June 23, 2005

CEDAR FALLS - Five former University of Northern Iowa athletes and one administrator will be inducted into the 2005 Athletics Hall of Fame during Panther Homecoming festivities the weekend of Oct. 15.

The newest inductees include former UNI track all-American Brent Geringer, former football player and current Cedar Falls (IA) High School football coach Pat Mitchell, former track standout and current University of Nevada head women's track coach Shantel Twiggs, former assistant athletics director Sandra Williamson, former football player and current high school head football coach Mike Woodley, and former wrestling standout Kaye Don Young. Williamson will receive the Dr. Jitu D. Kothari Meritorious Service Award, named after Dr. Kothari who served as the Panthers' orthopedic surgeon from 1981 until his death in 2003.

"It is with great pleasure that we are able to name the Meritorious Service Award the `Dr. Jitu D. Kothari Meritorious Service Award'," UNI director of athletics Rick Hartzell said. "Dr. Kothari was a dear friend to all of us here in the UNI athletic department and to many alumni and former student-athletes for whom he cared so much. He was a vital part of our success for a long, long while and we are thrilled to be able to perpetuate his memory through this aptly named award."

The Meritorious Service Award honors individuals who offer extraordinary service and dedication in support of UNI athletics. Dr. Kothari exemplified this type of commitment.

"Dr. Kothari took great pride in the Panthers' achievements," Harshida Kothari, Dr. Kothari's wife, said. "He was a strong and dedicated advocate of UNI and the community, and considered himself part of the Panther team. His desire was to benefit those around him. When he passed away, the Kothari family received many letters from the UNI community.

"The entire Kothari family were great fans of Panther athletics," she said. "They accompanied their husband/father to the games and cheered on the sideline or in the first row, always honored and proud of Dr. Kothari's dedication to UNI."

Geringer earned all-America honors in the discus in 1979. He holds UNI's discus mark with a 199-6 throw and the shot put record with a 60-3 ¼ effort, also accomplished in 1979. He competed in the 1980 Olympic Trials. He's currently a chiropractor and resides in Waterloo, Neb.

Mitchell was labeled "a possible breakthrough player" when he arrived on the Iowa State Teachers College (now UNI) campus in 1959. He played varsity football in 1959 and from 1961-62, sidelined during the 1960 campaign due to injury. A three-year starter and letterman as a tight end and defensive end, he served as co-captain in 1962 when he earned all-conference honors. He graduated from ISTC in 1963, receiving his bachelor's degree in business education and physical education.

His coaching career included stints at Bakersfield, CA, and Kenosha, WI, before joining the staff at Cedar Falls High School as a business education teacher and defensive coordinator under head coach Ed Lyons. He was elevated to head coach in 1967. He since has retired from teaching but still coaches football.

Under his tutelage, the Tigers have recorded 34 winning seasons and have appeared in 17 state playoffs, including three championship games. They have earned one state championship. Mitchell's career record is 253-116-2. He has coached 69 all-state players, five prep all-Americans and five players who have gone on to play professionally. He also coached the Tiger men's and women's golf teams for over 30 years.

Twiggs was an all-conference sprinter for the Panthers from 1990-94, earning all-Missouri Valley Conference honors six times. She was an all-American her senior year when she placed sixth in the 200 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Overall, she qualified for the national meets eight times with two provisional qualifying marks. She was the owner of 13 school records and has been a member of three U.S. National Teams (in 1994 and 1995).

Twiggs led off the gold-medal 4x100 meter relay team at the 1995 Pan Am Games. In addition, she won gold and bronze medals at the 1994 Olympic Festival as the anchor on the 4x100 meter relay and the 200 meters, respectively.

After graduating in 1995, she worked as an assistant track coach and substitute teacher for the Ferguson-Florissant School District in Berkeley, MO, before returning to UNI in 1997 as an assistant track coach, a position she held for three years. She then resurrected the Northern Illinois women's track program in 2000. As the Huskies mentor, her athletes broke more than 14 school records. She currently is the head coach at the University of Nevada.

Williamson served an administrative role at UNI from 1978 until her retirement in 2004. She was associate director and director of women's programs beginning in 1978, while also serving as associate director for internal affairs from 1981-92 and as the NCAA senior women administrator beginning in 1992. She also was a physical education instructor and women's basketball coach from 1978-80.

Prior to joining the UNI staff, she was an instructor of physical education and established the women's basketball and volleyball competitive programs during her tenure at Carroll College from 1970-76. She also was an instructor at Eastern New Mexico from 1969-70 and a graduate assistant at Northern Colorado from 1968-69. She taught and coached at the high school level from 1964-68.

Williamson has served in various capacities at numerous national and conference tournaments, including the 1982 Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Indoor Track and Field Championship, and NCAA Volleyball Tournaments. She received The Women's Studies Advisory Board Recognition Award in 2004, the American Red Cross Humanitarian Award in 1975, was a member of the NCAA Peer Review for three institutions during her tenure, and established the UNI athletics Compliance Council. She participated in the Conference for Current Concepts of University Education at Herzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2003 and 2004 when she was a guest lecturer as part of the American Council for International Education.

Woodley, currently the athletic director and head football coach at Sam Rayburn High School in Pasadena, TX, is a 1974 UNI graduate and four-year football letterman. He was a two-time team captain, a three-time first team all-conference choice and a second team all-American in 1973. He still holds the Panthers' school record for 20 career interceptions. He played semi-professional baseball from 1970-82 and semi-pro football from 1974-75, after which he was a graduate assistant at the University of Iowa from 1975-76. After various stints coaching at the high school level in Alamagordo, NM, at East High School in Waterloo (IA), at Osage (IA) High School, and at Fort Dodge (IA) High School, he was named head football coach at St. Ambrose College in 1991 where he stayed three seasons. After one year at West Des Moines (IA) High School, he served as an assistant at Iowa State from 1994-2003.

Woodley is a member of the East High School Hall of Fame, the East High School Athletic Hall of Fame, and the Iowa Football Coaches Hall of Fame.

Young is a 1953 graduate of Waterloo (IA) East High School and a member of its Hall of Fame. He placed third in the 1953 Iowa High School State Tournament and placed first in the 1954 Iowa AAU Tournament. He graduated from UNI in 1959 and also was a Naval Training Station wrestler in 1956 and '57. He taught and coached at Maquoketa, IA, as an assistant in football and initiating the men's and women's golf teams. He was at Maquoketa seven years, compiling a 77-14 football record while earning six conference titles and winning sectionals six times.

He was the Wartburg College interim wrestling coach, assistant football coach and assistant dean of men from 1966-67 and in 1968, started the wrestling program at North Iowa Area Community College, compiling a 114-15-1 overall mark, a national title in 1972 and second-place finishes from 1970-72. He was named the National Junior College Coach of the Year in 1972 and is a member of the National JUCO Wrestling Hall of Fame. Young was a member of Iowa Governor Robert Ray's Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee, founded the Mason City (IA) Cinema Arts Film Series, and is a published poet. He's currently retired.

The inductees will be honored during a luncheon on Saturday prior to UNI's football gave against Indiana State and during halftime ceremonies. For luncheon ticket information, contact the UNI Ticket Office at 319-273-DOME.