Wave’s undefeated team bound for TU Hall
June 30, 2008
Wave’s undefeated team bound for TU Hall - Tulane Beat - Times-Picayune - NOLA.com
Posted by Nakia Hogan Staff writer June 28, 2008 10:55PMFormer Tulane record-setting quarterback Shaun King has only one regret from his playing days with the Green Wave. He wishes he and teammates on the 1998 team that went undefeated and captured the Conference USA title were playing under the current NCAA system and given an opportunity to play in a BCS bowl game.
Instead, the Green Wave finished its 12-0 campaign with a decisive 41-27 win against Brigham Young in the Liberty Bowl and were left with thoughts of what could have been.
“I just hate that we didn’t have this new arrangement so we could have went to the Fiesta Bowl that year and played Tennessee or Florida State,” King said.
The sting of not being included in one of college football’s elite postseason games has been eased by the fact that the 1998 Green Wave squad is being inducted as an honorary member of the 2008 Tulane Athletic Hall of Fame class.
The 1998 team that was led by King, who became the first NCAA I-A player to have 3,000 yards passing and 500 yards rushing in a season and set a then-NCAA I-A passing efficiency record of 183.3, highlights a class that also includes former men’s basketball coach Perry Clark, former women’s golfer Pam Buff, former baseball player John Olagues and former football player Patrick Ramsey.
The group will formally be enshrined during a ceremony Oct. 3 at the Lavin-Bernick Center on the Tulane campus.
“We are the first team to ever be collectively inducted into the Tulane Hall of Fame, so anytime you are a first it gives you great pride and a great sense of accomplishment,” King said. “It’s a just reward for all the hard work and effort that was put into that season by that team. I thought the guys did a great job of making our success a priority, and it paid off for us.”
Clark, who coached the Green Wave for 11 seasons (1989-2000), said he was pleased with the honor. He was responsible for helping resurrect the program in 1989 after a four-year suspension of the program.
At Tulane, Clark’s teams compiled a 185-145 record, had six 20-win seasons, seven postseason appearances (3 NCAA, 4 NIT) and won the Metro Conference regular season championship once. He was the United States Basketball Writers National Coach of the Year in 1992 and a two-time Metro Conference Coach of the Year in 1991 and 1992.
“I feel very, very honored and special to be honored in the Tulane Hall of Fame,” Clark said. “New Orleans will always be home for me, and Tulane will always be very, very special.
“The way I look at my time at Tulane is like Camelot. It’s just a very special time, and there were a lot of special and magical people that came through. I’ve come to learn to just put it in a time capsule. I don’t ever try to duplicate it because it will never ever come again. You just kind of put it up on a mantel and appreciate and enjoy the memories.”
That’s precisely what Buff plans to do.
She said she was flattered when the call came informing her of the induction. She is enamored that her accomplishments on the golf course are being further recognized.
Buff, who competed at Tulane from 1997-2001, is one of the most accomplished women’s golfers in school history. Three times she was chosen C-USA Player of the Year (1998, 1999, 2000), and she was an honorable mention All-American in 1999.
She also won two C-USA individual titles in 1998 and 1999. But this latest honor ranks up there with all her previous awards.
“This is a huge honor, definitely,” Buff said. “I am very thankful, and I am very happy to be selected to such a prestigious group. I know that there is such a small group that is picked, and I’m just honored to be a part of it.”
Olagues, a hard throwing right-hander and former team captain, starred for the Green Wave in 1965 and 1966.
Olagues, who was 12-8 with 264 strikeouts and a 1.97 earned-run average, averaged 14.03 strikeouts per nine innings on his way to becoming the first Green Wave player selected in the modern-day MLB draft.
Ramsey, who passed for more than 9,000 yards as a three-year starter from 1999-2001, left Tulane as one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in school history, having thrown 72 touchdown passes, including at least one in a school-record 31 consecutive games.
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