WVU Sports Hall of Fame Class Selected
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (June 22, 2019) – Nine outstanding contributors to Mountaineer athletics make up the 29th class of honorees in the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame, announced today by Director of Athletics Shane Lyons.
The 2019 class includes Meg Bulger (women’s basketball), Steve Dunlap (football), Greg Jones (wrestling), Vertus Jones (wrestling), Darryl Prue (men’s basketball), Lisa Stoia (women’s soccer), John Thornton (football), Dr. Stefan Thynell (rifle) and Pete White (men’s basketball/track & field).
Induction ceremonies will take place Saturday, Sept. 14, prior to the West Virginia-NC State football game. This class brings the total number of inductees to 197.
2000 NCAA Championships in St.Louis. He was named the EWL Co-Wrestler of the Year in 2000, as well as the EWL Tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler. Jones is currently tied for 10th on the WVU all-time list for victories as a senior (30). He won the EWL title at 184 pounds.
As a junior, the Slickville, Pennsylvania, native posted a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships at 184 pounds. Jones participated in the NWCA All-Star Classic and currently ranks eighth on the WVU all-time list for victories as a junior (31). He captured the EWL championship at 184 pounds.
As a sophomore in 1998, Jones was the youngest of 20 finalists at the NCAA Tournament and became the youngest in WVU history to reach the NCAA finals. He capped his impressive sophomore campaign with a second-place finish at 177 pounds at the NCAA Tournament. Jones won the EWL title at 177 pounds.
In 1997, Jones became the second WVU wrestler to win EWLs as a freshman. He qualified for the NCAA Tournament after being named the EWL champion at 167 pounds and was named WVU’s Rookie of the Year.
Jones became the first Mountaineer wrestler to be a four-time EWL champion and only the third EWL wrestler to be a four-time champion. He totaled 11 EWL Tournament victories in his WVU tenure.
Jones finished his WVU career with 95 victories, which was sixth-best at the time at WVU. He currently ranks fourth on the WVU all-time list for victories in a single season in the 177/184 pound weight class with 31. Jones is second on WVU’s all-time list for NCAA Tournament victories with 14. Jones was twice named as a recipient of the George Nedeff Outstanding Wrestler Award. He was a finalist for NCAA Sportsperson of the year as a senior.
Jones was inducted into the EWL Hall of Fame, was a 2006 inductee into the Southwest Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame and a 2010 inductee into the Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame
Jones graduated from WVU with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education teaching in 2001. He has taught and coached in the North Hills School District and was voted Section 3 AAA Assistant Wrestling Coach of the Year for the 2003-04, 2006-07 and 2007-08 wrestling seasons as well as District 7 AAA Assistant Wrestling Coach of the Year for the 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2015-16 wrestling seasons.
Jones lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Rachel, and children, Jayla and Jaden.
He and his brother, Greg, become the second set of siblings to be inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame, joining Marc, Kate and Meg Bulger.
Washington, D.C., native scored 1,426 points during his career, which currently ranks 20th all-time. Prue still ranks second in career field goal percentage (55.8) and 11th in career rebounds (865).
Playing in 127 career games, Prue started every game as a junior and senior. He averaged 12.2 points as a senior, 12.5 points as a junior and 12.6 points as a sophomore. As a senior, he shot an impressive 63.3 percent from the floor, which still ranks second in school history.
On the defensive end, Prue left WVU second in all-time career steals with 230 (now ranks fourth) and tied a then-school record with nine steals in a game against George Mason in 1986. He departed WVU as the Mountaineers’ leader in all-time minutes played with 3,788 (now ranks sixth).
Prue posted a career-high 25 points against St. Bonaventure on Feb. 5, 1987 and pulled down a career-best 18 rebounds (10 offensive) against George Washington on Jan. 14, 1987. He had 12 20-point games for his career.
In 1989, Prue was the Atlantic 10 field goal percentage leader at 63.3 percent, while leading the Mountaineers to an A-10 regular season championship. The Mountaineers had the nation’s longest winning streak that season at 22 games.
As a freshman, Prue was named the A-10 Freshman of the Year and to the A-10 All-Freshman Team. He was twice named Atlantic 10 Freshman of the Week.
In 1987 as a sophomore, Prue earned three Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honors and was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference Second team at the end of the season. He was named to the A-10 Second Team in 1988 and was twice named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week as a senior before earning A-10 First Team honors.
Prue is a member of the 1986-95 WVU All-Time Basketball Team.
Prue received a bachelor’s degree in physical education from WVU. He is currently the boys basketball coach at T.C. Williams High in Alexandria, Virginia.
Insight.com Bowl. He was a member of WVU’s top-ranked defense in the country in 1996 that led the nation in total defense at 223.4 yards per game, No. 2 in rushing defense (65.9 yards per game) and turnover margin, No. 4 in scoring defense (13.0 points per game) and No. 5 in pass efficiency defense.
He finished his Mountaineer career with 162 tackles, 19 tackles for loss, 15 sacks, one interception, two forced fumbles and six passes broken up.
Thornton was drafted in 1999 by the Tennessee Titans as the 52nd pick overall (second round) and had a 10-year career in the NFL.
From 1999-2002, he played with the Titans and finished with 4.5 sacks in his rookie season, the most by any rookie defensive tackle that season, and earned a spot on the NFL’s All-Rookie Team. He appeared in Super Bowl XXXIV for the Titans against the St. Louis Rams. He helped the Titans to the playoffs in three of his four years, including a second trip to the AFC Championship game in 2002.
In 2000, Thornton started in every game for the Titans and finished the season with 55 tackles. He recorded eight tackles, his season high in the game at the Buffalo Bills on September 3. Due to a shoulder injury, he only played in the first three games in 2001. In 2002, he started in every game for the Titans and was part of the defense that limited their opponents to 89.0 rushing yards per game. He recorded 44 tackles in the regular season.
In 2003, Thornton signed with the Cincinnati Bengals and recorded a career-high six sacks. In 2004, he started in every game and recorded 74 tackles. In 2005, he played 16 games, making 24 solo tackles, 18 assists and two sacks. In 2006, he played 15 games, making 28 solo tackles, 15 assists and two sacks. In 2007 while being named defensive captain, he played 14 games, making 24 solo tackles, eight assists and one sack. In 2008, he played in 13 games, recording 24 solo tackles, six assists and three sacks. Thornton retired following the 2008 season. He played in 92 of a possible 96 games and made 88 starts during his six seasons in Cincinnati.
For his NFL career, he recorded 303 tackles, 27.5 sacks and forced four fumbles.
Thornton studied sport management at West Virginia. He is currently an NFL Agent for Roc Nation Sports.
He has three sons, Jalen, Ty and Rory. Jalen will be a freshman football player at WVU this fall.
Dr. Stefan Thynell
Dr. Stefan Thynell was the first six time All-American in school history, and the first shooter to earn two All-America honors in the same season during his career from 1976-80.
A native of Goteborg, Sweden, Thynell established a new standard for collegiate competition for the smallbore full course competition in 1979 with an 1178 out of a possible 1200. He topped that mark with an 1181, the highest score in the history of smallbore match in January 1980.
Thynell broke that record with an 1187 at the NCAA Rifle Championships in April 1980, a mark that stood until 2002. He also held the NCAA mark for the top smallbore score in the standing position in team competition with a 389 until it was broken in 2000.
Thynell earned All-America honors in 1977 and 1978 before capturing All-America honors in air rifle and smallbore in both 1979 and 1980. He is the only shooter in school history to be named the team’s most outstanding shooter all four years. At the end of his collegiate career, Thynell was called the nation’s all-time top collegiate shooter by coach Ed Etzel.
Thynell was a two-time member of the Swedish Olympic Team, competing in the 1976 Montreal Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Olympics. He represented Sweden at the 1974 and 1987 World Shooting Championships.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at WVU in 1980, where he was the recipient of the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Thynell furthered his education with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from NC State in 1983 and a PhD in mechanical engineering from NC State in 1986.
Thynell joined the Mechanical Engineering Department at Penn State in 1986 and was promoted to full professor in 1997. He also served as a graduate program director from 2002-08. Concurrently, he has also worked for the National Science Foundation as the Program Director, Thermal Transport and Thermal Processing and the Coordinator for Information Technology Research, Engineering Directorate from 1999-2001. He has won numerous awards and honors, including a distinguished service award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
From 2001-2004 he served as the Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Heat Transfer. In 1999, Thynell was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and in 2005 he was elected Associate Fellow of the AIAA. In 2007, he became a Member of the Academy of Distinguished Alumni for mechanical engineering at WVU.
Thynell resides near State College, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Lena.
Pete White
Pete White was a standout men’s basketball player from 1952-55, playing for coaches Red Brown and Fred Schaus and alongside the likes of All-Americans Mark Workman and Hot Rod Hundley.
White, a native of Clendenin, West Virginia, served as captain of the 1954-55 basketball team, the first of Schaus’ six years as a head coach and first NCAA Tournament team at WVU. He played in 70 varsity games, scoring 746 points (10.7 average) and grabbing 561 rebounds.
As a senior, White averaged 15.8 points and 12.0 rebounds, one of 10 Mountaineers to average a double-double for a season. He averaged 10.4 points and 6.1 rebounds as a junior.
White had a career-high 29 points against Pitt on Jan. 29, 1955, coupled with a career-best 27 rebounds against Pitt in the same game, the fourth most rebounds in a game in school history.
White also competed in track at West Virginia in the high jump and long jump.
He declined an invitation to join the NBA’s St. Louis Hawks to fulfill his ROTC commitment in the United States Air Force.
He served 42 years on the WVU Foundation Board and received WVU’s Order of Vandalia in 2001. White received a bachelor’s degree in business administration and master’s degree from WVU and was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the United States Air Force.
White and his wife, Jo, have two children, Anne White, who attended USC and became a nationally ranked professional tennis player, and son Brad, a graduate of Vanderbilt and captain of the lacrosse team. Anne was recently inducted into the Western United States Pro Tennis Hall of Fame.
White has worked in the finance and insurance industry for more than 60 years and has worked with his son for nearly 20 years.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (June 22, 2019) – Nine outstanding contributors to Mountaineer athletics make up the 29th class of honorees in the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame, announced today by Director of Athletics Shane Lyons.
The 2019 class includes Meg Bulger (women’s basketball), Steve Dunlap (football), Greg Jones (wrestling), Vertus Jones (wrestling), Darryl Prue (men’s basketball), Lisa Stoia (women’s soccer), John Thornton (football), Dr. Stefan Thynell (rifle) and Pete White (men’s basketball/track & field).
Induction ceremonies will take place Saturday, Sept. 14, prior to the West Virginia-NC State football game. This class brings the total number of inductees to 197.
2000 NCAA Championships in St.Louis. He was named the EWL Co-Wrestler of the Year in 2000, as well as the EWL Tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler. Jones is currently tied for 10th on the WVU all-time list for victories as a senior (30). He won the EWL title at 184 pounds.
As a junior, the Slickville, Pennsylvania, native posted a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships at 184 pounds. Jones participated in the NWCA All-Star Classic and currently ranks eighth on the WVU all-time list for victories as a junior (31). He captured the EWL championship at 184 pounds.
As a sophomore in 1998, Jones was the youngest of 20 finalists at the NCAA Tournament and became the youngest in WVU history to reach the NCAA finals. He capped his impressive sophomore campaign with a second-place finish at 177 pounds at the NCAA Tournament. Jones won the EWL title at 177 pounds.
In 1997, Jones became the second WVU wrestler to win EWLs as a freshman. He qualified for the NCAA Tournament after being named the EWL champion at 167 pounds and was named WVU’s Rookie of the Year.
Jones became the first Mountaineer wrestler to be a four-time EWL champion and only the third EWL wrestler to be a four-time champion. He totaled 11 EWL Tournament victories in his WVU tenure.
Jones finished his WVU career with 95 victories, which was sixth-best at the time at WVU. He currently ranks fourth on the WVU all-time list for victories in a single season in the 177/184 pound weight class with 31. Jones is second on WVU’s all-time list for NCAA Tournament victories with 14. Jones was twice named as a recipient of the George Nedeff Outstanding Wrestler Award. He was a finalist for NCAA Sportsperson of the year as a senior.
Jones was inducted into the EWL Hall of Fame, was a 2006 inductee into the Southwest Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame and a 2010 inductee into the Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame
Jones graduated from WVU with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education teaching in 2001. He has taught and coached in the North Hills School District and was voted Section 3 AAA Assistant Wrestling Coach of the Year for the 2003-04, 2006-07 and 2007-08 wrestling seasons as well as District 7 AAA Assistant Wrestling Coach of the Year for the 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2015-16 wrestling seasons.
Jones lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Rachel, and children, Jayla and Jaden.
He and his brother, Greg, become the second set of siblings to be inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame, joining Marc, Kate and Meg Bulger.
Washington, D.C., native scored 1,426 points during his career, which currently ranks 20th all-time. Prue still ranks second in career field goal percentage (55.8) and 11th in career rebounds (865).
Playing in 127 career games, Prue started every game as a junior and senior. He averaged 12.2 points as a senior, 12.5 points as a junior and 12.6 points as a sophomore. As a senior, he shot an impressive 63.3 percent from the floor, which still ranks second in school history.
On the defensive end, Prue left WVU second in all-time career steals with 230 (now ranks fourth) and tied a then-school record with nine steals in a game against George Mason in 1986. He departed WVU as the Mountaineers’ leader in all-time minutes played with 3,788 (now ranks sixth).
Prue posted a career-high 25 points against St. Bonaventure on Feb. 5, 1987 and pulled down a career-best 18 rebounds (10 offensive) against George Washington on Jan. 14, 1987. He had 12 20-point games for his career.
In 1989, Prue was the Atlantic 10 field goal percentage leader at 63.3 percent, while leading the Mountaineers to an A-10 regular season championship. The Mountaineers had the nation’s longest winning streak that season at 22 games.
As a freshman, Prue was named the A-10 Freshman of the Year and to the A-10 All-Freshman Team. He was twice named Atlantic 10 Freshman of the Week.
In 1987 as a sophomore, Prue earned three Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honors and was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference Second team at the end of the season. He was named to the A-10 Second Team in 1988 and was twice named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week as a senior before earning A-10 First Team honors.
Prue is a member of the 1986-95 WVU All-Time Basketball Team.
Prue received a bachelor’s degree in physical education from WVU. He is currently the boys basketball coach at T.C. Williams High in Alexandria, Virginia.
Insight.com Bowl. He was a member of WVU’s top-ranked defense in the country in 1996 that led the nation in total defense at 223.4 yards per game, No. 2 in rushing defense (65.9 yards per game) and turnover margin, No. 4 in scoring defense (13.0 points per game) and No. 5 in pass efficiency defense.
He finished his Mountaineer career with 162 tackles, 19 tackles for loss, 15 sacks, one interception, two forced fumbles and six passes broken up.
Thornton was drafted in 1999 by the Tennessee Titans as the 52nd pick overall (second round) and had a 10-year career in the NFL.
From 1999-2002, he played with the Titans and finished with 4.5 sacks in his rookie season, the most by any rookie defensive tackle that season, and earned a spot on the NFL’s All-Rookie Team. He appeared in Super Bowl XXXIV for the Titans against the St. Louis Rams. He helped the Titans to the playoffs in three of his four years, including a second trip to the AFC Championship game in 2002.
In 2000, Thornton started in every game for the Titans and finished the season with 55 tackles. He recorded eight tackles, his season high in the game at the Buffalo Bills on September 3. Due to a shoulder injury, he only played in the first three games in 2001. In 2002, he started in every game for the Titans and was part of the defense that limited their opponents to 89.0 rushing yards per game. He recorded 44 tackles in the regular season.
In 2003, Thornton signed with the Cincinnati Bengals and recorded a career-high six sacks. In 2004, he started in every game and recorded 74 tackles. In 2005, he played 16 games, making 24 solo tackles, 18 assists and two sacks. In 2006, he played 15 games, making 28 solo tackles, 15 assists and two sacks. In 2007 while being named defensive captain, he played 14 games, making 24 solo tackles, eight assists and one sack. In 2008, he played in 13 games, recording 24 solo tackles, six assists and three sacks. Thornton retired following the 2008 season. He played in 92 of a possible 96 games and made 88 starts during his six seasons in Cincinnati.
For his NFL career, he recorded 303 tackles, 27.5 sacks and forced four fumbles.
Thornton studied sport management at West Virginia. He is currently an NFL Agent for Roc Nation Sports.
He has three sons, Jalen, Ty and Rory. Jalen will be a freshman football player at WVU this fall.
Dr. Stefan Thynell
Dr. Stefan Thynell was the first six time All-American in school history, and the first shooter to earn two All-America honors in the same season during his career from 1976-80.
A native of Goteborg, Sweden, Thynell established a new standard for collegiate competition for the smallbore full course competition in 1979 with an 1178 out of a possible 1200. He topped that mark with an 1181, the highest score in the history of smallbore match in January 1980.
Thynell broke that record with an 1187 at the NCAA Rifle Championships in April 1980, a mark that stood until 2002. He also held the NCAA mark for the top smallbore score in the standing position in team competition with a 389 until it was broken in 2000.
Thynell earned All-America honors in 1977 and 1978 before capturing All-America honors in air rifle and smallbore in both 1979 and 1980. He is the only shooter in school history to be named the team’s most outstanding shooter all four years. At the end of his collegiate career, Thynell was called the nation’s all-time top collegiate shooter by coach Ed Etzel.
Thynell was a two-time member of the Swedish Olympic Team, competing in the 1976 Montreal Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Olympics. He represented Sweden at the 1974 and 1987 World Shooting Championships.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at WVU in 1980, where he was the recipient of the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Thynell furthered his education with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from NC State in 1983 and a PhD in mechanical engineering from NC State in 1986.
Thynell joined the Mechanical Engineering Department at Penn State in 1986 and was promoted to full professor in 1997. He also served as a graduate program director from 2002-08. Concurrently, he has also worked for the National Science Foundation as the Program Director, Thermal Transport and Thermal Processing and the Coordinator for Information Technology Research, Engineering Directorate from 1999-2001. He has won numerous awards and honors, including a distinguished service award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
From 2001-2004 he served as the Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Heat Transfer. In 1999, Thynell was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and in 2005 he was elected Associate Fellow of the AIAA. In 2007, he became a Member of the Academy of Distinguished Alumni for mechanical engineering at WVU.
Thynell resides near State College, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Lena.
Pete White
Pete White was a standout men’s basketball player from 1952-55, playing for coaches Red Brown and Fred Schaus and alongside the likes of All-Americans Mark Workman and Hot Rod Hundley.
White, a native of Clendenin, West Virginia, served as captain of the 1954-55 basketball team, the first of Schaus’ six years as a head coach and first NCAA Tournament team at WVU. He played in 70 varsity games, scoring 746 points (10.7 average) and grabbing 561 rebounds.
As a senior, White averaged 15.8 points and 12.0 rebounds, one of 10 Mountaineers to average a double-double for a season. He averaged 10.4 points and 6.1 rebounds as a junior.
White had a career-high 29 points against Pitt on Jan. 29, 1955, coupled with a career-best 27 rebounds against Pitt in the same game, the fourth most rebounds in a game in school history.
White also competed in track at West Virginia in the high jump and long jump.
He declined an invitation to join the NBA’s St. Louis Hawks to fulfill his ROTC commitment in the United States Air Force.
He served 42 years on the WVU Foundation Board and received WVU’s Order of Vandalia in 2001. White received a bachelor’s degree in business administration and master’s degree from WVU and was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the United States Air Force.
White and his wife, Jo, have two children, Anne White, who attended USC and became a nationally ranked professional tennis player, and son Brad, a graduate of Vanderbilt and captain of the lacrosse team. Anne was recently inducted into the Western United States Pro Tennis Hall of Fame.
White has worked in the finance and insurance industry for more than 60 years and has worked with his son for nearly 20 years.
