11 Mountaineers Inducted to the WVU Sports Hall of Fame

The West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame inducted 11 new members into the class of 2020 in an announcement by Athletics Director Shane Lyons Saturday morning bringing the total to 208 members.

Due to COVID-19, there will be no induction ceremony this fall. This year’s class will be inducted along with the 2021 class during the 2021 football season.

Janáe (Cox) Asbury - Gymnastics (2004-2007)

Janáe (Cox) Asbury was a three-time NCAA Championships individual qualifier in gymnastics while earning First Team All-American and 17 All-EAGL (East Atlantic Gymnastics League) First Team accolades.

The Otisco, Indiana, native is WVU’s all-time leading career points earner (2,070.65) and the only gymnast in school history to earn 2,000-plus points.

Da’Sean Butler - Men’s Basketball (2007-2010)

Da'Sean Butler joins the WVU Sports Hall of Fame as the winningest men’s basketball player in school history with 107 wins, set WVU records in double-figure scoring games (108), career minutes played (4,491), career games played (146), and is third in school history in total points with 2,095 sitting behind Jerry West and Hot Rod Hundley.

As a Senior, Bulter averaged 17.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game to become the ninth first-team All-American in school history after he was named to the Basketball Times and John Wooden All-America teams. He also earned First Team All-Big East honors, was named to the NCAA East Region All-Tournament team, selected as the Big East Championship Most Outstanding Player in 2010, and the 2010 winner of the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.

Additionally, Butler guided the Mountaineers to the program's first Big East Tournament Championship in 2010 and in the same year, the team's first Final Four appearance in 41 years.

Janis Denise “JD” Drummonds - Women’s Basketball (1980-81)

Janis “JD” Drummonds became the second WVU women’s basketball player to score 1,000 career points averaging 18.7 points during her two seasons holding the program record for the highest career scoring average in WVU women’s basketball history and her 300 made field goals in 1981 is still the program record.

Jedd Gyorko - Baseball (2008-2010)

Jedd Gyorko attained 10 All-America baseball honors during his Mountaineer career starting 168 games at second base and shortstop.

Gyorko currently sits atop the West Virginia baseball record books in career extra-base hits (113), batting average (.404), and tied for first in career home runs (35). He is second in career runs (207), RBIs (178), doubles (73), assists (475), and total bases (469). Third in career hits (281), singles (248), and slugging percentage (.674). fifth in career on-base percentage (.470), tied for fifth in career sacrifice flies (14) and tied for seventh in career walks (92).

In his final season as a Mountaineer, Gyorko was named a First Team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and a Second Team All-American by Louisville Slugger, the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), and Baseball America. He was named the NCBWA District II Player of the Year and was selected to the All-East Region and All-Big East First Team.

Richard “Dick” Leftridge - Football (1963-1954)

Dick Leftridge was the first Black student-athlete to sign a grant-in-aid for a football scholarship at WVU in February 1962. Not only did he break the color barrier for Mountaineer football program but the Southern Conference as well and was the first Black player to play for the South team in the North-South Shrine Game in Miami.

As a fullback, Leftridge led the team in rushing yards as a sophomore and junior before teaming up with Garret Ford Sr his senior season and becoming one of the best backfield duos in the country combining for 1,668 yards and 14 touchdowns as the Mountaineers went on to win their second consecutive Southern Conference Championship.

Leftridge finished his WVU career rushing for 1,701 yards on 348 carries and 21 touchdowns

John McGrath - Men's Soccer (1969-95)

John McGrath is the program’s all-time winningest coach with 202 victories and is the only coach in program history to reach the 200-win mark.

McGrath took over the Mountaineers in their ninth season as a varsity program in 1969. In his 27 seasons, McGrath led the Mountaineers to five NCAA Tournament appearances, including three consecutive NCAA appearances from 1971-73.

The Mountaineers returned to the NCAA Tournament in 1981, falling one goal short of reaching the national semifinals. In 1992, after winning the Atlantic 10 Championship, West Virginia earned its fifth NCAA appearance under McGrath.

He coached six players who combined for nine career All-America selections (Joe Okhakhu, Dennis Almeida, Manny Matos, Jack Cardosa, Jon Capon, and Ashy Mabrouk) and 17 all-region honorees.

Tony Robertson - Men’s Basketball (1976-77)

Tony Robertson reached the 1,000-point club in just two seasons with the Mountaineers racking up 1,026 career points. During his career, Robertson averaged 18.0 points per game, ranking seventh in school history, shot 49.4 percent from the field, averaged 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.

Robertson was named to the Eastern 8 All-Conference First Team and Eastern 8 All-Tournament Team in 1977.

John Rost - Rifle (1979-82)

John Rost captured seven All-America honors, earning smallbore accolades in 1979, and both air rifle and smallbore honors in 1980, 1981, and 1982.

The Mountaineers posted a 34-1 record during his career with three NCAA runner-up finishes. Rost was a two-time team captain and voted as the team’s most valuable shooter as a junior and senior.

Rost was the first multiple National Champion in West Virginia rifle and just third WVU rifle National Champion winning the air rifle event at the 1981 and 1982 NCAA Championship

Clara (Grandt) Santucci - Women’s Cross Country & Track (2005-10)

Clara Grandt earned four All-America honors in three different sports during her cross country and track career and the third female WVU runner to earn three All-America honors in three sports in the same season.

Additionally, she was a three-time selection to the NCAA All Mid-Atlantic Region and a three-time selection to the All-Big East Team. She was the 2009 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Track Athlete of the Year.

She helped WVU win the 2007 Big East Cross Country Championships by finishing eighth overall and was the second WVU finisher in sixth place at the 2007 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional.

Grandt set a new meet record in the 10K at the 2008 ECAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

In 2009, Grandt set the WVU school record in the 10,000 meters with a time of 33:16.96 and she won the 2009 Big East Championship in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 16:07.55.

In 2010, she won the Big East Championship in the 10,000 meters with a time of 33:31.80, and she finished in first place (34.29) in the 10K at the NCAA Regionals in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Tom Shafer - Baseball (1960-62)

Tom Shafer earned All-America honors and was a two-time selection to the All-Southern Conference First Team during his Mountaineer baseball career.

Shafer spent the most of his time as a pitcher but also playe first base and in the outfield.

Shafer pitched 20 straight scoreless innings, 27 straight innings without giving up an earned run and 23 consecutive innings without walking a batter.

For his career, he earned 17 victories on the mound while striking out 204 and allowing 41 earned runs in 218.1 innings pitched. At the plate, he had six career home runs with 27 RBIs and led the team with four home runs in 1962.

He held the school’s ERA record upon graduation for 125 or more innings pitched at 1.69. He is sixth all-time in strikeout-to-walk ratio with a 3.01 average. Shafer also is sixth all-time in single season victories with nine, pitching in an era when the team only played 30 games a season.

The Mountaineers won Southern Conference titles in 1961 and 1962, advancing to the NCAA District III playoffs both seasons.

Ron Wolfley - Football (1981-84)

Ron Wolfley is the school’s seventh all-time leading rusher among fullbacks with 1,296 yards on 340 carries and 10 touchdowns, helping the Mountaineers to three straight 9-3 seasons and an 8-4 record as a senior to amass a four-year mark of 35-13.

West Virginia won three of its four bowl appearances during Wolfley's career the 1981 Peach, 1983 Hall of Fame and 1984 Bluebonnet and helped pave the way for the Mountaineers to finish in the top 20 of the rankings all four years.

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