University of Miami to induct top athletes into Hall of Fame

When former Hurricanes tackle Mike Sullivan got the phone call from a woman who told him he would be inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame, he didn't believe her.

So Sullivan did what any skeptic with jokester UM buddies would do. He googled Jodi Appelbaum-Steinbauer -- the Hall president and woman who identified herself as the caller.

''I had just spoken to some UM guys I hadn't heard from in a while,'' said Sullivan, the San Diego Chargers offensive line coach. ``Then I got the call from Jodi. I thought it was a locker-room-type prank because it was just too much of a coincidence. I was happy to find that Jodi is well-represented on the Internet as being legitimate.''

UM's other newest Hall of Famers to be inducted Thursday night at Jungle Island:
• NFL star Edgerrin James.
• Sunrise Piper High graduate and Olympic runner Davian Clarke.
• Miami Northwestern grad and former Miami Heat player Tim James.
• Retired LPGA Tour member Cathy Morse.
• South Miami Middle School teacher and former major-leaguer Warren Bogle.

Baltimore Orioles slugger Aubrey Huff, already inducted into this class before a UM baseball game, will not attend. Tim James is in Texas training for the Army and will be represented by former UM football player Duane Starks.

Arizona Cardinals running back Edgerrin James, second in UM history with 2,960 yards in three seasons, will be at the ceremony with a heavy heart. Longtime girlfriend Andia Denise Wilson, the mother of his four children, died April 14 of leukemia. James declined to speak before Thursday's event.

Among those in attendance: former UM pitcher and power hitter Bogle, who lettered at UM in 1966 and '67. He left the Hurricanes with a .329 batting average and .523 slugging percentage.

The first Hurricane to make it to the majors, Bogle was drafted in the fourth round of the '67 Major League Baseball secondary draft by the then-Kansas City Athletics, now the Oakland Athletics. A relief pitcher for one summer, Bogle made his first and only major-league start at Yankee Stadium on July 31, 1968.

''When Jodi Steinbauer came into school at the end of the day with her daughter and told me about making it to the UM Hall of Fame, I got pretty choked up,'' said Bogle, 62, about to retire from teaching at South Miami after 36 years. ``It's a great honor to be recognized by any institution, but especially the University of Miami.

``I don't mind showing emotion. It proves to people that you're human.''

OLYMPIC RUNNER
At times during his UM career, Clarke, now 33, seemed super human. The two-time NCAA national champion 400-meter runner became the first -- and still only -- UM male track and field athlete to win an NCAA individual title. He did it outdoors as a sophomore in 45.29 seconds. That summer, he went on to win a bronze medal for the Jamaican 1,600-meter relay team at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

''After 400 meters,'' Clarke told The Miami Herald after winning the NCAA title, ``your body is in agony. Your legs are like lead weights that refuse to walk. Your head starts pounding. And the dizziness makes you stumble like a drunk looking for a place to vomit.''

Today, Clarke lives in Austin, where he is training to become a University of Texas police officer.

''I wouldn't trade my UM experience for anything,'' said Clarke, a three-time Olympian and gold medalist in the 1,600-meter relay at the 2004 indoor world championships. He has been married 10 years to Jamaican Olympic hurdler Lacena Golding-Clarke.

Sullivan, the offensive lineman, is a Chicago native whose greatest personal moment at UM -- despite winning national titles in 1987 and '89 -- was defeating Notre Dame 24-0 in the Orange Bowl as a redshirt freshman. Sullivan's parents were from Ireland, and his extended family idolized the Fighting Irish.

''The championships were great, he said, but beating Notre Dame was amazing,'' he said.

RELIABLE PLAYER
Sullivan started every game for four years, the first UM player to do so. Known as one of the smartest Canes, he was drafted in the sixth round in 1991 by Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson, his first UM coach, and played another five seasons for Tampa Bay. Today, he coaches with San Diego assistant head coach Rob Chudzinski, a former UM player, offensive coordinator and roommate of ''Sully's'' for three years.

''As I look back on my career, my life's path,'' Sullivan, 41, said, ``it has been the people from the University of Miami football program who have steered every single avenue I've taken. . . . I was telling my wife that they made an emphasis on having a short acceptance speech. I have a slight reputation, if someone gives me a microphone, to talk a bit. They underlined in bold face three to four minutes. I can triple that.''

Chudzinski can't make the ceremony because of this weekend's NFL Draft. But he said his heart will be with the UM ``brotherhood.''

''I miss those times,'' Chudzinski said. ''Mike was a great, incredibly tough player,'' adding that Sullivan also was ``a neat freak. If anyone left crumbs or an unwashed plate around, you'd end up finding them on your bed.''
Said fellow UM Hall of Famer Randal Hill: ``Mike is very animated, very intelligent and very deserving.''

(miamiherald.com)