Four individuals and one team have been selected to the
Muhlenberg College Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2024.
Selected to take their place among the College's greats are
(left to right above) Spencer Liddic '12, Steve Nemes,
Ruth Gibbs,
Rob Lokerson '95 and the
1989 softball team.
They are scheduled to be inducted into the Hall of Fame on
Friday, April 5, 2024, along with
Alexandra Chili '12, a member of the
Hall of Fame Class of 2023.
Liddic was a four-time All-Centennial Conference forward in basketball and is one of only two players in program history to earn first-team All-CC honors three straight years. He finished his career with 1,707 points, good for third on the Mules' all-time list, and 1,015 rebounds, the most in Centennial Conference history. Also a two-time Academic All-American, Liddic averaged 16.3 points per game in his career and is tied for eighth in program history with 111 blocked shots. He helped Muhlenberg to a 60-46 record in his four years, including a trip to the 2012 CC championship game.
Nemes was Muhlenberg's head athletic trainer for 39 years, from 1982 until his retirement at the end of 2020. When he arrived in 1982, he was the only full-time trainer for a 14-sport varsity program, and he oversaw the transition to a team of five certified athletic trainers who covered the Mules' 22 varsity sports at games and practices in the traditional and non-traditional seasons. Universally loved and respected, Nemes was selected to the Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers' Society Hall of Fame in 2010 and received the Eastern Athletic Trainers' Association Presidential Award in 2017 for his unselfish and dedicated efforts to advance the EATA and the athletic training profession.
Gibbs is the winningest coach in Muhlenberg softball history, with 205 wins from 1997 to 2008. She coached the Mules to Centennial Conference championships and NCAA Tournament berths in 2000, 2001 and 2003. Taking over a program that had won 13 games in each of the three seasons prior to her arrival, she turned the Mules into a championship contender, winning 24 games and earning an ECAC Tournament bid in 1999, her third season. The 2001 squad won 25 games, one short of the school record at the time, and won two games at the NCAA Tournament. Gibbs also enhanced the Muhlenberg softball program's profile by upgrading the schedule to include games against nationally ranked opponents at prestigious tournaments.
Lokerson was a four-year starter at wide receiver and earned first-team All-America honors in 1993, when he won Division III statistical championship for receiving yards per game (141.7). A two-time All-Centennial Conference selection, he set school records (since broken) for career receptions (169) and receiving yards (2,678) and receptions in a season (76). Lokerson also set school records that still stand for receptions in a game (15) and receiving yards in a game (235) and season (1,275).
The 1989 softball team finished with a record of 25-6 and won the program's first Middle Atlantic Conference championship. The first Muhlenberg women's team to win a MAC title, the squad also became the first Muhlenberg team to earn bid to NCAA Division III Tournament, going 2-2 at the Central Regional at Allegheny. The Mules achieved a national ranking of No. 3 during the regular season and set a school record (still standing) with an .806 winning percentage. Six of team's 12 players are Athletic Hall of Fame members.
