of the founding members of the UNLV Athletics Hall of Fame, he was inducted into the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. Calvert annually works more than 125 local events on and off campus but is one of the University's most recognized traditions at Thomas & Mack Center and Sam Boyd Stadium. He has called games for UNLV football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's golf, men's and women's tennis, outdoor track & field, volleyball and men's and women's swimming & diving. He has also served as the game announcer for the Mountain West Conference, Pac-12 Conference, West Coast Conference and Western Athletic Conference basketball tournaments, every Las Vegas Bowl for a quarter century, the NBA Vegas Summer League, the FIBA Americas tournament, the USA Basketball Senior Men's National Team and the Las Vegas 51s AAA Professional Baseball Club. The Las Vegas resident retired from broadcasting and the UNLV Athletics Department in 2001 after serving as the director of broadcasting, director of athletic marketing for Olympic sports and director of athletic facilities/operations.

GWYNN HOBBS - WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

The fifth women's basketball player to be voted for inclusion into the UNLV Athletics Hall of Fame, Gwynn Hobbs (married name is Gywnn Grant) was more than a sensational player and student-athlete for the Lady Rebels, she was also a symbol of triumph for Native Americans. Hobbs, out of Ganado, Arizona, left Navajo Nation for a full ride at UNLV under head coach Jim Bolla and excelled throughout her four-year collegiate career. Still the most accurate three-point shooter in Lady Rebel history at 40.6 percent, she was a three-time All-Big West Conference honoree at guard, including earning a spot on the first team in both 1994 and '95. An all-around player, Hobbs' name remains prevalent up and down the program's record book: first in three-pointers in a season with 71, second in free-throw percentage for a season at 87.8 percent, second in assists in a season with 180, second in career assists (592), third in all-time steals (295) and 10th in scoring with 1,504 points to her name. Her numbers also have stood the test of time in league history as she remains fifth in the Big West in assists, sixth in steals and sixth in three-point percentage. Hobbs, who averaged double-digit points all four of her seasons, was the star attraction in the special UNLV season of 1993-94. The sparkplug was named conference tournament MVP after averaging 21.7 points in three games while leading the Lady Rebels to their final Big West title along with a NCAA Tournament appearance. An academic all-conference honoree every year in the Scarlet & Gray, Hobbs was chosen to serve as a national spokesperson for United National Indian Tribal Youth (UNITY) during her playing career. She eventually returned to the reservation setting to coach girls basketball.

HOBBS' CAREER STATS

COACH Shan McDonald - SOFTBALL

The winningest coach in UNLV softball history with 511 victories in 17 seasons on campus, Shan McDonald made the Rebels a national force in the 1990s. Now just the sixth head coach to be voted to the UNLV Athletics Hall of Fame, the Canadian came to the school after playing and coaching at Texas A&M. She steadily built the Rebels despite competing in the softball powerhouse Big West Conference and being stuck playing at a basic ball field wedged between a campus cafeteria and residence hall. By year four the Rebels were in the NCAA postseason field and would stay there for seven consecutive springs. The 1990 squad made the first of two consecutive Women's College World Series appearances but it was the 1995 team that went down as the best in school history as the Rebels set or tied 30 different school team records and 17 single-season marks en route to tying the school record for wins with a 49-14 record. The first and only UNLV softball squad to win an outright conference title, the Hall of Fame team went 27-5 in the Big West, including 15-2 on the road. The Rebels posted a 2-1 record in Oklahoma City before being eliminated by top-ranked Arizona to finish tied for third at the event and close the season ranked fourth in the nation. The two-time West Region Coach of the Year and two-time conference coach of the year produced all five UNLV softball players already voted into the Hall of Fame. In fact, during her tenure McDonald coached 18 NFCA All-Americans, four Big West Players of the Year, one Mountain West Player of the Year, 43 All-West Region selections, 58 All-Big West honorees and eight All-Mountain West selections. McDonald's success also spurred the construction of a top-notch facility across campus in the form of Eller Media Stadium. Active in the international level of her sport, McDonald was an assistant coach with the 1996 Canadian National Team in the Summer Olympics and head coach of the China National Team that finished fourth in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

McDONALD'S YEAR-BY-YEAR RECORD
OVERALL CONFERENCE

Ryan Moore - MEN'S GOLF

The most heralded player in the impressive history of UNLV men's golf, Ryan Moore is also his school's most decorated student-athlete in any sport. During his senior year alone, the Washington state native competed in nine college events, winning three times and finishing third in three others. In fact, he never finished lower than sixth place in any of that season's tournaments, including taking fifth at the NCAA Championship. Moore's 28-round scoring average of 69.29 led the nation, set the UNLV seasonal record and was the second-lowest in collegiate golf history. He also placed 13th at the 2005 Masters, earning him low amateur honors and a return trip to Augusta in 2006. That incredible final season was rewarded with the recognition of winning every major player of the year honor that is handed out in collegiate golf - the Ben Hogan Award, the Nicklaus Award and the Haskins Award. In doing so, Moore became just the second Rebel to win his respective sport's national player of the year award, joining Runnin' Rebel legend Larry Johnson in 1991. This all followed a junior campaign that saw Moore set new standards in amateur golf by winning five major amateur championships, a feat that may never be matched. In 2004 he captured the U.S. Amateur, the NCAA, the U.S. Amateur Public Links, the Western Amateur and the Sahalee Players Championships to become the first golfer to ever win all five events in the same year. Playing at Hot Springs, Virginia, as an individual in the field, Moore won UNLV its second individual golf national championship when he fired a 13-under four-day total to take medalist honors by six strokes. The four-time All-American earned first team honors twice, won back-to-back Mountain West Golfer of the Year awards and was a member of the all-conference team all four seasons in Las Vegas. For his college career, Moore turned in a scoring average of 70.76 while winning seven times - both all-time records for the storied Rebel program. Now a Las Vegas resident, he moved to the PGA Tour and has recorded five victories: the 2009 Wyndham Championship, the 2012 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, the 2013 and 2014 CIMB Classics and the 2016 John Deere Classic. Having already reached the $25 million mark in career earnings, Moore last fall played for his country and sank the clinching putt in the United States' 2016 Ryder Cup victory.

MOORE'S CAREER STATS

Eric Nielsen - BASEBALL

Just the fifth baseball player elected to the UNLV Athletics Hall of Fame, Eric Nielsen is a double-honoree as he was also a member of the 2003 UNLV team that will be inducted May 4. Nielsen signed with the Rebels out of Las Vegas' Silverado High School and became a three-year starter in the outfield before turning professional. He batted .356 as a freshman in 2002, an average that would prove to be his lowest as a collegian. In 2003 he led the team with a .365 average while helping the highly ranked Rebels to a regular-season Mountain West title and 47 total victories. Nielsen would go on to be named to the all-tournament teams at the conference event in Albuquerque and the NCAA Tempe Regional, the latter of which included a 4-for-5 day at the plate vs. Central Connecticut State. His junior year in 2004 was one for the record books as the team captain became the first player in conference history to win the Triple Crown, leading all players in average, home runs and runs batted in both league play and overall. The Mountain West Player of the Year also finished first in slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored and total bases. He is the only Rebel in history to reach triple figures in hits in a year as his 101 led to an eye-popping .402 batting average. His 87 RBIs still rank second in MW single-season history and his 16 homers that spring led to what is still a conference-best 84 runs scored. Nielsen led his squad to a second consecutive MW Tournament crown and a return trip the NCAAs while he became the eighth - and most recent Rebel - to be named to an All-America First Team (Louisville Slugger All-American by Collegiate Baseball News). Nielsen's .376 career batting average is second in Rebel history while he is the school and league record holder for hit by pitch in a season (27) and career (51) as well as the all-time slugging percentage in MW games at .893. Selected by Toronto in the 12th round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft in 2004, Nielsen played in the Blue Jays' minor league system for five years before returning to campus to serve briefly as an assistant coach with the Rebels and then becoming an officer with the Henderson Police Department.

NIELSEN'S CAREER STATS

Tony Terrell - FOOTBALL

Only the second offensive lineman to be voted into the UNLV Athletics Hall of Fame and the first since 1994, Tony Terrell was a rare four-year starter at guard for the Rebels. A 1998 recruit out of Hawthorne High School in California, Terrell was signed by coach Jeff Horton but redshirted that first year on campus. Suiting up under new head man John Robinson in 1999, Terrell would prove to be an iron man up front, starting all but one game, including 40 straight to end his collegiate career. Emerging as a leader for the 2000 Las Vegas Bowl champions, he blocked for the only back-to-back 1,000-yard rushers in UNLV history (Jeremi Rudolph 1,005 in 2000 and then Joe Haro 1,107 in 2001). That 2001 squad finished 12th in the nation by allowing a then-school-record low 12 quarterback sacks. As a senior in 2002, Terrell was named first team All-Mountain West by both the coaches and media and remains the only Rebel blocker to earn a first team honor since the end of the millennium. The program's only two-time winner of the Bill "Wildcat" Morris Most Inspirational Award, Terrell also earned the "Doc" Tobler Senior Award, which is given to the final-year player who brings the highest credit to himself and the University. Terrell was equally impressive off the field, becoming the first UNLV player (and one of four ever) named a community service All-American as a member of the American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team. After retiring from football after a camp with the NFL's San Diego Chargers, Terrell became a three-time graduate of UNLV, earning his bachelor's degree (2002), master's degree (2007) and then Ph.D. (2012). A highly visible champion of his alma mater, Dr. Terrell currently serves as Assistant Director of Learning Support at UNLV's Academic Success Center.

MARK WADE - MEN'S BASKETBALL

Only standing 6-foot and weighing 160 pounds while competing at the highest level of collegiate basketball, Mark Wade played much bigger as the ultimate floor general during his two seasons for the Runnin' Rebels. The Los Angeles native spent his freshman campaign at Oklahoma and second year at El Camino Community College before finally moving to Las Vegas to serve as point guard for legendary UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian in the fall of 1985. As a junior Wade engineered the Runnin' Rebels to a 33-5 mark that included a conference crown and a trip to the Sweet 16. One year later, he set the NCAA single-season record for assists in a season with 406 - a mark that still stands today. That total included the school's single-game record of 21 dished out in one of the most memorable games in Thomas & Mack Center history vs. Navy on Dec. 29, 1986. Wade's masterpiece happened to come before the biggest crowd in the building's history - 20,231 - as the top-ranked Rebels routed the ninth-ranked Midshipmen and their seven-foot-one center David Robinson, 104-79. UNLV would run through the league with a perfect 18-0 mark and become the first team from the school to end the regular season ranked No. 1 in the nation. The Runnin' Rebels breezed through the first three rounds of the NCAA Tournament but survived a big scare vs. Iowa in the West Regional Final, overcoming an 18-point deficit to earn a spot in the school's second Final Four. While UNLV lost a thrilling semifinal to eventual champion Indiana at the Superdome in New Orleans, Wade set the Final Four record with 18 assists against the Hoosiers and ended the event with two more NCAA records that still stand -- most assists in a tournament with 61 and most assists per tournament game with 11.6 in a career (93 in eight games). Wade, who set the program's single-season record with 406 assists as a senior and still ranks fourth on the UNLV all-time list with 689 compiled in just two years, spent time with various professional teams, including the Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks of the NBA. He was not done breaking records on campus, however, as he set the overall TMC mark for assists in a game with a stunning total of 29 on Aug. 26, 1988, while playing for the Las Vegas Silver Streaks of the World Basketball League. Wade, who served as UNLV's Director of Basketball Operations in 2000-01, would also go on to coach at multiple universities.

WADE'S CAREER STATS

2003 UNLV BASEBALL TEAM

The 2003 UNLV baseball team holds the distinction of capturing the first regular-season conference title in the proud program's history. Led by second-year head coach Jim Schlossnagle, the Rebels were a star-studded group with first baseman Fernando Valenzuela Jr. winning Mountain West Conference Player of the Year and Patrick Dobson being named MW Tournament MVP while both players' famous dads watched from the stands. Only the second Rebel baseball team to enter the Hall of Fame, the 2003 squad went 41-15 in the regular season overall, including a school-record 24-6 to easily capture the outright league crown, marking the only time in 50 years of the sport that UNLV did so. The high-scoring Rebels went to Albuquerque and did not lose a game in taking down Air Force, New Mexico and San Diego State (twice) by a combined score of 49-16. Rebels earned five of the 11 spots on the MW All-Tournament Team, led by tourney MVP Dobson, who set a league record with 14 combined runs batted in. The team was sent to the NCAA Tempe Regional hosted by Arizona State and won two games before falling to the champion Sun Devils. The Rebels finished with 47 victories, ranking just behind 1980 Hall of Fame team. Becoming nationally relevant again, UNLV was ranked as high as 15 in the country during the season and finished at No. 20. Schlossnagle was named MW Coach of the Year and a trio of players - Valenzuela, starting pitcher and freshman All-American Matt Luca and relief pitcher Ryan Braun - earned first team all-conference honors while a total of 11 players were eventually drafted by MLB teams.

RICH ABAJIAN - 2017 SILVER REBEL AWARD WINNER

The Silver Rebel Award was instituted by the UNLV Athletics Hall of Fame Executive Board in order to honor former members of the school's athletics family, such as student-athletes, coaches or staff members, whose primary accomplishments took place after leaving campus but have brought positive recognition to the University. This year's recipient of the Silver Rebel is the late Rich Abajian. A native of Walla Walla, Washington, and 1975 graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno where he played as a defensive back, Abajian joined UNLV in 1977 as a graduate assistant coach and then served as defensive secondary coach under Tony Knap from 1979-81. He eventually went into the automobile sales business for Cliff Findlay and became one of the nation's most successful dealership general managers, becoming a partner in Findlay Toyota and serving as chief operation officer of the Findlay Automotive Group.