MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Eight outstanding Mountaineer sports fans make up the 34th class of honorees in the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame, announced today by Vice President and Director of Athletics Wren Baker.
The Class of 2024 includes Anthony Becht (football), Chris Brooks (men’s basketball), Bob Donker (men’s cross country and track and field), Bette Hushla (swimming), Mark Landers (baseball), Rasheed Marshall (football ), Adrian Murrell (football) and Liz Repella (women’s basketball). This group brings the total number of participants to 237.
Induction ceremonies will take place Saturday, Sept. 21, before the West Virginia-Kansas football game.
Anthony Becht, football
Anthony Becht, who played football from 1996-99, finished his Mountaineer career second in receptions (83) and tight end receiving yards (1,178).
For his career, Becht played in 46 games, had 83 receptions for 1,178 yards and scored 11 touchdowns.
Becht was selected as 27th first overall pick by the New York Jets in the 2000 NFL Draft. He played 11 seasons over 12 years at tight end in the NFL for the Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, St. Louis Rams, Arizona Cardinals and Kansas City Chiefs. From 2000-10, he played in 161 straight games, trailing only Brett Favre and Peyton Manning in that span.
Becht is now the head coach of St. Louis BattleHawks of the United Football League, where he led the team to a 7-3 record, the most wins among rookie head coaches in 2023. In 2024, the BattleHawks also finished with. 7-3 record and lost in the XFL Conference Championship game.
Chris Brooks, men’s basketball
The late Chris Brooks, who holds the school record for career field goal percentage, was first-team All-Atlantic 10 Conference during his career from 1988-91 under coach Gale Catlett.
A native of the Bronx, New York, Brooks was the first McDonald’s All-American to sign with Mountaineer basketball in 1986 after starring at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia. He was considered the fifth-best recruit in the nation by the Chicago Sun Times and was a Parade Magazine All-America selection that came to WVU with much fanfare.
Brooks was the first nationally recognized New York City recruit to come to WVU in the mid-1980s, opening the door for other Big Apple players to play for the Mountaineers before joining the Big East in 1995.
Brooks’ 1,661 career points rank 12thth all-time at WVU while his 755 rebounds rank 15thth. He averaged 13.7 points and 6.2 rebounds in 121 career games.
Once his college career ended, Brooks played briefly overseas.
Brooks, who was born in London, England, died at the age of 54, in January 2021.
Bob Donker, cross cross
Bob Donker became the first one-time All-American in school history during his national and postseason career from 1991-95.
The native of Georgetown, Ontario, earned All-America honors in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track in 1993-94.
Donker earned his first All-America honor at the age of 24th at the 1993 NCAA Cross Country Championships. He followed that up with a seventh-place finish in the 5,000 meters at the 1994 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Donker earned his third All-America honor that same academic year by finishing fifth in the 5,000 meters at the 1994 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
He earned his fourth All-America honor in 1995 at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships with a sixth-place finish in the 5,000 meters. At the end of his career, he was one of four Mountaineers to earn All-America honors in two sports.
Donker now works in the sporting goods industry, and he and his wife, Heidi, have three daughters, Sofie, Maja and Lily. They have spent the last 20 years living in Oslo, Norway, and Donker is currently retired and lives in Boulder, Colorado.
Bette Hushla, swims and dives
Pioneering athlete Bette Hushla was one of the first women to compete in an intercollegiate track and field at West Virginia University in 1965 when she was a member of the men’s swimming and diving team. the Mountaineers.
That was seven years before Title IX passed and nine years before WVU began sponsoring women’s sports teams.
A native of Williamson, New York, Hushla arrived on campus in 1964 – four years after shooter Marilee Hohmann became the first female athlete to play on the Mountaineer track team in 1961.
Hushla was a champion AAU swimmer who competed in the Rochester, New York area for her sports-loving parents, Fred and Beatrice Hushla. His father, who worked at Eastman Kodak as an industrial engineer, previously served as the national chairman of the US Luge Committee.
Hushla’s swimming accomplishments included having the fourth-fastest time in the world in the 100-yard backstroke with her longest time falling three-quarters of the second time to win 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.
He succumbed to complications from COVID-19 on April 28, 2020, in Trenton, New Jersey.
Hushla is survived by her younger sister, Marianne, and her nephew, Alex.
Mark Landers, baseball
Mark Landers, one of the top first basemen to play at WVU from 1991-94, earned All-America honors and was the 1994 Atlantic Player of the Year.
The Charleston, West Virginia, native tallied 1,465 career putouts and held school records for fielding percentage (.997) in a season and career (.987) when he left WVU.
Landers had six RBIs in four different games and had two home runs in games against George Washington and St. Louis. Bonaventure (twice).
He finished his career starting 189-of-193 games played with a career .341 batting average.
Landers, who attended Capital High, was drafted at 28th was taken by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1994 MLB Draft.
He graduated from WVU with a bachelor’s degree in education and currently resides in Deland, Florida, with his wife of 29 years, Brandy, and son Davin (22).
Rasheed Marshall, football
Rasheed Marshall was a four-year writer and three-year composer from 2001-04.
The Pittsburgh native posted 24 wins and helped WVU to four bowl games (2000 Music City, 2002 Continental Tire, 2004 Gator and 2005 Gator Bowls).
Marshall finished his career with a Big East record 2,040 rushing yards (breaking Donovan McNabb’s mark) and 24 touchdowns and passed for 5,558 yards and 44 touchdowns. His 68 touchdowns they set the WVU career mark at the time, and were second in career rushing yards (2,040) by a quarterback and in passing offense (7,598) and fourth in passing yards (5,558).
He was a fifth-round pick by the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL as a wide receiver in the 2005 NFL Draft. He was a member of the 49ers, Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Rams in addition to the Columbus Destroyers of the Arena Football League.
Marshall graduated from WVU with a bachelor’s degree in physical education with a strength and conditioning certificate in 2005. He is a member of WVU’s All-Decade team (2000s) and was invited to the Villages Gridiron Classic All- Star Game.
He currently serves as the Director of Player Relations on the WVU football staff. Previously, Marshall worked as a personal trainer at Team Marshall Fitness in Pittsburgh. He was a regional quarterbacks coach at the Sports International Academy and served as an on-air football analyst for ESPN+ and SportsNet Pittsburgh.
Adrian Murrel, football
Adrian Murrell was a two-year starter and led the Big East in rushing his senior season, finishing seventh in WVU’s career rushing from 1989-92.
The native of Wahiawa, Hawaii, rushed for 2,097 yards during his career and had the second-best rushing total in school history with 1,145 during his senior year. Murrell is ranked 14thth nationwide and 22n.d NCAA all-purpose yards. He was the second Mountaineer to rush for 100 yards in four consecutive games, joining Artie Owens (1974).
Murrell was drafted in the fifth round by the New York Jets in the 1993 NFL Draft and played for the Jets from 1993-97, the Arizona Cardinals from 1998-99 and the Washington Redskins in 2000. In 1998, he rushed for 1,042 for the Cardinals, which ranks ninth in team history at the time. After a two-year hiatus from the NFL, Murrell returned in 2003 to play for the Dallas Cowboys. He is WVU’s all-time leader in NFL career rushing yards.
He is married to Tonia Peck Murrell and they have three children.
Liz Repella, women’s basketball
Liz Repella excelled on the court and in the classroom during her four-year women’s basketball career from 2008-11.
The native of Steubenville, Ohio, earned All-Big East First Team honors and CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in 2010 and 2011, playing in 134 career games and scoring 1,641 points to go along with 716 rebounds. He helped lead the Mountaineers to three NCAA Tournaments (2008, 2010, 2011) and a WNIT appearance in 2009.
Repella finished his career tied for seventh in single-season points (543), 10th in field goals made (578), seventh in scoring (1,641), fifth in 3-point field goals made (215), ninth in total rebounds (716), sixth in -offensive rebounds (233), fourth in minutes played (3,917), first in games played (134), seventh in double figures (18), fifth in 10-point games (88) and eighth in games of 20 (24) points.
He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology in 2011 and a master’s degree in sports management and industrial relations from WVU.
Repella played a season of professional basketball for the Federacion Espanola de Baloncesto in Ferrol, Spain. He won All-Spanish LF2 Honorable Mention and All-Bosmans Team Spanish LF2.
She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul. Since 2016, he has served as director of human resources for PepsiCo.
For more information on each inductee, click here.
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