TACOMA, Washington – The University of Puget Sound is excited to introduce the 25th installment of the Puget Sound Athletics Hall of Fame. The 2021 class includes four individual student-athletes, a coach, and a national championship team. The inductees span across six programs and four decades.
The new Hall of Fame members will be inducted during Homecoming Weekend, October 1-3. Event details to follow.
Meet the Puget Sound Hall of Fame Class of 2021
The 1988-89 Puget Sound women's swim team won the NAIA National Championship – the first of five NAIA Championship titles for the Logger program. Melissa Loun, Sharie Juckelund, Jill Rutledge, and Julie Himstreet combined for five individual national titles. Ronda Blair and Sue Bendl were also national champions in relay events. The Loggers claimed the top podium in three relay events. Additionally, there were 10 national runner-up finishers. In all, the Puget Sound team placed nine NAIA All-Americans.
Gregg Bemis '75 enters the Hall of Fame ranked in the top seven in six statistical pitching categories – including top three all-time for career wins and strikeouts. Bemis was the ace of the only Puget Sound program to win an NCAA D-I conference title. In 1975, Bemis led the Loggers to the Northern Pacific (Nor-Pac) Conference title. The Loggers qualified for the NCAA D-I Championships, where Bemis and the Loggers won its first regional game.
Men's swimmer Richmond Butler '94 enters the Hall of Fame with school records in the 200-m breaststroke and 400-m medley relay. He is a two-time NAIA National Champion, earning top times in the 200-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard medley relay. Butler claimed NAIA All-American status in all four years at Puget Sound.
Chris Raymond '03 is the all-time leading scorer for the Puget Sound men's soccer program, and he holds the career record for total points after scoring 41 goals with 21 assists. Nearly half of Raymond's goals (18) were game-winners. He was named an All-American his senior season, and he is a two-time All-West Region honoree. Raymond was the 2002 NWC Player of the Year, and he was an All-NWC First Team honoree three times in his Puget Sound career.
Ron Simonson was the head coach of the Puget Sound football program from 1978 through 1984. He compiled a 53-19-1 record, and holds the best win percentage (.733) among all head coaches in program history. He led the 1981 Loggers to a 10-1 regular-season record, qualifying Puget Sound for the NCAA D-II playoffs. In 1981, Simonson was a finalist for the AFCA (College Division) National Coach of the Year after earning the District 9 Coach of the Year. In 1983, Loggers won the Evergreen Conference championship with Simonson earning Coach of the Year honors.
Bridget Stolee '05 is a three-time NWC Champion and three-time NWC player of the year honoree. In 2002, she was named NWC Player of the Year after leading the women's soccer program to its first of 14 consecutive conference titles. Stolee was named the NWC Defensive Player of the Year in both 2003 and 2004. She is also a three-time All-American and three-time All-NWC First Team honoree. Stolee was selected to the NCAA D-III All-Tournament Team in 2004 after she helped lead the Loggers to the national title game, finishing as national runners-up. Playing from the middle back defensive position, Stolee scored 21 goals in her career, 13 of which were game-winners.
The Athletic Hall of Fame was rededicated in 1987 after a 10-year hiatus. The Hall's first inductees entered in 1966. It now numbers 113 members and three teams covering nearly 100 years of Puget Sound's 133-year history. The membership includes coaches and student-athletes involved in 16 different sports, as well as administrators and community members.
Click HERE to see all Puget Sound Hall of Fame members.
