CBU INDUCTS FOUR
9/30/2007 7:00:00 AM | General
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- Four former California Baptist University athletic standouts were inducted into the CBU Athletic Hall of Fame Saturday night at the Inaugural Lancer Athletics Hall of Fame Banquet in the Van Dyne Gym.
Former UCLA basketball coach and current ESPN college basketball analyst Steve Lavin served as the master of ceremonies for the nearly 300 in attendance.
Gennifer Amthor (women's swimming), Jan Hearn (women's basketball), Robert Muro (baseball) and Frank Ofori (men's tennis) were inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining a group of 35 talented Hall of Famers, many of whom were in attendance.
In two seasons, Amthor (2000-01) was a 14-time NAIA All-American, a four-time individual national champion and still holds school records in the 100-fly (55.72) and 200-fly (2:01.33). She was part of a pair of NAIA runner-up teams.
In 1982, Hearn became the first-ever female at California Baptist to earn NAIA All-American honors, earning second-team honors after leading California Baptist to its only trip to the NAIA Women's Basketball National Tournament in program history. That year, she led the team in scoring, averaging 15.8 points per contest and still holds the school single-season record with 118 steals.
Muro was a two-time NAIA All-American, earning second team honors in 1997 and 1998 and becoming the first Lancer to earn two All-American honors in baseball. In 1997, Muro was named GSAC Player of the Year and went on to lead the Lancers to a GSAC title, a Far West Region title and their only trip to the NAIA World Series where they finished third. He finished with a career batting average of .434 with 42 home runs and 154 RBIs.
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| Lavin addresses the crowd. |
In addition to the Hall of Fame inductions, CBU's 1975-76 men's basketball team was honored with the First Team Award, which is reserved for those teams that broke new ground at CBU.
Eight members of that team were in attendance, including all four four-year seniors Steve Johnson, Kevin Finnerty, Danny Martinez and Steve Deering, as well as assistant coach Lee Erickson and head coach Floyd Evans. The 1976 season is widely considered the finest season in school history as the Lancers finished 28-4, averaged a school-record 100.1 points per game and made the program's first-ever appearance at the NAIA Tournament, advancing to the Sweet 16.
The evening's awards presentation concluded when Riverside coaching legend John Masi was given the first-ever Riverside Sports Hero Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 26 seasons as the head coach at neighboring UC Riverside, Masi had a record of 462-269, guiding the Highlanders to 20 or more victories 12 times. As a Riverside resident, Masi prepped at Ramona High, then moved to Riverside Community College before concluding his collegiate playing days at UCR. He then spent six seasons as an assistant coach at UCR before becoming head coach. All told, Masi spent 34 years at UCR until his departure in 2005.
The evening, which also doubled as a fundraiser, including a gourmet dinner and concluded with a live auction that included such items as four floor-level tickets to the Lakers/Supersonics game (Nov. 27), two tickets to the Duke/Maryland basketball game Feb. 13 at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C., a golf getaway for four to play three of Chicago's finest courses and airfare and tickets to the Preseason NIT Semifinals and Finals at Madison Square Garden in New York over the Thanksgiving holiday.
