PACIFIC ANNOUNCES ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2024
Three individuals and multiple teams from men’s basketball and men’s swimming and diving will represent the Class of 2024 to be inducted into the Pacific Athletics Hall of Fame. The Dinner and Induction Ceremony are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 23 in the Janssen-Lagorio Gymnasium. Dinner will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets to the event are $75 each and are available online.
Football standout Mark Nordquist, ’68, women’s tennis national qualifier Tracee Lee, ’95, and water polo All-American Dragan Bakic, ’07, were named to the Hall of Fame as individuals. Also honored will be the three men’s basketball teams from 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06. All three teams earned NCAA Tournament bids and two of the teams advanced to the second round. The men’s swimming and diving teams from 1964-1968 will also be honored. In each of those years, Pacific swimmers earned multiple All-America honors and scored in the NCAA College Division championship.
In addition, Bob Thomason, ’72, and John Noce, ’53, will receive the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award of Merit, which recognizes alumni who participated in athletics at Pacific and achieved distinction in their professional lives through notable examples of integrity, dedication, idealism and team spirit that Coach Stagg personified and to which Pacific is dedicated.
Thomason served for 25 years as the Pacific men’s basketball head coach (1988-2013). He led the Tigers to five NCAA tournament appearances (1997, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2013) and was named Big West Coach of the Year five times. Thomason experienced the NCAA Tournament as both a player and a coach as he was a key player on the 1970-71 team that earned a spot in the 1971 tournament.
Noce was the head coach at the College of San Mateo (CSM) baseball program for 31 years (1962-1991), capturing 13 conference titles and finishing runner-up three times in the California community college playoffs. At the time of his retirement, he was the winningest coach in California community college baseball history.
Noce started his collegiate career at CSM before transferring to Pacific where he played on the 1951 and 1952 squads. He came to Pacific from San Mateo with his teammate, pitcher and Hall of Famer Reeve “Bud” Watkins, and the two of them formed a strong battery. He caught Watkins in junior high, high school, junior college, at Pacific and at the professional level with the Stockton Ports.
Noce was honored in 2003 with the Lefty Gomez Award from the American Baseball Coaches Association for contributing significantly to the game of baseball locally, nationally and internationally. In addition to placing more than 200 former players on Division I teams, he had 72 play professional baseball including eight major leaguers. He also had a 20-year career coaching in Italy and was an assistant coach in the Olympic Games for the Italian National Team in 1984, 1992 and 1996.
Nordquist was a key offensive lineman for the Tigers in 1966 and 1967, helping Pacific average 22.3 points per game in 1967, the best offensive output in nine seasons. He blocked for Jack Layland, who ran for 1,751 yards in those two seasons, and protected quarterback Bob Lee, who threw for 2,304 yards before he was drafted by the Vikings and spent 12 years in the NFL.
Nordquist was a fifth-round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1968 draft. He spent seven years with the Eagles and finished his NFL career with two seasons with the Bears. After his football career, Nordquist co-founded DonJoy, a leading manufacturer of orthopedic knee braces, which produced a brace that was recognized as one of the best ACL braces of its time.
Lee was a two-time NCAA tournament qualifier for the Tiger women’s tennis team under coach Bill Maze. She qualified in singles in her freshman year, winning two rounds before falling in the Round of 16. She returned to the event as a senior, paired with Marsa Kuurne on a doubles team.
As a freshman, Lee served notice to the tennis community when she upset Harvard’s Erika deLone, who was ranked No. 1 in the country at the time. In 1995, she helped to lead Pacific to one of its top dual meet wins when the Tigers upset fifth-ranked UCLA. Lee picked up a key win at No. 1 singles, defeating UCLA’s Jane Chi, who was ranked fifth in the country at the time. Lee played No. 1 singles and was on the No. 1 doubles team all four years at Pacific.
Bakic was a four-time All-American for the Pacific men’s water polo program, leading the team in scoring all four years. He finished his career with 245 goals, which was third on the all-time scoring list. He played in a program that was building a national reputation as he helped the Tigers to a 19-14 mark in 2005, earning second-team All-America recognition. Following graduation, he served as an assistant coach for the Tigers, as well as the head coach for the Saint Mary’s High program.
In the mid-1960’s, a small group of student-athletes earned qualification to the NCAA College Division Swimming and Diving championships and placed in the national championship for five consecutive seasons. Three individuals, John Ostrom (100 fly), Phil Strick (50 free) and Jim Hayes (200 breast) won national championships during the five-year run. Nine individuals earned All-America honors over the time, many multiple times. The best team finish was ninth place in 1965 and 1966. All five years, the Tigers finished in the Top 20. In 1969, Pacific and many like institutions shifted to the University Division to compete, which became NCAA Division I in 1973.
The men’s basketball teams from 2003-04 through 2005-06 completed the best three-year stretch in Pacific history, finishing with a 76-20 overall record, including a combined 47-3 mark in the Big West Conference. They advanced to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Big West championship in 2004 and 2006 and earned an at-large bid to the 2005 NCAA Tournament after finishing as the tournament runner-up.
In 2004, the 12th-seeded Tigers upset No. 5 Providence, 66-58, before falling in the second round to No. 4 Kansas, 78-63. The following year, the Tigers were seeded No. 8 in the West and knocked off ninth-seeded Pittsburgh, 79-71, before falling to No. 1 Washington, 97-79. In 2006, the 13th-seeded Tigers pushed No. 4 Boston College to double overtime before falling, 88-76.
The Tigers swept the Big West Player of the Year honors all three seasons with Miah Davis honored in 2004; David Doubley, 2005; and Christian Maraker, 2006. Thomason was named Big West Coach of the Year all three seasons.
For guests attending from out of town, there is a block of rooms available at the Hilton Stockton and the Courtyard by Marriott. The reservation deadline for the discounted rate is February 9.
The honorees will also be recognized at halftime of the Saturday, Feb. 24 men’s basketball game when the Tigers close out the home season by hosting Loyola Marymount in a 7 p.m. game at the Alex G. Spanos Center. Game tickets can be purchased online beginning December 15.
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