Atlantic 10 Release Newport News, Va. (January 15, 2015) - Eleven All-Americans and 10 professional players are among the Atlantic 10 Conference's 28-member Legends Class of 2015, the league announced today. Among the group are Fordham's Charlie Yelverton, an All-American with the men's team, and Mary Hayes-Haas, the school's all-time assists leader.
"The Atlantic 10 is pleased to honor the 2015 Legends class and congratulate them on their accomplishments," stated A-10 Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade. "Their contributions to the basketball legacy at their institutions helped lay the groundwork for establishing the Atlantic 10 as a premier basketball league. I congratulate each of them on their distinguished careers that have led to this great accolade."
The Women's Basketball Legends will be saluted with a breakfast on Friday, March 6 prior to the 2014 A-10 Women's Basketball Championship quarterfinals. The event will take place at the Richmond Marriott beginning at 9:00 a.m.
Charlie YelvertonThe Men's Basketball Legends will be honored on March 14 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. prior to the 2015 Men's Basketball Championship semifinals. The celebration awards brunch will be in the 40/40 Club, beginning at 11:00 a.m. prior to the A-10 men's semifinal games.
The Legends program was established in 2013 to recognize men's and women's basketball student-athletes and coaches who have made a lasting impact on their respective basketball programs and institutions. This year marks the third class the Atlantic 10 has inducted. Each year, A-10 member institutions selected their two Legends. Previous honorees have included Basketball Hall of Fame members, national champions, Olympians, and professional players.
The 2015 Men's Legends class boasts 12 former student-athletes and two coaches. Eight of the players went on to play professionally in either the NBA or ABA. The group also includes eight All-Americans, one National Newcomer of the Year and one Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member (Frank Keany, Rhode Island). In addition, eight of the men's legends are also in their respective institutional athletics Hall of Fame.
Yelverton, a native of Manhattan, was a member of the Fordham University men's basketball squad from 1968-71, leading the 1970-71 team to the NCAA Tournament and a number nine national ranking. That Fordham team went 26-3 on the year under the guidance of head coach Digger Phelps, defeating Furman in the first round of the NCAAs before falling to Villanova in the next round. The Rams did go on to defeat South Carolina in a consolation game following the Villanova loss. Yelverton garnered a slew of awards in 1970-71, highlighted by being named an All-American and winning the 1971 Haggerty Award as the top player in the Metropolitan area. He led the team in scoring, averaging 23.3 ppg, and rebounding, averaging 12.0 rpg, while scoring a school record 46 points, connecting on 20 field goals, against Rochester, both school records that still stands today. Over his career, Yelverton scored 1,372 points, good for 12th place on the Fordham all-time scoring list, and he grabbed 690 career rebounds, placing him 12th on the school's all-time rebounding list.
The 676 points he scored as a senior in 1970-71 is the second best single season total in Fordham history. Following his Fordham career, Yelverton was taken with the 25th pick in the NBA draft by the Portland Trailblazer and he played the 1971-72 season in Portland. He then took his talents to Europe, playing for Ignis Varese in Italy, leading them to the 1975 Euroleague title. He also appeared in two other Euroleague finals, in 1978 and 1979, and won the Italian league championship in 1978 with Varese and the 1980 Swiss league title with Lugano. Yelverton was inducted into the Fordham Athletic Hall of Fame in 1979 and he was among 105 nominees to the 50 Greatest Euroleague Contributors in 2008. He was also inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. One of eight inductees in the 23rd class of the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame, Yelverton was joined in being honored by Ricky Sobers, a Bronx native and 11-year NBA veteran; Ray Felix, a former No. 1 overall NBA draft pick out of LIU; former Knick and seven-year NBA veteran Connie Simmons; Don "Red" Goldstein, a Brooklyn native and former All-American at Louisville; Charles Granby, the first PSAL coach to reach 700 wins, and longtime NBA referee Dick Bavetta.
Mary Hayes-HaasMary Hayes-Haas, a 1979 graduate of Fordham University, was a four-year mainstay with the women's basketball program, leading the Rams to three straight AIAW New York State and Eastern Regional Tournaments as well as the 1978 AIAW Small College National Championship Tournament. As a junior in 1977-78, Hayes-Haas was the point guard on the Fordham squad that swept its way through the AIAW State and Regional Tournaments and into the Small College Championship where The Rams came up just short of Pepperdine in the semifinals, 65-63. Hayes-Haas holds several Fordham women's basketball records, including most assists in a game (17), most assists in a season (305 in 1977-78) and most career assists (745) as well as most steals in a season (100 in 1977-78). As a freshman, she led her team in scoring with a 14.5 mark. A team captain as a junior and senior, Hayes-Haas help those teams to a combined 52-15 record those two seasons. In 1998, Hayes-Haas became the second female inducted into the Fordham University Athletic Hall of Fame.
Fordham's previous Atlantic 10 Legends honorees include John Bach and Anne Gregory (2013) and Ed Conlin and Jeanine "JJ" Radice (2014).
