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 Jim "Yogi" Hardin | Bob Lavoy | Lillie Mason | Harry Sadler | Wallace "Buck" Sydnor Carroll
Broderick
Carroll Broderick was a football, basketball, and track standout on Hilltopper teams of the early 1930's. He was an All-State performer for the 1931 and '32 Topper football teams. The three grid teams he lettered on (1930-32) went a combined 24-6-1, shutting out 15 of those opponents. Broderick scored 24 points in Western's 1932 season-opening win over Evansville which remains a school record for points scored today. The 24 points has been equaled four times since then, but never surpassed. The 84 points Broderick scored as a senior on the 1932 squad stood as a Hilltopper record for 35 years and remains the third highest single season scoring total in the Western record book. He also led the Toppers in scoring as a junior on the '31 team. Broderick played on three Hilltopper basketball teams which won 42 of 59 games and captured the first two of Western's 13 Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC) championships. Overall, he earned eleven athletic letters - four each in football and track and three in basketball. The Taylorsville, Kentucky prepster
died in 1991 at the age of 80.
David Carter ranks as one of the top linemen to play for the Hilltoppers playing a key role for Western's success on the gridiron during the mid 1970s. The 1974 All-Ohio Valley Conference center was the first college center taken in the National Football League 1977 draft and played on Topper teams that reached the NCAA Division II national championship games in 1973 and 1975. Carter's four Hilltopper squads posted a collective 34-11-1 mark, highlighted by a 12-1-0 mark in 1973 and an 11-2-0 slate in 1975. Both teams captured Ohio Valley Conference championships. The Vincennes Indiana native was named to the All-Time OVC Football Team in 1988 and was selected Western's Athlete-of-the-Year following his senior season in 1976. Carter spent nine seasons in
the NFL's professional ranks, seven with the Houston Oilers and
two with the New Orleans Saints. He currently resides in the
Houston area.
Steve Crocker remains one of the most dominant athletes to ever don Western colors. Crocker lettered four years for the Hilltopper swim team, winning All-America honors at the 1985 NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas. The Franklin, Kentucky product set a world record in the 50-meter freestyle in 1992, covering the course in 21.64 seconds, a mark which stands as an American record in the event. Over his career, he has claimed titles at the U.S. National Championships (1989 & '91), was a World Cup champ in 1989, was the 1984 and 1985 Midwest Championships Swimmer of the Year and honored as Western's Athlete-of-the-Year following his senior season in 1985. Crocker captained the Hilltopper's 1985 swim squad; and he competed on four Western squads which won 27 of 34 dual matches and four straight team championships in the Midwest Intercollegiate Championships. He individually won or participated
in 19 winning events during his college career and remains the
WKU school record-holder in the 50 and 100 freestyle events as
well as the 100 butterfly. His collegiate record in the 50-yard
freestyle was 32-1, with his only loss coming in the NCAA finals
his senior season.
Turner Elrod spent four years (1927-31) at Western as an outstanding student-athlete and after 18 years in the high school coaching ranks, returned to the Hill in 1948 to begin a 19-year stint on the Hilltopper coaching staff. Elrod served 14 years as Western's head track coach and spent 19 years as an assistant on Western's football staff. The Bowling Green native earned three letters each in basketball, football and baseball while a student at Western and also competed in track. He was an All-State performer on the gridiron as a halfback for the 1928 squad and captained the 1930-31 Hilltopper basketball team. He captained his senior Western team to an 11-3 record. The 19 Hilltopper football teams
Elrod helped coach won 107 games against 72 losses and nine ties.
Elrod gave up his track coaching duties in 1962 before retiring
in in 1967. He died in 1970 at the age of 62.
Jim "Yogi" Hardin spent four years heading up a tough-nosed Western football defense while earning All-America honors as a lineman in 1957 and '58. At only 190 pounds, Hardin was one of Western's truly outstanding defensive nose guards and also played on the offensive side of the ball as a guard. The three-time (1956-57-58) All-Ohio Valley Conference performer was a four-year letter winner and captained the 1958 Topper squad as a senior. A West Virginia native who prepped at Portsmouth, Virginia, Hardin spent his post-collegiate days in the U.S. Marines and with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Hardin died in 1995 at the age
of 58.
Bob Lavoy earned All-American honors as a Hilltopper basketball athlete in 1949 and '50. Lavoy played for three Topper squads which compiled a 78-12 record and captured a Kentucky Intercollegiate Conference title as well as a pair of Ohio Valley Conference championships in that leagues' first two years of existence. The three teams Lavoy played on competed in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) in Madison Square Garden and when he left the Hill, Lavoy owned five school records and was just the second roundball player at the time to score 1,000 points. He ranks 29th among Hilltopper all-time career scoring leaders today and his 671 single-season points for the 1949-50 squad is the sixth highest single season total in the WKU record books. He was a member of the first two All-OVC squads and played professionally with the Indianapolis Olympians, the Milwaukee Hawks and the Syracuse Nationals. He served as head basketball coach at the University of Tampa for eight seasons and is also a member of the Illinois Athletic Hall of Fame and the Aurora (Ill.) East High School Hall of Fame. He is retired and currently lives
in Tampa, Fl.
Lillie Mason (Stockton) is the all-time basketball scoring leader for Western, amassing 2,262 career points in her four years as a Lady Topper. The three-time All-America player set 19 WKU women's basketball career, season and game records that remain standing today. In addition to career scoring, they include: career scoring average (18.1 ppg), games started (121), career field goal percentage (.558), career rebounds (1,012), career blocked shots (243), single-season scoring (721 points), single-season rebounds (314), and single-season blocked shots (81). Mason is Western's only Kodak All-American, was twice named All-Sun Belt Conference performer, was the league's player-of-the-year in 1986 and was named to three All-SBC tournament squads. She also was the NCAA 1985 Mideast and 1986 East Regional tournament MVP and helped lead the Lady Toppers to its first two NCAA Final Four appearances in 1985 and 1986. The former Kentucky "Miss Basketball" and Olmstead High School graduate is perhaps most remembered for her winning shot against then top-ranked Texas in the semifinals of the 1985 Mideast Regional hosted by Western. She is currently an assistant
coach with the Lady Topper basketball team.
Harry Saddler was one of the first great basketball scorers for the Hilltoppers, lettering for three years in both basketball and track. Sadler was the first three-year starter to ever play on three consecutive Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) championship teams and was also a three time All-KIAC and All-SIAA selection. Ranking among the state's top scorers in his sophomore and junior seasons, Saddler led the state in scoring as a senior, averaging 15.9 points per game in 17 contests. He also set a state single game scoring record when he poured through 38 points in a 66-29 victory over Middle Tennessee in 1939.That still ranks as one of the top 30 individual scoring performances by a Hilltopper cager. Saddler was a member of the first NCAA team to win 30 games (1937-38) and his three Western squads combined for 73 wins against only 8 losses. The Summer Shade, Kentucky product
followed his college career by teaching and serving in World
War II. He died at the age of 79 in 1995.
Wallace "Buck" Sydnor was part of some of the best Hilltopper basketball teams ever, as a player and as a coach. The player who epitomized the term "hustle," lettered three times as a guard in the early 1940's, helping those teams claim 75 wins in 87 games. Those squads also captured a pair of championships (Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association). Sydnor was a key in the Toppers march to the championship game of the 1942 National Invitation Tournament. He played a year of professional basketball before launching a coaching career in the high school ranks and then returned to Western as a coach in 1964 under John Oldham. He spent seven years as an assistant coach on Hilltopper teams which posted a 146-41 mark and won four Ohio Valley Conference championships. Sydnor came to Western from Olmstead High School in Logan County, Kentucky and also assisted former Hilltopper baseball coach Jim Pickens for six seasons (1972-77). He currently resides in Bowling Green. [ 1995 Inductees ] [ 1994 Inductees ] [ 1993 Inductees ] [ 1992 Inductees ] [ 1991 Inductees ] [ HOF Home ] [ Traditions Home ] [ WKU Home ] |
