Ball State Athletics Announces Newest Hall of Fame Class

MUNCIE, Ind. -- This year's Ball State Athletics Hall of Fame induction class includes a dynamic quarterback, a record-setting golfer, two prolific scorers on the hardwood, an All-American jumper, a leading communications professional and a history-making basketball team.

The seven-member class was revealed Thursday. It features Nate Davis (football), Brittany Kelly (women's golf), John Lee (men's basketball), Theron Smith (men's basketball), Patricia Soman (women's track & field), Joe Hernandez (contributor) and the 2008-09 women's basketball team.

The group will be inducted Friday, Sept. 24 at the Alumni Center. The class will also be honored at the Sept. 25 football game against Toledo at Scheumann Stadium. More details will follow.

Hall of Fame Class
Nate Davis | Brittany Kelly | John Lee | Theron Smith | Patricia Soman | Joe Hernandez
2008-09 Women's Basketball Team

Nate Davis, Football
One of the most decorated quarterbacks in Ball State history, Nate Davis rewrote the BSU passing record book and led the Cardinals to their highest-ever national ranking during his career from 2006-08. The MAC Offensive Player of the Year in 2008, Davis quarterbacked the Cardinals to a 12-0 regular season that year and a ranking as high as 12th in the country. He finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy balloting while leading Ball State to a bowl game for the second straight year with an appearance in the GMAC Bowl. He guided the Cardinals to the International Bowl after the 2007 season.

Davis set Ball State career records for passing yards (9,233), touchdown passes (74), completions (678) and total offense (9,732). He piled up those numbers in just three seasons and still ranks second in each category. Davis was the first player in BSU history to throw for 3,000 yards or more in back-to-back seasons. The John Magnabosco Award winner as team MVP in both 2007 and 2008, he managed a career record of 22-12 overall and 17-5 in MAC play. Davis was selected in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers.

Brittany Kelly, Women's Golf
A record-setting golfer from 2007-11, Brittany Kelly was a three-time All-MAC selection – twice on the first team – and a two-time All-American Scholar. She became the first Ball State women's golfer selected for an NCAA Regional during a phenomenal senior season in 2010-11. Kelly set BSU records for single-season scoring average (75.06), career average (76.43) and 54-hole tournament score (215). She went on to play two years on the LPGA Symetra Tour and then became one of the top playing and teaching PGA assistant professionals in the county, first at The Hawthorns Golf & Country Club in Fishers and now at Woodland Country Club in Carmel.

In 2019, Kelly was named the Indiana Women's PGA Player of the Year after leading Team USA to victory at the inaugural Women's PGA Cup, competing in her first LPGA major at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship and winning the Indiana PGA Assistants Championship against a field of men. She also won her second Indiana Women's Open title in 2019 to go along with the Indiana Women's Amateur championship she won while at Ball State in 2009. Kelly qualified for the National PGA Assistants Championship in 2016, 2017 and 2019 and for the PGA Professional National Championship in 2018 and 2020, competing against the men in both. The 2017 Indiana PGA Section Assistant of the Year, she also serves on the National PGA Tournament Committee and Indiana Section PGA Board of Directors.

John Lee, Men's Basketball
A prolific scorer, John Lee's name continues to adorn the Ball State men's basketball record book long after his varsity playing career which ran from 1961-64. The sixth-ever member of the Cardinals' 1,000-point club, Lee finished with 1,134 points in just three varsity seasons. He led the Cardinals at 18.1 points per game as a sophomore in 1961-62, and his career scoring average of 17.4 points per game still ranks eighth in school history.

Lee set Ball State records for career field goal percentage (.518) and free throw percentage (.821) and still ranks among the top 10 in both. An All-Indiana Collegiate Conference First Team selection in 1964, Lee helped the Cardinals to the 1964 NCAA College Division Postseason tournament for the program's first postseason appearance at the NCAA level. The New Castle native was selected for induction into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. He passed away in December 2019 at the age of 77.

Theron Smith, Men's Basketball
One of the top scorers and rebounders in program history, Theron Smith helped the men's basketball team to some of the highest highs in his career from 1999-2003. Smith was a two-time All-MAC selection, a CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major All-American in 2002 and a Wooden Award candidate in 2003. Despite playing just three games as a senior, Smith ranks seventh in school history in both points (1,599) and rebounds (882) in a career. His 377 points during his MAC Freshman of the Year season in 1999-2000 are the most by any BSU rookie besides Hall of Famer Ray McCallum, while his 381 rebounds in 2001-02 are the most in a season by any Cardinal other than Hall of Famer Ed Butler.

Smith played memorable roles on Ball State's NCAA Tournament team in 1999-2000 and on the Maui Invitational runner-up and NIT quarterfinal team in 2001-02. He led the way with 19.6 points and 10.9 rebounds per game for the 2001-02 team which knocked off No. 4 Kansas and No. 3 UCLA on consecutive days in Maui and made the deepest postseason run in program history. His 23 double-doubles that year ranked second nationally. Smith went on to play professionally for more than a decade, including NBA stops with the Memphis Grizzlies and Charlotte Bobcats and stints internationally in France, China, Romania, Venezuela and Argentina.

Patricia Soman, Track & Field
A 12-time Mid-American Conference champion in her career from 2000-03, Patricia Soman was both an All-American and Academic All-American. Soman captured six indoor league titles – long jump (twice), triple jump (twice) and 1600-meter relay (twice) – and six outdoor titles – long jump (twice), 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, triple jump and 1600-meter relay. She was named Most Valuable Performer of the 2003 MAC Outdoor Championships after setting a league record by winning four events. That same year she was an All-American in both the long jump and triple jump during the indoor season and was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team.

Soman was a member of three MAC Championship-winning teams, helping the Cardinals to outdoor titles in 2000 and 2001 and the indoor crown in 2001. She qualified individually for the NCAA Indoor Championships in both 2002 (triple jump) and 2003 (long jump and triple jump) and for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2003 (long jump and triple jump). Soman holds six total school records, owning the top marks the long jump, triple jump and 4x400 meter relay both indoors and outdoors. After her BSU career, representing Ivory Coast, she took third place in the long jump at the 2008 African Championships.

Joe Hernandez, Contributor
A dedicated promoter of Ball State Athletics and a leader in his profession, Joe Hernandez was affiliated with his alma mater for nearly 40 years from student to administrator. A two-time Ball State graduate – bachelor's in 1984 and master's in 1991 – Hernandez spent most of his career leading the athletic department's communications efforts. He took over as Sports Information Director from his mentor and fellow hall of famer Earl Yestingsmeier in 1990 and later was promoted to Assistant Athletics Director in 1999 and Associate Athletics Director in 2002. He served as the SID for nearly every BSU sport at one time or another and promoted some of the most notable achievements in school history, including the men's basketball Sweet 16 run in 1990 and the nationally ranked football team that went 12-0 in the regular season in 2008.

A 2017 Benny Award recipient, Hernandez worked 304 consecutive Ball State football games. He served as president of the College Sports Information Directors in 2005-06 and spent nine years on the organization's board of directors. Hernandez served as sport administrator for various Ball State teams and was instrumental as a connection to past student-athletes, taking on the role of Associate AD for Sports and Alumni Relations for his final five years before retiring in 2019. Around 20 of his former student workers and graduate assistants went on to establish careers in the athletics profession.

2008-09 Women's Basketball Team
With the program's first trip to the NCAA Tournament and historic win over a perennial power, the 2008-09 women's basketball team left a lasting legacy. The Cardinals won a school-record 26 games, finishing 26-9 overall, 14-1 at home and 14-2 in the MAC on the way to a third straight West Division championship. The team then won three games in three days at the MAC Tournament, defeating top-seeded Bowling Green in the finals for the program's first-ever league tournament title. BSU topped that accomplishment one week later by blitzing No. 5 seed Tennessee, the two-time defending national champion, by a score of 71-55 in the program's NCAA Tournament debut. It was the Cardinals' 12th straight win, tying a school record. The season eventually came to an end in the second round against No. 4 seed Iowa State.

First-team All-MAC guard Porchia Green was named the league's defensive player of the year, while Danielle Gratton and Emily Maggert were also all-conference picks, and Audrey McDonald broke the MAC's career 3-point record. Kelly Packard was named the nation's Maggie Dixon Rookie Coach of the Year.

Team members included Jade Barber, Amber Clark, Danielle Gratton, Porchia Green, Suzanne Grossnickle, Kiley Jarrett, Kyleigh Jones, Patrice King, Shannon Klei, Emily Maggert, Audrey McDonald and Dana Moorman. The coaching staff featured head coach Kelly Packard, associate head coach Lisa McDonald, assistant coaches Carter Shaw and Lindsay Shade and director of basketball operations Kelsey Corbin.

Ball State Athletics Announces Newest Hall of Fame Class

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