The University of Utah names its 2026 Athletic Hall of Fame
Regular visitors of notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB. Once that is done, we will examine how each team honors its past players, coaches, and executives. Eventually, we will do the same with major college programs. As such, it is important to us that the University of Utah has announced the four players, one coach, and one team that will be inducted into its Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2026.
The event will take place on September 18, with the inductees being honored the following day during the football game against Utah State.
The Class of 2026 members are:
Zan Beadles, Football, 2006-09. In Beadles’ 2009 season, he was a First Team All-Mountain West Selection, playing Left Tackle on the squad that won the Sugar Bowl and finished the season ranked #2. He went on to play nine seasons in the NFL for the Denver Broncos, Jacksonville Jaguars, San Francisco 49ers, and Atlanta Falcons and boasts a Super Bowl Ring with the Broncos (2015).
Daria Bijak, Women’s Gymnastics, 2007-10. An eight-time All-American, Bijak won the 2008 Dahl Award, which is awarded to the Red Rocks’ top scholar-athlete. She competed for Germany in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Jerry Pimm, Men’s Basketball Head Coach, 1974-83. Pimm was an Assistant Coach for 13 years before he took over the reins in 1974, and as a Head Coach, he had a record of 173-86. He led the Utes to five NCAA Tournaments, four Sweet Sixteens and three WAC Championships.
Katrin Smigun, Women’s Skiing, 2003. A two-time Winter Olympian (1998 & 2002) while representing Estonia, Smigun competed only one season for Utah but went undefeated in 12 straight races and was a dual winner at the 2003 NCAA Championships.
Delon Wright, Men’s Basketball, 2013-15. A two-time First Team All-Pac-12 Selection and two-time Pac-12 Defensive Team Selection, Wright led the Utes to the 2015 Sweet Sixteen. He had 1,022 Points over his NCAA career and went on to play 10 seasons in the NBA for the Toronto Raptors, Memphis Grizzlies, Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, Sacramento Kings, Atlanta Hawks, Washington Wizards, Milwaukee Bucks, and New York Knicks.
The 1991 Women’s Softball Team. The team won the Regular Season and Tournament WAC Championships, and qualified for the College World Series.
We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the impending members of the Michigan State University Athletic Hall of Fame.
Our All-Time Top 50 Toronto Raptors have been revised to reflect the last four seasons.
Yes, we know that this is taking a while!
As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity. As such, we are very happy to present our pre-2021-22 revision of our top 50 Toronto Raptors.
As for all of our top 50 players in basketball we look at the following:
1. Advanced Statistics.
2. Traditional statistics and how they finished in the NBA.
3. Playoff accomplishments.
4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.
Please note, that this is our first revision in four years, which includes the 2019 Championship Season. This has resulted in many changes, and nine new entries, and a brand new number one, Kyle Lowry, who climbed from his number four slot.
As always, we present our top five immediately, though nothing has changed in this upper-tier.
1. Kyle Lowry
2. Chris Bosh
3. Vince Carter
4. DeMar DeRozan
You can find the entire list here.
There is a lot more than Kyle Lowry’s ascendence to the top.
Pascal Siakam, who was an All-Star last year, enters at #7.
Kawhi Leonard, whose playoff heroics won the Raptors a title comes in at #11.
Starting Point Guard, Fred Van Vleet debuts at #12.
Norman Powell moved from #50 to #19.
Small Forward, O.G. Anunoby makes his first appearance at #23.
Center, Chris Boucher enters at #24.
Former Raptor Guard, Delon Wright, is #30.
Another former Raptor, Jakob Poeltl, is ranked #40.
Marc Gasol, who also is no longer with Toronto, is #44.
Danny Green, another one-year Raptor on the 2019 Championship winning team, is at #47.
We definitely won’t wait four years on this one again!
We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.
33. Delon Wright
Delon Wright was one of those players who, even though he was a bench player, was vastly underappreciated while he was a Raptor.
A First Rounder and Second Team All-American from Utah, Wright was Toronto's backup Point Guard for three-and-a-half seasons, providing defensive prowess and a nice change of pace. In Wright's fourth season, he was traded to Memphis with Jonas Valincuinas for Marc Gasol, and Toronto went on to win the NBA Title. Wright might not have been part of that championship, but he was a reason they got there.
