Giants in their sports, visionaries, fearless life leaders, and record and precedent setters epitomize the San Jose State University Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2020.
Five one-time Spartan student-athletes, one coach, and one team will be enshrined in an October 1, 2021 ceremony delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They represent diverse backgrounds from multiple sports and provide a snapshot of the broad-based San Jose State University Athletics program.
Two-sports star and world renowned sports sociologist Dr. Harry Edwards (1962-64); sprint freestyle swimmer Laura Fritz (1973-75); two-time first-team All-America cornerback Dwight Lowery (2006-07); wrestling coach Hugh Mumby (1955-69, 1971); administrator, coach and soccer player John Poch (1983); gymnast Thomasina Wallace (2009-12); and the 2000 baseball team that played in the College World Series form the San Jose State University Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2020.
The 2020 San Jose State University Sports Hall of Fame inductees (listed alphabetically)
Dr. Harry Edwards, track and field (1961, 1962), basketball (1962-64)
World-renowned sports sociologist Dr. Harry Edwards was a two-sport San Jose State student-athlete. He was the school record holder in the discus throw for six years and a three-year starter and 1964 team captain for the Spartan basketball team.
The 1964 San José State graduate earned his master's and doctoral degrees from Cornell University. His unparalleled professional career of activism is centered on sport, race and society. He is acknowledged as the pioneering scholar in the founding of the sociology of sport as an academic discipline.
Dr. Edwards founded the Olympic Project for Human Rights in 1967. An iconic moment that remains in the forefront of many is the action on the 1968 Olympic Games victory stand by San Jose State's Tommie Smith and John Carlos following Smith's gold medal, world-record setting 200 meter dash performance in Mexico City, Mexico.
For 30 years, Dr. Edwards taught classes in introductory sociology, "The Family and Race Relations," and "Sociology of Sport" at the University of California, Berkeley.
In 1985, Dr. Edwards was named a staff consultant to the San Francisco 49ers, a position he still holds today. Dr. Edwards and Pro Football Hall of Fame Coach and San Jose State Sports Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh established the league's first drug counseling program, first financial classes for players, first college degree completion program and the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship.
In 2016, San Jose State University awarded Dr. Edwards an honorary doctorate. That same year, he launched the Institute for the Study of Sport, Society & Social Change at San Jose State University dedicated to research analysis and education focused on developments at the intersection of sport and society.
He also is a member of the City of San Jose's and the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America Halls of Fame.
Laura Fritz, women's swimming and diving, sprint freestyle (1973-75)
Laura Fritz was one of the top female sprint freestyle swimmers in the United States covering the late 1960's and into the 1970's. She swam for San Jose State during the 1973 through 1975 seasons.
As a Spartan, she was a 1973 AIAW honorable mention All-American in the 50 freestyle. The 1975 team captain was the school record holder in the 50 free and was part of the San Jose State records in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. Overall, in her college career that started at Santa Clara University in 1970, Fritz earned 11 AIAW All-America awards.
She competed in the 1968 and 1972 U.S. Olympic Trials in the 100 and 200 free. Fritz won a gold medal at the 1970 World University Games in Turin, Italy, in the 4x100 freestyle relay and finished third in the 100 free.
Presently, Fritz is the Senior Vice-President of the Eisenhower Medical Center Foundation in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Her fund-raising career also includes serving as the vice-president and executive director of the Community College of Southern Nevada Foundation, vice-president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Las Vegas Foundation, and the vice-president & campaign consultant for St. Rose Dominican Hospitals of Southern Nevada.
Dwight Lowery, football, defensive back (2006-07)
Dwight Lowery is the first and only San Jose State University football player to earn first-team All-America honors in multiple seasons. The cornerback from Santa Cruz, Calif., played for the Spartans and coach Dick Tomey in the 2006 and 2007 seasons.
Lowery made an immediate impact for San Jose State helping the Spartans to a 9-4 win-loss record in 2006, the program's first winning season since 2000, and a win in the inaugural New Mexico, the first time in a post-season bowl game since 1990.
In 2006, Lowery set the school single-season record with nine interceptions, tied the single-game record of three interceptions in one game, and finished the season ranked second nationally in pass interceptions per game.
As a senior, he had punt return duties to his repertoire and broke the San Jose State single-season record for punt return average with his 14.4 figure. Lowery completed his two-year Spartan career with 13 interceptions, tied for fifth best in school history.
The fourth round of the 2008 draft by the New York Jets played nine National Football League seasons with five different teams through the 2016 season. He is the football head coach at Soquel High School, his alma mater. Now in his fourth season, his first two teams compiled a combined 15-6 win-loss record and a 2019 Central Coast Section Division IV playoff appearance.
Hugh Mumby (1926-2021), wrestling coach (1953-69, 1971)
Hugh Mumby achieved multiple "firsts" in his San Jose State University coaching career. Taking over the Spartan program in 1953 from his dad, Ted Mumby, Hugh's 17 seasons remains the longest tenure for a San Jose State wrestling coach. He was the first wrestling coach to lead the Spartans to 100 dual match victories and finished with a 130-69-6 win-loss head coaching record and five conference championships. The Spartans notched their first 10-win season in 1967 in school history finishing with a 10-4 win-loss record with Mumby as the coach.
Mumby took San Jose State to the 1955, 1958, and 1961 NCAA Wrestling Championships. His top Spartan wrestlers included Amateur Athletic Union champions Dick Francis and Russ Camilleri, who would go on to compete in freestyle for the United States in the 1960 Rome and 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.
In 2017, Mumby was inducted into the California chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
John Poch, men's soccer (1983), assistant soccer coach (1995-2000), administrator (1999-2000, 2009-17)
John Poch's brief career with the San Jose State men's soccer team preceded returns to his alma mater as a successful assistant coach, NCAA Women's College Cup Tournament Director, and deputy director of athletics for external operations.
Sandwiched around his San Jose State administrative successes, he was the executive director of the After-School All-Stars of Greater San José – a program over an eight-year span that grew to service more than 3,000 elementary and middle school students annually. Since 2017, he serves as the executive director of the San Jose Sports Authority, charged with attracting national-caliber sporting events to San Jose.
Poch's penchant for San Jose State-related success is rooted as one of the first two women's soccer assistant coaches when the program launched in 1995. In its first five seasons, the Spartans had a 53-44-3 overall win-loss record.
But, his role as tournament director of the 1999 and 2000 NCAA Women's College Cup hosted by San Jose State brought his leadership skills to the forefront. The 1999 Women's College Cup attracted more than 28,000 spectators and still remains the attendance record for the three-match, three-day, four-team tournament. The championship match drew 14,410 remains the top attendance for a single college women's soccer contest.
John returned to San Jose State in 2009 as the deputy director of athletics for external operations. For the next eight years, he was instrumental in the Spartans' transition to the Mountain West and the creation of the South Campus Facility Masterplan. Under his guidance, the Spartan Foundation annual fund exceeded seven-figures eight consecutive years.
Since taking over as the San Jose Sports Authority's executive director, the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, College Football Playoff National Championship, USA Fencing and USA Water Polo Junior Olympics, NCAA Women's College Cup and men's college basketball's March Madness and the NHL (National Hockey League) All-Star Game are among the high-profile sports events taking place in San Jose.
Thomasina Wallace, women's gymnastics (2009-12)
Thomasina Wallace was one of the most charismatic, consistent, dynamic and powerful gymnasts in San Jose State history. She was a two-time conference champion, the 2012 West Region Gymnast of the Year as a senior, and still is the school record holder in the all-around. She earned first-team All-Western Athletic Conference honors seven times and second-team All-WAC recognition on three occasions. Her 19 best scores in San Jose State's top-12 lists in the all-around, vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise are more than any other Spartan gymnast. In the all-around alone, Wallace has eight of the top-12 scores topped by her 39.575 out of 40.000 her senior year. At the 2009 NCAA Championships, she finished 46th.
Wallace personified the student-athlete ideal. She was a four-time Academic All-WAC award winner. After graduating from San Jose State as a kinesiology major, she earned a master's degree in sports and performance psychology from California Baptist University in 2019 and is enrolled in the clinical psychology doctoral program at Azusa Pacific University. She remains involved in her sport coaching club gymnastics in Arcadia, Calif.
2000 Baseball Team
The 2000 San Jose State University baseball team became the first in school history to play in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. The Spartans finished the regular season tied with Rice University for the Western Athletic Conference championship and received the university's first NCAA Baseball Tournament invitation since 1971.
As a #3-seed, San Jose State won the four-team Waco, Texas Regional the first weekend of post-season play. The next weekend, the Spartans defeated the University of Houston in the Houston, Texas Super Regional in a two-of-out-three series to advance to the College World Series. Since 2000 and in the last 20 seasons, only 11 out of 640 #3 or #4-seeds in a post-season baseball regional won back-to-back NCAA Tournament road series for a trip to Omaha.
San Jose State finished the season with a 41-24 record after its appearance in the eight-team College World Series. The 2000 team also became the first Spartan team in the top-20 in three national polls at the end of a season finishing eighth, ninth and 18th respectively.
Sam Piraro was the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Coach of the Year. Outfielder Junior Ruiz was the WAC Player of the Year. Pitchers Chris Key and Tim Adinolfi, catcher Adam Shorsher, and infielders John Fagan and Tony Tognetti were named second-team All-WAC.
