Graham, Keenum among picks for C-USA Hall
Rice and Houston each had three members selected to the inaugural Conference USA Hall of Fame, the league announced Monday.
For Rice, former baseball coach Wayne Graham, baseball player Anthony Rendon and football player Jarett Dillard were honored.
For Houston, which was an original member of C-USA in 1996 before moving to the American Athletic Conference in 2013, quarterback Case Keenum, women’s basketball player Chandi Jones and diver Yulia Pakhalina were cited.
Graham, who inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012, led the Owls to the College World Series in their first three seasons in C-USA (2006-2008) and six times overall as a member of the conference. Rice won nine C-USA regular-season titles and seven tournament titles in his 12 years in the league.
Dillard was a first-team All-American in 2008 and is the Football Bowl Subdivision all-time leader with 60 career touchdown catches, including an FBS record of 13 consecutive games with a TD reception.
Rendon won the 2010 Dick Howser Award as the nation’s top Division I college baseball player. He led Rice to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances (2009-2011) and a pair of regular-season and conference tournament titles.
Keenum led the Cougars to a pair of C-USA title games and was the league’s MVP in 2009 and 2011. He is the FBS career leader in pass completions (1,546), passing yards (19,217) and passing touchdowns (155).
Jones was a three-time C-USA player of the year and is the leading scorer in C-USA history. She led UH to the 2004 conference title and second round of NCAA Tournament.
Pakhalina was a twotime NCAA Diver of the Year (2002, 2003) and won the NCAA one- and three-meter competitions both seasons. She won 64 of the 66 collegiate diving events she entered.