Weber State University Athletics
Six to Be Inducted in WSU Athletics Hall of Fame
7/20/2011 8:22:00 PM | Athletics
OGDEN, Utah - Five former athletes and one former coach will be the class of 2011 inductees to the Weber State University Athletics Hall of Fame.
This year's Hall of Fame inductees are: Ron Abegglen (men's basketball head coach), Joel Atwater (men's track and field/cross country), Tim Jones (football), Wat Misaka (men's basketball), Jeremy Tolman (men's track and field/cross country), and Carito Villaroman (men's golf).
The former Wildcat standouts will be honored at the Wildcat Club Hall of Fame Banquet on Oct. 21 and at WSU's home football game against Southern Utah on Oct. 22. For more information about Hall of Fame weekend contact the WSU Wildcat Club.
RON ABEGGLEN
In a coaching career which took him from Morgan, to Ephraim, to Anchorage, to Ogden and to London, one thing was a constant for Ron Abegglen: winning. In nearly 40 years as a head coach he never had a losing season.
He was the coach for two of Weber State's most important victories in school history and won three Big Sky titles for the Wildcats.
A native of Vernal, Utah, Abegglen graduated from Uintah High School, before going on to a four-year career at Brigham Young University. His first coaching job came at Morgan High School where he spent 13 seasons as head coach. His final season at Morgan the team finished a perfect 26-0 and won the state 2A title.
For the next ten years Abegglen stepped up to the junior college ranks when he became the head coach at Snow Junior College in Ephraim, Utah. He then left the state of Utah and accepted a job as an assistant coach at Alaska-Anchorage University. After two years as an assistant coach he became the head coach in 1986.
In April 1991 he returned to Utah to become the seventh head coach of the Weber State men's basketball team. In 1993-94 Abegglen led the Wildcats to the Big Sky regular season title, their first in ten years and posted a second straight 20-win season. He was also honored as the Big Sky Coach of the Year.
The 1994-95 season will go down as a highlight year for Weber State. Abegglen led the Wildcats to a repeat as conference champions and the team won the conference post-season tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 12 years. The Wildcats pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the tournament defeating third-seeded Michigan State 79-72. It was the first victory by a Big Sky team in the NCAA Tournament in 13 years. In the second round the Wildcats lost a heartbreaker 53-51 to Georgetown on a last second tip-in.
In 1995-96, with just one starter returning, Abegglen again led the Wildcats to a strong season, posting a 20-10 record and advancing to the finals of the Big Sky Tournament.
His final season with the Wildcats, 1998-99, turned out to be another historic year for Weber State. With a new group of players, led by Big Sky MVP Harold Areceneaux and Eddie Gill, the Wildcats once again took hold of the Big Sky posting a 25-8 record, Abegglen's best at WSU, and won the Big Sky regular season and post-season title.
The 'Cats again advanced to the NCAA Tournament and took on the storied North Carolina Tarheels. In a game that made national headlines and created a buzz for Weber State, the Wildcats knocked off North Carolina 76-74, led by 36 points from Arceneaux. That game is still mentioned as one of the top upsets in NCAA Tournament history. Two days later Abegglen led the Wildcats to the second round where they lost another heartbreaker, losing 81-74 to Florida in overtime.
All total in his eight seasons with the Wildcats, Abegglen posted a 152-83 record, the second most wins in WSU history and the eighth most in Big Sky history. He also had an 86-34 mark in conference games, giving him the fifth most wins in conference history. Abegglen was named Big Sky Coach of the Year three times and has two of three NCAA Tournament wins by Big Sky teams in the last 30 years.
After Weber State, Abegglen coached for two seasons for the London Tower of the British Basketball League, before returning to Utah and retiring from coaching.
JOEL ATWATER
Joel Atwater was a four-year standout on the Weber State men's cross country and track and field teams from 1999-2003. A native of Taylor, Utah, Atwater graduated from Fremont High School in 1998.
In his career with the Wildcats he earned All-American honors six times and was a six-time Big Sky champion. He became one of the top middle distance runners in school history. He still holds the school record in the 1500 meters at 3:39.40, which he set in 2001. That time is also the second best in Big Sky Conference history. He also ranks second in school history in the outdoor 800 meters and second in the indoor mile.
Atwater earned All-American honors in the 1500 meters in 1999, 2001, and 2003. He finished third in the NCAA Championships in the 1500 meters in 2003, was sixth in 2001, and ninth in 1999. He competed at the NCAA's in the 3,000 meter steeplechase in 2001, where he finished 18th overall.
He was also a three-time All-American in the indoor mile where his best finish was fifth in 2001.
Atwater was a four-time Big Sky champion in the 1500 meters, winning in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2003. He also won the 800 meters in 2003 and the steeplechase in 2001. He earned All-Conference honors ten times in outdoor track and four times in indoor track. He was named the Big Sky Track MVP in 2001 and 2003 and his 88 career points scored in outdoor meets, is the second most in WSU history.
Atwater and his wife Jennifer have been married 11 years and have two children, Jake age five, and Hailey, age three. He currently is doing contract work as a Test Manager for Merrill Lynch.
TIM JONES
Tim Jones was a standout quarterback for the Wildcats in the 1960's, shortly after WSU became a four-year institution and joined the Big Sky Conference. Jones earned Associated Press All-American First Team honors in 1965 and 1966 and also earned All-Big Sky First Team honors those same seasons.
In his days with the Wildcats Jones was a team leader at the quarterback position. In 1965 he led the Wildcats to an 8-1 overall record. Under head coach Sark Arslanian, the Wildcats were ranked as high as fifth in the nation that season. Also that season, Jones led the nation in total offense with over 400 yards per game.
In 1966 the 'Cats finished 6-3 overall and Jones led the Big Sky in passing and total offense. The Wildcats had an explosive offensive lineup of Lee White and Henry Owens at running back and each averaged over 100 yards rushing per game. Jones completed 58 percent of his passes and threw for almost 200 yards a game.
Following his two-year career at Weber State, Jones became just the third Wildcat ever drafted in the NFL when he was selected by the Detroit Lions in the sixth round of the 1967 NFL Draft.
Coach Arslanian stated that Jones was the best quarterback he ever coached.
WAT MISAKA
Wataru (Wat Misaka) is known as the first player of Asian descent and the first non-Caucasian to play in the NBA. But his story begins much before reaching the professional ranks.
Misaka, a Nisei Japanese American, was born in Ogden in 1923 and graduated from Ogden High in 1941. From there he went to Weber Junior College where he played for the Wildcats in 1942 and 1943. In 1942 he was named the MVP of the post-season tournament and in 1943 was named the Weber Junior College Athlete of the Year. He also led the Wildcats to the conference championship in both seasons.
After his two seasons at Weber Junior College he went onto the University of Utah where he helped lead the Utes to the NCAA Championship in 1944, along with fellow Ogden High alum Arnie Ferrin. He also was a part of the Utes NIT Championship team in 1947. Between those titles he served for two years with the U.S. Army.
From there he made history as he was selected as a first round pick by the New York Knicks in the 1947 NBA Draft.
Misaka's story has been documented in the film "Transcending: The Wat Misaka Story", released in 2008. He has also been inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame and has been honored by Knicks and the NBA.
At 5'7" he is also one of the shortest players to ever play in the NBA.
JEREMY TOLMAN
Jeremy Tolman joins his former teammate Joel Atwater as part of this year's Hall of Fame class. Tolman was another standout for the Wildcat men's cross country and track and field teams, competing from 1998-2002.
A native of Jensen, Utah and a 1995 graduate of Uintah High in Vernal, Tolman excelled as a distance runner with the Wildcats.
He earned All-American honors five times and was won 10 Big Sky Conference titles.
One of his strongest events was the indoor mile run where he is the only athlete in Big Sky history to run under a four minute mile. He posted a time of 3:59.99 in 2001, which still stands as a conference record. Tolman earned All-American honors twice in the mile run where he finished fourth in 2002 and sixth in 2001, the time he broke the four minute barrier. He also earned indoor All-American honors in the steeplechase in 2002.
He was a five-time Big Sky champion in indoor track and field where he won the mile twice (2001, 2002), the 3,000 meters twice (2001, 2002), and the 5,000 meters (2002). He was named Big Sky Track MVP in 2001 and 2002.
In outdoor track and field Tolman earned All-American honors in the 3,000 meter steeplechase two times, including finishing second overall in 2001. He won two Big Sky titles in outdoor track, winning the 1500 meters and steeplechase in 2002. He was also named Big Sky Track MVP in 2002.
In cross country he earned All-Conference honors in 2001, where he finished third overall in the conference meet.
Tolman married Kristy Kippen, a former distance runner for the WSU women's track and field teams. They are currently living in Eugene, Oregon and have four daughters, Aly, Emily, Bailey and Laney. Jeremy is an administrator at Creswell Health Center and is still running. He competes in ultra-marathons and placed fifth in the US 50K National Championships last year.
CARITO VILLAROMAN
Carito Villaroman came to Weber State in 1985 from his native Philippines. He would go on to become one of the top golfers in school history.
He was the number one golfer for the Wildcats all four years he played. He was a four-year letterwinner and earned All-Big Sky Conference honors during those years the tournament was contested.
He finished sixth in the conference tournament in 1986, finishing with a 69 in the final round, tied for the best round of the tournament. That was the only season in his career that the Big Sky sponsored men's golf.
Also his freshman season of 1986 he finished third overall in the NCAA Championships, the best finish by a Big Sky athlete at the NCAA Championships.
As a Wildcat he finished in the top ten in nearly every event he competed. Longtime WSU head golf coach Mac Madsen called Villaroman one of the top two players ever to play at Weber State.
Villarroman also had a strong junior and amateur golf career while at Weber State. In 1986 he won the Optimist Junior World Championships for the second-straight season. In route to the 1986 title at Torrey Pines in San Diego, he posted a four round score of 15-under, breaking the tournament record by seven shots. He won the tournament by 11 shots with Phil Mickelson finishing second.
Villaroman also was selected to compete in the NCAA-Japan Golf competition in Tokyo in 1986 and he represented the Philippines in the Asian Games in 1987.
A native of Quezon City, Philippines, Carito started playing golf at the age of seven, soon after his father began taking him on the nine-hole course in Ilagan. He had a great junior golf career before even coming to Weber State. In 1984 he won the Philippine National Amateur Championships
Following his standout career at Weber State he qualified for the PGA Asian Tour in 1989.