Eight members announced for 2017 class

Ohio State announced Wednesday that it will induct eight members into its Athletics Hall of Fame this fall.

LeCharles Bentley (football), Tom Byers (men’s track and field), Mike Conley (men’s basketball), Chelsea Davis (women’s diving), Pete Hanson (men’s volleyball), Bryce Keough (wrestling), Christina Manning (women’s track and field) and Nancy Pearson (women’s swimming) will be inducted at a dinner Oct. 6.

They will be introduced at halftime of Ohio State’s football game against Maryland the next day.

Bentley was the first Ohio State player to win the Rimington Award, given to the country’s top center. He was a consensus All-American in 2001 and became a two-time Pro Bowler in the NFL.

Byers was a stellar 1,500meter runner from 1973-76. Some of his records still stand.

In Conley’s only season playing for the Buckeyes, the point guard helped lead Ohio State to the 2007 national championship game. He was the fourth overall pick of the draft that year by Memphis, and he still is a standout for the Grizzlies.

Davis was a national champion in 2008 and a four-time OSU Scholar-Athlete.

Hanson has coached the men’s volleyball team since 1985 and just completed back-to-back national championships. His 2011 team also won the national title.

Keough, a walk-on, captained the 1951 wrestling team to a Big Ten championship.

Manning was a two-time national champion, 11- time All- American and 10- time Big Ten champion during her career from 2008- 12. She was named the Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year in her final season.

Pearson helped establish Ohio State as a top swimming program as a two- time Big Ten champion in the 800 freestyle relay in 1982 and ’ 83. A summa cum laude graduate, she held school records in three individual freestyle events in addition to the relay.