2001

In 17 years as UNM’s head women’s volleyball coach from 1983-2000, Iversen compiled a 280-193 record, the most successful in school history.  The Lobos advanced to the NCAA Championship six times and won a pair of Western Athletic Conference titles, including a perfect 12-0 mark in 1991.  Iversen was named WAC Coach of the Year in 1990 and ’91.

At the age of 19, Iversen (Brassey at the time) was the first woman to play on a men’s intercollegiate team (volleyball) in any sport at San Diego State.  She was inducted into the SDSU Hall of Fame in 1988.  That same year, Iversen was a member of the U.S. Olympic volleyball team at the Seoul Olympics.  She played in more than in more than 350 international matches, including World Cups and in the Pan American Games.

Iversen kept her ties to the Olympics by serving as president of the International Olympic Academy of Participants Association and on various committees.  She carried the Olympic torch in Greece and in her hometown of San Diego.

From girls intramural sports to national championships, Jill Hutchison began her career as a female athlete on the cusp of social change.  When she played intramurals at UNM in the mid-60s, her teams wore starched white gym clothes and rode in station wagons to compete in “sports days” in Arizona and Utah.

When she graduated from UNM in 1967, Hutchison went to Illinois State University to work on her master’s degree.  For her thesis, she did research that proved women could play a five-player full-court basketball game.

“We were told that women’s hearts weren’t able to handle the increased activity,” she recalls.  Hutchison put heart monitors on players and discovered that women’s hearts could indeed handle the physical activity.

Hutchison became the head women’s basketball coach at Illinois State in 1970, and held that post for 28 years.  Upon retiring, she was not only the winningest female coach in school history but also the longest tenured NCAA Div. I women’s basketball coach to remain at the same institution.  She did take a sabbatical in 1973 to obtain her doctorate from North Carolina Greensboro.

A leader in the advent of Title IX, which became law in 1972, Hutchison was four times president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association; her teams made 12 national tournament appearances; was on Olympic selection committees; and she is an author.  Hutchison is also a member of the Illinois State Hall of Fame.

Joe Vivian traded his years as a football guard at Albuquerque High and UNM for 37 seasons as head wrestling coach, assistant football coach or athletic director at Albuquerque High, Cibola High, St. Pius, La Cueva High and Albuquerque Academy.

Through it all he has taught boys (young men) the art of wrestling and the facts of life.  The 289-88-1 record in 37 seasons, four-time pick as New Mexico Coach of the Year and 2000 National Federation Coach of the Year accolade shine bright on is acumen.

But Vivian’s deep interest in serving as mentor and volunteer for Young Life Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Special Olympics, Senior Olympics, Meals on Wheels and committees seeking to improve the quality of physical education for tomorrow’s youth reveals why he was also chosen recipient of the Ralph Bowyer Coaching for Character award.

Vivian came to UNM in 1959, played in the 1961 Aviation Bowl and was a member of UNM’s first Western Athletic Conference football championship in 1962.

Jim Stevens’ family moved from Panama to Albuquerque in 1950.  At Albuquerque High, Stevens excelled in anything he put his mind to – student government, academics, and, of course, athletics. 

At UNM, Stevens lettered in swimming, diving, boxing, track and field, and wrestling.  His competence and comedic ability in swimming and diving landed him the nickname “Fish.”  On the mats, Stevens was undefeated, a conference champion, and the first UNM wrestler to compete at the NCAA Championships.

After graduation, Stevens embarked on a world journey.  As a foreign service officer, he traveled to far away and exotic countries developing athletic and youth recreation programs.  He participated in the Pan American Games as a wrestler and a diver.  He was an assistant wrestling coach at the 1972 Summer Olympics and helped coach Olympic swimming champions Cathy Carr and Janet Ely.  Stevens was also a competitor in several International events, winning medals in three different events – swimming, track and racquetball – at the 1993 World Senior Games.

Perhaps Stevens’ most noteworthy cause in Lobo athletics was the Save Our Sports campaign in 1987.  He oversaw fundraising efforts to ward off the elimination of baseball, wrestling, women’s basketball and women’s swimming.

Stevens, and his sister, Charlotte Stevens Ferguson, inducted in 1999, are the first brother-sister duo in the Hall of Honor.

• Lead architect for The Pit in the mid-1960s

• The Pit was built in one year at a cost of $1.4 million; capacity was 14,831

• Played football and baseball at UNM

• Graduated from UNM in 1953