Sept. 1, 2010

2010 Women's Athletics Hall of Honor luncheon invitation

• Erin Aldrich
• Kathleen Bogue Cummings
• Jo Beth Palmer
• Carol (Borgmann) Robertson
• Eileen Vanisi
• Tina Bonci

AUSTIN, Texas -- Five distinguished former University of Texas student-athletes and a current staff member will be inducted later this fall into the UT Women's Athletics Hall of Honor, the Women's Hall of Honor Committee announced Wednesday. The 11th Longhorn Women's Hall of Honor class includes: Erin Aldrich, dual-sport All-American in volleyball and track and field who claimed four NCAA high jump titles; Kathleen Bogue Cummings, tennis All-American and the 1984 Southwest Conference Player of the Year; Jo Beth Palmer, dual-sport All-American in volleyball and track and field; Carol (Borgmann) Robertson, three-time AIAW swimming individual national champion and 18-time All-American who led Texas to two AIAW national team titles; Eileen Vanisi, three-time NCAA shot put champion; and Tina Bonci, long-time Co-Director of the Division of Athletic Training/Sports Medicine for UT Athletics.

The Class of 2010 will be inducted at an 11:30 a.m. (Central) ceremony and luncheon on Friday, Nov. 19 in the Lone Star Room at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. They will be enshrined during ceremonies at the Texas-Florida Atlantic football game the following day. Tickets to the Friday luncheon are $35 and available through the Longhorn Foundation at 512-471-4439. Interested patrons may also sponsor a table of 10 for $450.

"This class is dually impressive in that it's representative of a springboard era in UT Athletics and also features multiple dual-sport student-athletes and individual NCAA champions," said Chris Plonsky, UT Women's Athletics Director and Senior Associate AD of Men's and Women's Athletics External Services. "The inductees also share appreciation for what Tina Bonci has meant to our program as a sports medicine genius."

A dual-sport All-American in track and field (high jump) and volleyball, Aldrich is one of the most decorated high jumpers in school and Big 12 Conference history. A four-time NCAA Champion, six-time All-American and six-time Big 12 Champion in the high jump, she helped lead the Longhorns to four consecutive NCAA Track and Field team titles and set the NCAA indoor collegiate mark (6-5.5) in 1998. Aldrich also claimed AVCA All-America First Team and Volleyball Magazine All-America Third Team honors in 1999 and was named the Big 12 Conference Female Athlete of the Year in 1999-2000. She competed in the high jump at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and earned spots on four U.S. World Championship teams (1997, 2001, 2005, 2007). Aldrich also played three seasons (2001-03) of volleyball with the U.S. National Team, leading the squad to a bronze medal at the 2003 Pan American Games.

Cummings is still regarded as one of the top tennis players in school history despite playing just one season at Texas. She earned All-America accolades in each of her first three years at Colorado (1979-82). In 1981, Cummings also ranked as high as No. 48 in the world professionally and was the top-ranked amateur in the world while at Colorado. She transferred to UT following the 1981-82 season and earned All-America singles honors as a senior in 1984 while posting a 29-7 singles mark in dual-match play. She concluded the year ranked fifth nationally in the final ITA rankings. Cummings was tabbed the 1984 Southwest Conference Player of the Year and was the league champion at No. 1 singles and No. 2 doubles. She led the Longhorns to the SWC team title and a trip to the NCAA quarterfinals. A member of the SWC All-Decade Team for the 1980s, Cummings went on to play for three years (1984-86) on the professional tennis circuit in the United States, England, France and Australia, competing in all four Grand Slam events.

A dual-sport All-American in volleyball and track and field (discus), Palmer was the first female two-sport All-American in school history. On the volleyball court, she earned Volleyball Monthly All-America Third Team honors as a junior in 1982 and honorable mention All-America accolades by the same publication as a senior in 1983. A two-time All-Southwest Conference First Team choice, she still holds the school single-match record with nine service aces. Palmer also earned All-America honors with the track and field team, recording a fifth-place finish in the discus at the 1982 AIAW National Outdoor Championships with a throw of 160-5. She helped lead the Longhorns to the school's first-ever AIAW national outdoor team title that season.

A three-time AIAW individual national champion, 18-time All-American and three-time honorable mention All-American, (Borgmann) Robertson was one of the top individual medley swimmers in UT history. She paced the Longhorns to back-to-back AIAW national team titles in 1981 and 1982. (Borgmann) Robertson won the national title in the 100 individual medley and was the third-highest individual point scorer (87 points) at the 1981 AIAW National Championship, helping the squad become the first UT women's athletics team to win a national title. She led the Longhorns to a second straight AIAW national team championship in 1982, claiming national titles in the 100 and 200 individual medleys and helping the 400 medley relay to a first-place finish. Competing for the U.S. team at the 1981 World University Games, (Borgmann) Robertson claimed the silver medal in the 100-meter butterfly and won gold in the 400-meter freestyle relay and silver in the 400-meter medley relay.

Vanisi is one of the most decorated throwers in school history, claiming three NCAA shot put titles and eight All-America honors in the shot put. She recorded top-six finishes in the shot put in each of her four NCAA Indoor and four Outdoor Track and Field Championship appearances and claimed eight Southwest Conference individual titles (four shot put, four discus) during her four seasons in Austin. Vanisi won the shot put national title at the 1991 NCAA Outdoor meet as a freshman and recorded a fourth-place finish in the event at the NCAA Indoor meet that season. She also swept the shot put national titles at the 1994 NCAA Indoor and 1994 NCAA Outdoor meets as a senior. Vanisi led the Longhorns to four top-three team finishes at the NCAA Championships and eight consecutive SWC team titles in her collegiate career. Her shot put of 60-0.5 during her senior year still stands as the top throw in school outdoor history. She went on to earn the bronze medal in the shot put at the 1995 USA Indoor, 1995 USA Outdoor and 1997 USA Indoor Championships.

Bonci is the Co-Director of Athletic Training/Sports Medicine for Intercollegiate Athletics and has spent the last 26 years working daily with UT student-athletes. In addition to her role as Co-Director, she also serves as Assistant Athletics Director for Sports Medicine in the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. During her time in Austin, Bonci and her staff have worked with student-athletes who have claimed 20 NCAA Championship team titles in seven different sports. She received the Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer of the Year award from the National Athletic Trainers' Association in 2006, and earned the same recognition from the Southwest Athletic Trainers' Association in 2010. Bonci was appointed to the U.S. medical staffs of the boycotted 1980 Moscow Olympics and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. She served as the head athletic trainer for the gold medal-winning U.S. Women's Basketball team in 1984.

The six inductees were selected by the 22-member UT Women's Athletics Hall of Honor Selection Committee. The committee is chaired by Dr. James Deitrick, professor of accounting in the Red McCombs School of Business. In addition to Deitrick and Plonsky, the committee includes: Tina Bonci, Beverly Bowes Hackney, Brad Buchholz, Jody Conradt, Stephanie DeMunbrun, Dr. Linda Ferreira-Buckley, Mary Herman, Courtney Houston, Jan Hughes, Becky Marshall, Howard Nirken, Sonia Perez, Lynn Pool, Dr. Robert Prentice, Dr. Randa Ryan, Sally Schlobohm Tan, Jill Sterkel, Craig Way, Lynn Wheeler and Joan Whitworth.

2010 Longhorn Women's Hall of Honor Inductee Bios

Erin Aldrich

Erin Aldrich (Track and Field, 1998-2000; Volleyball, 1998-99)
(B.S. Journalism, University of Texas, 2001)
A dual-sport All-American in track and field (high jump) and volleyball, Aldrich transferred to Texas from Arizona prior to the spring 1998 semester. One of the most decorated high jumpers in school and Big 12 Conference history, Aldrich was a four-time NCAA Champion, a six-time All-American and a six-time Big 12 Champion in the high jump. As a sophomore in 1998, she swept the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor high jump titles, becoming the first individual in school history to accomplish the feat. Her leap of 6-5.5 at the 1998 NCAA Indoor meet set an indoor collegiate record at the time. Aldrich also captured the 1999 NCAA Indoor and 2000 NCAA Outdoor high jump crowns. She helped lead the Longhorns to four consecutive NCAA Track and Field team championships (1998 Indoor, 1998 Outdoor, 1999 Indoor and 1999 Outdoor), an accomplishment matched by only one other school (LSU) in NCAA Division I Women's Track and Field history. Aldrich captured six consecutive Big 12 Conference high jump titles (three indoor, three outdoor) from 1998-2000, and she is just one of two athletes in league history to win six high jump crowns. To this date, she holds five of the top eight jumps in UT indoor history and four of the top eight jumps in school outdoor history, including sharing the top outdoor mark (6-4.75) with Destinee Hooker. On the volleyball court, Aldrich was a two-year letterwinner who claimed Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and All-Big 12 First Team honors as a junior in 1998. In her senior season (1999), she earned AVCA All-America First Team and Volleyball Magazine All-America Third Team accolades. Aldrich led the team in hitting percentage (.325), kills (470) and blocks (174) and became just the second person in UT history to record at least 450 kills, 300 digs and 150 blocks in a season. A unanimous All-Big 12 First Team choice, she led the nation in triple-doubles with six and also set the UT single-match record for kills with 32 against Baylor. Aldrich was tabbed the Big 12 Conference Female Athlete of the Year in 1999-2000, and she also earned Academic All-Big 12 First Team honors in volleyball in 1999 and was a two-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team pick in track and field (1999 and 2000). Following her collegiate career, Aldrich made the U.S. Olympic Track and Field team and competed in the high jump at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She returned to the volleyball court and played three seasons (2001-03) with the U.S. National Team, leading the squad to a bronze medal at the 2003 Pan American Games. Aldrich played professional volleyball in Italy for five years (2003-07) and was named to the 2004 and 2005 Italian A1 Professional Volleyball League All-Star teams. She still found time in the high jump to claim spots on four U.S. World Championship teams (1997, 2001, 2005 and 2007) and an alternate spot on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team, and she finished her 2005 track season with a Top 20 world ranking. Aldrich later played professional volleyball in Japan during the 2007-08 season. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Journalism in 2001. Aldrich has now returned to the UT campus and is on pace to receive her Master's degree in Business Administration from the prestigious McCombs School of Business in May 2011.

Kathleen Bogue Cummings

Kathleen Bogue Cummings (Tennis, 1984)
(B.S. Journalism, University of Texas, 1984; B.S. Nursing, University of Virginia, 1992)
Despite playing just one season at The University of Texas, Cummings is still regarded as one of the top tennis players in school history. When Cummings transferred to Texas from Colorado following her junior season (enrolled at Texas in the fall of 1982), she had already earned three All-America honors with the Buffaloes (1980-82) and reached the semifinals in singles play at the 1982 AIAW National Championships. In 1981, she also ranked as high as No. 48 in the world professionally and was the top-ranked amateur in the world while competing at Colorado. After sitting out one year due to NCAA transfer rules, Cummings earned All-America singles honors as a senior (1983-84) while posting a 29-7 singles mark in dual-match play and concluded the year ranked fifth nationally in the final ITA rankings. She was tabbed the 1984 Southwest Conference Player of the Year and was the league champion at No. 1 singles and No. 2 doubles. Cummings led the Longhorns to a 29-7 record, the SWC title and a trip to the NCAA quarterfinals. She advanced to the Round of 16 in singles and also competed in doubles at the 1984 NCAA Championship. Cummings earned the Jill A. Sterkel Award in 1984, an honor that recognizes a UT student-athlete who exhibits supreme leadership, competitiveness and graciousness. She was later selected to the SWC All-Decade Team for the 1980s along with fellow Longhorns Beverly Bowes and Susan Gilchrist. Cummings played three years (1984-86) on the professional tennis circuit in the United States, England, France and Australia, competing in all four Grand Slam events. Cummings earned her Bachelor's degree in Journalism from Texas in 1984 and went on to earn a Bachelor's degree in Nursing from the University of Virginia in 1992. She has spent the last 18 years as a registered nurse and currently serves as a progressive care neonatal unit staff nurse at Henrico Doctors Hospital in Richmond, Va. Cummings resides in Midlothian, Va., with her husband, Steve Schmidt, and her son, Bogue.

Jo Beth Palmer

Jo Beth Palmer (Track and Field, 1981-84; Volleyball, 1980-83)
(B.S. Education, University of Texas, 1985; M.S. Education, University of Texas at San Antonio, 1987)
A dual-sport All-American in volleyball and track and field (discus), Palmer was the first female two-sport All-American in school history. On the volleyball court, she was a four-year letterwinner who garnered Volleyball Monthly All-America Third Team and All-Southwest Conference First Team honors as a junior in 1982. She recorded 347 kills and 66 service aces and set a school single-match record that still stands today with nine service aces against Northwestern on Oct. 2, 1982. Palmer claimed Volleyball Monthly All-America honorable mention and All-SWC First Team accolades in her senior season (1983) after posting 256 kills, 242 digs and 53 service aces. She participated in the 1982 U.S. Olympic Festival and spent a short period of time training with the U.S. National Team that went on to win the silver medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. A four-year letterwinner in track and field who competed in the throwing events, Palmer placed fifth in the discus at the 1982 AIAW National Outdoor Championships with a throw of 160-5. She helped lead the Longhorns to the school's first-ever AIAW national outdoor team title that season. Palmer, who qualified for the national outdoor championships in all four years in the discus and twice in the shot put, still ranks as the fifth-best discus performer in school history. Prior to graduating from Texas, she toured with the U.S. Volleyball team to Hong Kong, Korea and Japan in the fall of 1984. Palmer earned her Bachelor's degree in Education in 1985 and went on to earn her Master's degree in Education from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1987 while serving as the head coach for UTSA's volleyball program for two years. She has spent the last 12 years as a health and physical education teacher and volleyball and track coach at Cy-Fair High School, while also serving for the past 20 years as a club volleyball coach throughout the state of Texas. Palmer and her daughter, Lila Kae, reside in Spring, Texas, with Palmer's best friend, Lisa Kelley, and Lisa's two sons, Justin and Chase.

Carol (Borgmann) Robertson

Carol (Borgmann) Robertson (Swimming, 1979-82)
(B.S. Education, University of Texas, 1983)
A three-time AIAW individual national champion, 18-time All-American and three-time honorable mention All-American, (Borgmann) Robertson was one of the top individual medley swimmers in UT history. During her four seasons in Austin, she led the Longhorns to two AIAW national team titles and a pair of additional top-five team finishes at the AIAW National Championships. As a sophomore in 1979-80, (Borgmann) Robertson was a member of two AIAW national record-setting relays while competing in the 400 free relay and 400 medley relay. In her junior season (1980-81), she captured the national title in the 100 individual medley and was the third-highest individual point scorer at the 1981 AIAW National Championship with 87 points. (Borgmann) Robertson helped the Longhorns to the AIAW national team title, as she also recorded second-place finishes in the 50 butterfly and the 100 butterfly and third-place showings in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle relay. The 1981 squad was the first UT women's athletics team to win a national championship. As a member of Team USA at the 1981 World University Games, she claimed the silver medal in the 100-meter butterfly and won gold in the 400-meter freestyle relay and silver in the 400-meter medley relay while racing with her UT teammate Jill Sterkel on both relays. (Borgmann) Robertson concluded her collegiate career by leading the Longhorns to their second straight AIAW national team championship in 1982, claiming national titles in the 100 and 200 individual medleys. She added third-place performances in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly and a fourth-place showing in the 100 freestyle and helped the 400 medley relay to a first-place finish and the 200 medley relay to a second-place showing. (Borgmann) Robertson earned her Bachelor's degree in Education in 1983. She is currently the program and staff director for Camp Longhorn, a co-ed residential summer camp in the Texas Hill Country that offers over 30 activities for children ages 8-16. (Borgmann) Robertson resides in Burnet, Texas, with her husband, Bill and their four children: sons Jim, Will and Joe, and daughter, Fran. Bill was a member of UT's first men's swimming and diving team to win a NCAA team title and the son of former Longhorns' men's swimming and diving coach "Tex" Robertson. Jim is entering his senior season on the UT men's swimming and diving team and helped the squad win the 2010 NCAA Championship, and Will also attends The University of Texas.

Eileen Vanisi

Eileen Vanisi (Track and Field, 1991-94)
(B.S. Kinesiology, University of Texas, 1995; M.S. Technology Education, Ashford University, 2009)
A three-time NCAA shot put champion, Vanisi is one of the most decorated throwers in school history. During her four seasons in Austin, she claimed eight All-America honors in the shot put, recording top-six finishes in the event in each of her four NCAA Indoor and four NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship appearances, and eight Southwest Conference individual titles (four shot put and four discus). Vanisi paced the Longhorns to four top-three team finishes at the NCAA Championships and eight consecutive SWC team titles, as Texas claimed both the league's indoor and outdoor crowns in each of her four seasons. In her freshman season (1991), she won the shot put national title at the NCAA Outdoor meet after recording a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor meet, and the Longhorns placed second at both the NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor meets. Vanisi also claimed a league indoor crown in the shot put and SWC outdoor titles in the discus and shot put. As a sophomore (1992), she placed second in the shot put at both the NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor meets and claimed the SWC outdoor discus title. Vanisi finished second in the shot put at the NCAA Indoor meet and sixth in the event at the NCAA Outdoor meet and again claimed the SWC outdoor discuss crown during her junior season (1993). She concluded her collegiate career by sweeping the shot put national titles at the NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor meets and winning the SWC indoor shot put crown and outdoor discus and shot put titles as a senior in 1994. Vanisi paced the Longhorns to a tie for third place at the NCAA Indoor meet and a second-place showing at the NCAA Outdoor meet. Her shot put of 60-0.5 during her senior season still stands as the top throw in UT outdoor history. To this date, Vanisi holds seven of the top eight outdoor shot put marks and the seventh-best outdoor discus throw in school history. Following her collegiate career, she claimed the bronze medal in the shot put at the 1995 USA Indoor Championships, the 1995 Outdoor Championships and the 1997 USA Indoor Championships. Vanisi earned her Bachelor's degree in Kinesiology in 1995 and went on to earn her Master's degree in Technology Education from Ashford University in 2009. She resides in Euless, Texas, and assists area youths with shot put and discus training.

Tina Bonci

Tina Bonci, MS, ATC, LAT (Sports Medicine, 1985-present)
(B.S., Lock Haven State College, 1977; M.S., University of Rhode Island, 1979)
Since being hired as the head women's athletic trainer at The University of Texas in the fall of 1985, Bonci has spent the last 26 years working daily with student-athletes at UT. Bonci currently holds the title of Co-Director of Athletic Training/Sports Medicine for Intercollegiate Athletics. In addition to her role as Co-Director, she also serves as Assistant Athletics Director for Sports Medicine in the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. Under her direction, UT has developed a nationally-recognized health care model that demonstrates how a non-hierarchical team of campus and community experts - represented by conventional and complementary medical practitioners, university academicians and researchers, exercise scientists, coaches and administrators - can be integrated within the framework of higher education to meet the health care needs of student-athletes. During her tenure in Austin, Bonci and her staff have been instrumental in maintaining and promoting the health of student-athletes who have claimed 20 NCAA Championship team titles in seven different sports. In 2006, she received the Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer of the Year award from the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA), a prestigious honor that recognizes unique and exceptional contributions to the profession through personal sacrifice and dedication. Bonci received the same recognition from the Southwest Athletic Trainers' Association in 2010. A noted speaker and lecturer on women's health issues, Bonci has been published in numerous peer-reviewed sports medicine journals. She was lead author for the NATA position statement that delineated standards of care for detecting, managing and preventing disordered eating in athletes that was published in the Journal of Athletic Training in 2008. Bonci also served on the NATA Convention Committee, chairing the clinical program for its 50th Anniversary Meeting in Kansas City, and she currently serves as the chair of the clinical program for the Southwest Athletic Trainers' Association. Bonci is a veteran of numerous national team competitions. She was appointed by the United States Olympic Committee/Sports Medicine Council to the medical staffs of the boycotted 1980 Moscow Olympics and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. In 1984, Bonci served as head athletic trainer for the gold medal-winning U.S. Women's Basketball team. She earned her Bachelor's degree from Lock Haven State College in 1977 and received her Master's degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1979. At Lock Haven, she was a member of the first graduating class in the college's specialized curriculum program in athletic training and was recognized with a Gold Whistle Award as one of the top graduating seniors in health and physical education. After graduate school, Bonci held a clinical appointment at the University of Pennsylvania Sports Medicine Center, a unique health care delivery facility at the time of its inception, providing complete diagnostic, in-patient and out-patient treatment for pediatric, adolescent, collegiate, professional and recreational athletes. In addition to her professional activities, she volunteers for the American Diabetes Association, having served on the Leadership Council of Central Texas for four years and as their top fundraiser for their signature walk event for three consecutive years.