EUGENE, Ore.—It was a special night on Monday as two of the biggest names in Villanova Athletics history – Ron Delany (1955-58) and Vicki Huber (1985-89) – were among the 30 collegiate track & field legends who were formally inducted into the Collegiate Athlete Hall of Fame in a ceremony held at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts. These distinguished former student-athletes are the inaugural class of inductees into the newly-created Collegiate Athlete Hall of Fame which coincides with the 100^th edition of the outdoor NCAA Track & Field Championships in Eugene this week.
 
Monday's induction ceremony was seen live on YouTube and was hosted by ESPN's John Anderson while including video tributes of each inductee to go along with panel discussions of the honorees who were in attendance at the event. Nearly 150 years has elapsed since the first known intercollegiate competitions of running, jumping and throwing. Millions of collegians from coast to coast have proven their talents on the track, the field, and/or the grassy terrain over the past century-and-a-half, paving the way for the current generation of elite performers who will continue the tradition at Hayward Field this week.
 
"It is a little overwhelming," Huber said of the creation of the Collegiate Athlete Hall of Fame. "Just when I think I'm getting too old and people don't remember me or my whole era [of athletes], something like this happens and brings it all back which is pretty cool. It is surreal to be among the first class of inductees. I am very honored and very humbled. The quality of the people being inducted – it's hard to feel like I am deserving along with them so it is very humbling."
 
Delany was the first of the Villanova inductees to be recognized and a taped video by Delany with his acceptance of the honor played as current Wildcats men's track & field and cross country head coach Marcus O'Sullivan came to the stage to accept the award on Delany's behalf.
 
One of the early members of the Irish Pipeline of track & field student-athletes coming from Ireland to compete at Villanova during their collegiate careers, there are few names that stand out in the annals of Wildcats track & field quite like Ron Delany. It was during his collegiate career that he and teammate Charles Jenkins each won gold medals at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, with Jenkins winning gold first in the 400 meters and Delany following with a memorable gold medal performance in the 1500 meters a day later. Delany was a two-time Olympian for Ireland and returned to the Olympics in 1960 where he competed in the 800 meters in Rome.
 
Consideration for induction to the Collegiate Athlete Hall of Fame is based solely on an athlete's achievements while competing for their respective schools. Delany stands out among the best when viewing his career through the prism of his Villanova accolades. He was a four-time individual NCAA champion while competing before there was an indoor national championship. At the outdoor NCAA Championships he won the Mile in back-to-back years (1957, 1958) to go along with titles in the 1500 meters in 1956 and the 880 yards in 1958. Delany is one of four athletes in school history to win two individual events at any NCAA meet.
 
During his collegiate career Delany was a five-time All-American and a 10-time IC4A champion at a time when the IC4A meet was considering on par with the NCAA Championships. He was also a 10-time Penn Relays champion, beginning with anchoring the Championship of America freshman mile relay squad in 1955 and then going on to running legs on three champion relays in each of the next three years. Delany helped lead the Wildcats to Championship of America titles in the mile relay, the sprint medley relay and the distance medley relay every season from 1956-58. He ran the first sub-four minute mile of his career on June 1, 1956 when he posted a time of 3:59.0; his lifetime best would eventually be 3:57.5 on August 6, 1958 while his fastest 1500 meters was 3:41.2 on December 1, 1956 in the gold medal race at the Olympics.
 
This is not the first time that Delany has been a member of an inaugural Hall of Fame induction class. In fact, he was among the first class of honorees onto the Penn Relays Wall of Fame in 1994 and previously was part of the first-ever Villanova University Varsity Club Hall of Fame induction class in 1974. Delany is on the Penn Relays Wall of Fame as an individual athlete and is also part of the 1958 champion mile relay squad which was enshrined on the Wall of Fame during the 2011 Penn Relays. In addition to being a Varsity Club Hall of Famer, Delany was inducted onto the track & field Wall of Fame at Villanova Stadium on October 7, 1995.
 
Later on Monday evening current Villanova women's track & field and cross country head coach Gina Procaccio came to the stage to present Huber with her Hall of Fame medal. The former Wildcats teammates competed for Villanova during a transformative time for women's track & field and cross country both on campus and nationally. Huber reflected on the memories that stick out the most from her collegiate career.
 
"I have such great memories," Huber said. "Most of my success was due to my teammates and my coaching. I owe so much of my career to the girls I trained with every day. Penn Relays sticks out rally strong in my memories, just winning all those watches and dominating at Penn. That was a big focus for us."
 
Like her fellow Villanova inductee Delany, Huber was also a two-time Olympian who qualified for the United States team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea (3000 meters) and the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta (1500 meters). Her record of excellence at a championship level during her collegiate career is simply staggering.
 
Huber won eight career individual NCAA titles, including the 3000 meters three consecutive years both indoors and outdoors from 1987-89. She was also the Mile champion indoors in 1988 and was the individual NCAA cross country champion in 1989. Huber was a 10-time All-American and a 20-time BIG EAST champion for the Wildcats. She won nine career conference titles indoors, eight outdoors and was a three-time BIG EAST cross country champion. Including individual track events, relays and cross country, Huber tallied 26 career podium finishes at the BIG EAST Championships. Her accolades also include being an 11-time ECAC champion and a six-time Penn Relays champion.
 
The awards that Huber won on the national level during her career are particularly impressive. She was the Collegiate Female Athlete of the Year in 1988-89 and was a two-time winner of the Honda Sports Award given to the top performer in the country in their respective sport. Huber was the 1987-88 Honda Award winner in track & field, then won the same honor in 1989-90 in cross country. She was also the recipient of an NCAA Top Eight Award for the 1988-89 academic year. At the BIG EAST level, Huber was the Most Outstanding Performer at the 1988 indoor conference meet and was recognized as having the BIG EAST Championships Outstanding Performance at the 1987 indoor meet as well as the 1987 and 1988 outdoor conference championships.
 
Villanova was growing the women's track & field and cross country program at exponential rates during Huber's career, culminating with her final season of collegiate eligibility in Fall 1989 when she led the Wildcats to the team title at the cross country NCAA Championships. That national title would end up being the first in an unprecedented string of six consecutive championships for Villanova women's cross country from 1989-94. To this day, no other Division I women's cross country program has won as many as six NCAA titles, let alone six in a row or come anywhere close to the nine championships overall that the Wildcats have won.
 
Huber was named the winner of the Outstanding Philadelphia Amateur Athlete award by the Philadelphia Sportswriters Association in 1988 for her accomplishments up to that point in her career. She has gone on to twice be inducted onto the Penn Relays Wall of Fame, including being an individual inductee in 1995 for her career achievements at the Penn Relays while representing Concord (Del.) High School, Villanova and later Nike International during her professional career. Huber is also a part of the Wildcats champion 1988 distance medley relay squad which set a world record with a time of 10:48.38 at the Penn Relays; the relay team was inducted to the Wall of Fame in 1999. Huber was inducted onto the track & field Wall of Fame at Villanova Stadium on October 7, 1995 along with Delany and to the Villanova University Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1999.