Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG, Va. — Former director of athletics Dave Braine who helped bring stability and national prominence to the Virginia Tech athletics program is one of five individuals selected for induction to the university’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Joining Braine as 2012 inductees are:
- André Davis, a record-setting receiver and return man on the gridiron who also excelled in track and field and in the classroom.
- Sharon McCloskey, the top women’s administrator in Virginia Tech athletics who helped pioneer the way for women in athletics administration on the collegiate level.
- Mike Sergent, a weight man in track & field for the Hokies from 1988-92 whose hard work led to All-America honors and a highly successful coaching career.
- Amy Wetzel Doolan, who excelled on the basketball court and in the classroom, while helping the Hokies to 92 victories and four postseason appearances.
The five new honorees will be inducted at a Hall of Fame dinner on the Tech campus on Friday, Sept. 7, the evening before Tech’s home football game against Austin Peay University. Each of the inductees will be introduced to fans at halftime of the football game.
The new inductees will bring the total number enshrined to 163. The Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame was established in 1982. Formerly located near the Bowman Room on the fourth floor of the Jamerson Athletic Center, the Hall of Fame is currently in the process of being redesigned. Under Tech Hall of Fame guidelines, persons are not eligible for induction until they have been out of school for a period of 10 years.
As the director of athletics at Virginia Tech from Jan. 1, 1988 to June 30, 1997, Dave Braine was instrumental in bringing the athletics program to national prominence, while restructuring the department, improving finances and facilities, instituting programs for the student-athletes and improving the Olympic sports.
When Braine assumed his duties at Tech, he inherited a program that was mired in controversy. He immediately set to work creating an atmosphere that put the concerns of the student-athletes first and emphasized the quality of student life.
Tech’s successes under Braine came in both the classroom and on the playing field. He established the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll in 1988, paying tribute to Tech student-athletes who posted QCA’s of 3.0 or better. Tech’s graduation rate for student-athletes grew to 70 percent when the national average was just 58 percent. He also introduced a comprehensive action plan to combat the off-the-field troubles of student-athletes. That plan is now a university policy for student-athlete conduct.
Braine was instrumental in getting the Hokies into the BIG EAST Football Conference in 1992, which eventually proved to be a steppingstone to national prominence and full membership in the league. He also gained membership to the Atlantic 10 Conference for other sports. During Braine’s last five years, the Tech men’s teams won five consecutive all-sports trophies, three in the Metro Conference and two in the A-10. The men’s and women’s sports combined for nine team titles his final year.
Braine brought about the addition of three new women’s sports – soccer (1993), lacrosse (1995) and softball (1996). His biggest decision, however, came in 1992 when he stood up for football coach Frank Beamer, who was under fire after a 2-8-1 season. At Braine’s urging, Tech kept Beamer, and a year later, the Hokies went 9-3 and won the Independence Bowl, starting their current 19-year string of bowl appearances.
Braine, who went on to spend nearly nine years as the AD at Georgia Tech, is now retired and living in Blacksburg.
Whether he was on the football field, a Mondo track or in the classroom, André Davis was hard to keep up with while he was at Virginia Tech.
The speedy receiver from Niskayuna, N.Y., caught 103 passes for 1,986 yards and 18 touchdowns during his four seasons (1998-01) with the Hokies. In 1999, Davis set the school season record for receiving yards with 962, helping Tech to the national championship game. He holds the school season record for yards per catch at 27.5 set in ‘99 and is tied for the season mark in TD catches with nine during that same season.
Davis also ranks second all-time in punt return yards at Tech and holds marks for the best return average for a season (22.0) and a career (15.9). He was named first-team All-America as a return man in 2000 when he finished second nationally in punt returns.
As a trackman, Davis still holds four Tech career marks in the sprints. During his freshman year in 1998, he practiced for just a week before winning the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championships. He defended both titles in 1999 and 2000 and also won four indoor championships during those years.
Davis was a four-time pick on the BIG EAST All-Academic football team and earned first-team Academic All-America honors in 2000. As a senior, he was the recipient of the NCAA Top VIII Award for athletics, academic achievement, character and leadership and was chosen to speak on behalf of the group at its awards banquet in New York. Davis also earned an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship from the National Football Foundation and won the Socrates Award presented annually to the college athlete who best exemplifies excellence in athletics and academics.
A second-round pick of the Cleveland Browns in the 2002 NFL Draft, Davis played nine seasons in the league and became one of the NFL’s top kickoff return men. He and his family currently live in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Sharon McCloskey has come a long way from her undergraduate days at Virginia Tech (1975-79) when she was a member of the grounds crew, helping re-sod the turf at Lane Stadium and serving as a manager for the women’s basketball team.
McCloskey joined the athletics department full-time in 1984 as the football office receptionist and recruiting secretary, a position she held until 1988 when she became Tech’s senior woman administrator, a position she still holds. That year, McCloskey also became the first woman in college athletics to hold the position of recruiting coordinator at the Division I level.
As recruiting coordinator, a position she held until 1992, McCloskey proved to be one of the most innovative people in the field. She completely reorganized the schedules for official recruiting visits at the time by making academics the focal point of the visit. All aspects of university life were included in the visits for the prospective student-athletes. She also arranged for the prospects to meet with professors, department heads and key figures during their trip to campus.
Athletic Director Dave Braine named McCloskey an assistant director of athletics in 1992 and promoted her to her current title of senior associate athletics director in 1995. Two years later, she served as the Hokies’ interim athletics director when Braine resigned to accept the AD position at Georgia Tech.
One of McCloskey’s major assignments as associate AD was to serve as the liaison between the athletics department and the university admissions office. The Falls Church, Va., native also was in charge of student housing for athletics and is still one of the few women to have been an advance person for away football games. She also has played a key role in facilitating and insuring the department’s compliance with Title IX requirements since 1993.
Entering her 29th year at Virginia Tech, McCloskey is currently the department administrator for the football and women’s basketball programs, oversees the areas of strength and conditioning, sports medicine and the equipment room and serves as Tech’s liaison for NCAA certification.
Hard work and dedication were Mike Sergent’s trademarks during his four seasons as a weight man on the Hokies’ track and field teams from 1988-92. During that time, the native of Nokesville, Va., established himself as one of the country’s best performers in the hammer throw and the 35-pound weight throw.
In 1990, Sergent was ranked by USATF among the top 15 in the 35-weight throw. He was also ranked by Track and Field News three consecutive years. At the 1990 Metro Conference Outdoor Championships, Sergent finished second in both the hammer throw and discus, while placing sixth in the shot put. Earlier that year, he set a school mark (at the time) in the weight throw with a heave of 63’1 ¾” and qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships. He was unable to compete in the event because of a lower back injury.
During his senior season, Sergent had the school’s top throw in the hammer at 210’1”. He also hurled the discus 175’5” that season, a throw that still ranks as the fourth-best in school history. Sergent won Metro titles in both the hammer and the discus in ’92. He went on to earn All-America honors when he finished seventh nationally at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and was an Olympic Trials qualifier.
A four-year All-Metro pick in the weights, Sergent received a degree in exercise physiology from Tech in 1992. He served as a graduate assistant with the Hokies for two seasons, while completing a master’s in sports management. He was elevated to a full-time assistant in 1995, a position he held for three seasons.
During his five seasons as an assistant for the Hokies, Sergent was a part of one Metro and four Atlantic 10 Conference championship teams. In 1998, he joined the staff at the University of South Carolina as the assistant coach in charge of throws. During his 14 seasons with the Gamecocks, Sergent has coached 21 All-Americans, 25 NCAA qualifiers, 14 SEC champions and five NCAA champions.
Amy Wetzel’s memorable basketball career with the Hokies started on a forgettable note when a stress fracture to her foot sidelined her only six games into her freshman season just as she had moved into the starting lineup. After receiving a medical hardship waiver, however, she came back as one of Tech’s strongest and most consistent players.
During the 1997-98 season, Wetzel started 27 games, averaging 10.6 points and coming up big in clutch situations down the stretch. She sank a Tech record 16 free throws on the way to a 28-point performance during an NCAA Tournament win against Wisconsin. A year later, Wetzel started 29 of 30 games, averaging career-bests of 14.4 points and 5.6 rebounds a game as Tech went 28-3 and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. She was also second on the team in both assists and steals that season.
As a junior Wetzel was named the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year after starting all 31 games on a squad that finished 20-11 and advanced to the second round of the WNIT. She led the team in assists, steals and minutes played and was third in scoring. In 2000-01, Tech’s first season in the BIG EAST, Wetzel’s running 10-footer off the glass with 3.7 seconds remaining gave the Hokies a win over 17th-ranked Virginia during a senior season that produced 22 wins and a third trip to the NCAA Tourney in four years. Once again, Wetzel started every game and topped the squad in minutes played, assists and steals.
Wetzel, who came to Tech from Ashland, Pa., finished her Tech career fifth all-time in scoring (1,444 points), first in games played (129) and free throws made (489), second in steals (235) and third in assists (399). She currently ranks sixth in career scoring, while still holding the same spot in the other four categories.
A two-time GTE District III Academic All-America pick, Wetzel earned an undergraduate degree in biology and a master’s in health promotion & education from Tech before graduating from the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2007. She went on to complete her residency in Family Medicine and pursued a fellowship in Sports Medicine.
Dr. Amy Wetzel Doolan is currently a board certified family physician and is practicing primary care/sports medicine at Academic Primary Care Associates in Blacksburg. She is also one of Tech's team physicians and is currently the head team physician for women's basketball. Her husband, Keith, is an athletic trainer with the Hokies’ football team.
Enshrined earlier in the Tech Hall of Fame were: Carroll Dale, Chris Smith, Bob Schweickert, Allan Bristow, Leo Burke, Don Strock, John Wetzel, Dickie Beard, Glen Combs, Tom Beasley, Brandon Glover, Mike Widger, George Foussekis, Leland Melear, Jerry Gaines, Ken Whitley, Bill Grossman, Jack Burrows, Mac Banks, Franklin Stubbs, Keith Neff, Howard Pardue, Lucy Hawk Banks, Roy Beskin, Jack Prater, Dale Solomon, Ginny Lessmann Stonick, Neff McClary, Mike Johnson, Linda King Steel, Tony Paige, Bruce Smith, Dell Curry, Connie Sellers, Dick Arnold, Frank Beamer, Renee Dennis, Cyrus Lawrence, Rick Razzano, Jim Stewart, Sterling Wingo, Robert Brown, Don Divers, Loyd King, Kenny Lewis, Ken Barefoot, Bob Phillips, Steve Taylor, Ted Ware, Mike Burnop, Bimbo Coles, Ken Edwards, Ki Luczak, Lori McKee Taylor, Amy Byrne Feathers, George Canale, Don Oakes, Ricky Scales, Sherman VanDevender, Gene Breen, Mickey Fitzgerald, Bob Grossmann, Chuck Hartman, Judy Williams, Ron Davidson, Anne Jones Thompson, Wayne Robinson, Dennis Scott, Lisa Pikalek Karlisch, Jim Pyne, Mike Williams, Robin Lee, Mark Stickley, Terry Strock, Armand Taylor, Ray Crittenden, Antonio Freeman, Marcus Kramer, Charles Moir, Christi Osborne Vest, Cornell Brown, Ace Custis, Oliver Mayo, Trey McCoy, Jenny Root Price, Jim Beard, Eugene Chung, Eric McClellan, Kathleen Ollendick, Dr. James I Robertson, Jr., Maurice DeShazo, Aaron Marchetti, Brian Sharp, Lisa Witherspoon Hansen, Corey Moore, Gene Bunn, Michelle Meadows, Laurie Shiflet Hackbirth; Brad Clontz, Josh Feldman, Shayne Graham, John Moody, Phil Rogers, Tere Williams and the following persons who are deceased: C.P. (Sally) Miles, Frank Moseley, Frank Loria, Hunter Carpenter, Frank Peake, Herbert McEver, Greene (Red) Laird, Paul Dear, Monk Younger, Henry (Puss) Redd, Mel Henry, George Parrish, Hank Crisp, Ed Motley, Sonny Utz, Wilson Bell, Herb Thomas, Bob Ayersman, Bill Buchanan, Dick Esleeck, Al Casey, Joe Moran, William Grinus, Jr., Earl (Bus) Hall, H.V. (Byrd) Hooper, James Franklin Powell, Bucky Keller, Milton Andes, Richard Bullock, Waddey Harvey, Frank Teske, George Smith, Eddie Ferrell, Jerry Claiborne, Dick Redding, Johnny Oates, Bobby Smith, George Preas, Louis Ripley, Wendy Weisend, Madison Nutter, Berkeley Cundiff, Bill Matthews, Margaret Soulen Gilbert, Harry Bushkar, Howie Wright, Gene Crane, Chuck Noe, Stuart Johnson, Duke Thorpe, Bob Wingfield, Billy Hardee, Lewis Mills and Tim Collins.