EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Four former student-athletes, a coach, an administrator and one team make up the 19th SIUE Athletics Hall of Fame class. They will be inducted on Jan. 23 in a ceremony inside the Meridian Ballroom on the SIUE campus.
This year's inductees include Mike Banner (men's soccer), Mark Briggs (baseball), Megan Beagles (women's soccer), Booker Benford (wrestling), Sandy Montgomery (head coach, softball/volleyball) and the 2014 softball team.
In addition, Dr. Bill Retzlaff (former Faculty Athletics Representative) will be honored as the recipient of the Jean McDonald Service Award.
The ceremony includes a cocktail reception at 5:30 with the dinner and induction beginning at 6:15. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased online here.
The 2026 inductees are profiled below:
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Mike Banner, men's soccer
Mike Banner transferred to SIUE from Georgetown University and appeared in 56 games for SIUE over three seasons, all of which were NCAA Tournament appearances. He led the Cougars to the national championship game in 2004 and national semifinals in 2005. Banner was a first team All-American in 2005. He became the first SIUE soccer player to be drafted into Major League Soccer, when he was drafted in the third round of the SuperDraft in 2007 by the Chicago Fire as the 34th overall pick. Banner played with the Chicago Fire for five seasons.
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Mark Briggs, baseball
Mark Briggs was a two-time All-Region selection, in 1997 and 1998, and a two-time All-Great Lakes Valley Conference selection. He helped the Cougars to the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship and a fifth-place finish at the 1997 College World Series. He set school record for career hits (272) and remains third on the all-time list. A career .343 hitter, Briggs is still listed in the top 10 in several offensive career categories, including runs scored (185/3rd), runs batted in (186/2nd), total bases (417/3rd), doubles (52/6th), games played (208/6th), games started (207/6th), at bats (793/6th) and stolen bases (62/5th).
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Megan Beagles, women's soccer
Megan Beagles twice helped SIUE to the NCAA Tournament. She finished her career as the all-time leader in games played (80) and remains in the top 10. Beagles remains third all-time with 38 career goals while ranking ninth all-time with 19 assists. Her career total of 95 points ranks fourth best all-time. Beagles also sits fourth all-time in game-winning goals with 11, recording at least one game winner in each of her four seasons at SIUE. Her career total of 167 shots ranks sixth all-time.
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Booker Benford, wrestling
Booker Benford's career record of 161-34-1 makes him the winningest wrestler in the storied history of Cougar wrestling. Benford was a four-time NCAA Division II All-American, and a Division I All-American in 1984 and 1985. Benford finished third in Division I in each of those years. He helped his team to a third-place finish in 1982 and fourth-place finish in 1983 before leading the Cougars to back-to-back NCAA Division II National Championships in 1984 and 1985. Booker's 53 wins as a senior during the 1984-85 season remains the program record.
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Sandy Montgomery, Head Coach, softball and volleyball
Already an SIUE Athletics Hall of Famer as an athlete, Sandy Montgomery becomes the first individual to also be selected as a Head Coach. The longest-tenured softball head coach in school history completed her coaching career with a record of 1,051-540-2 for a winning percentage of .660. Montgomery also started SIUE's volleyball program, serving as the first head coach and amassing a record of 83-54 over four seasons, while leading the volleyball Cougars to their first NCCA tournament appearance in 1998. Montgomery's 2006 softball team set the school standard for victories with 52 and advanced to the NCAA final eight. One year later, Montgomery led the Cougars to their first and only national championship. The 2007 team would later be inducted into the SIUE Athletics Hall of Fame. After the 2008 season, Montgomery shepherded the program through the transition from Division II to Division I. The Cougars won 40 games in their first season of Division I competition (2009) and won the OVC tournament title in 2014, earning the school's first bid to the NCAA Tournament since transitioning to Division I play. The 2014 also will join the SIUE Athletics Hall of Fame in 2026. Montgomery is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame and the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame, becoming the first OVC Coach to earn the honor.
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2014 SIUE softball
The 2014 softball Cougars completed the season with a 30-23 record, including a 19-5 mark in OVC play, and advanced to the NCAA Division I Tournament for the first time in school history. The softball team became the first SIUE team to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars also were the first SIUE program to earn an Ohio Valley Conference championship, defeating Murray State 12-1 in the title game. SIUE won its last six straight games before bowing out of the NCAA Tournament against Alabama and South Alabama. Haley Chambers-Book led the team with a 2.08 earned run average in the circle and a .314 batting average as a hitter, while earning All-OVC honors. Whitney Lanphier, Allison Smiley and Chelsea Yankolovich joined Chambers-Book in earning All-OVC honors. Chambers-Book was named the OVC Tournament MVP and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Yankolovich, Alex McDavid and Kayla Riggs. |
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Dr. Bill Retzlaff, Jean McDonald Service Award
Jean McDonald Service Award winner, Bill Retzlaff, affectionately known simply as Dr. Bill, was appointed the NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) for SIUE Athletics in August 2013, one year into SIUE's tenure as a full-time Division I member and served until 2023. Serving as a faculty voice, ensuring balance between academics and athletics for the benefit of the student-athlete, Dr. Retzlaff was the FAR as SIUE Athletics achieved success in the field of competition and also in the classroom. Retzlaff joined the faculty at SIUE in August 1999 with a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Biological Sciences and the Environmental Sciences Program. He is a Distinguished Research Professor and currently serves as an Associate Provost for Strategic Academic Initiatives.
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