KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Western Michigan Athletics will induct the 2014 Hall of Fame class, Friday, Nov. 14 at the Fetzer Center and this week wmubroncos.com will take a look at each of our inductees: Jason Babin, football (2000-03), Larissa Chinwah-Mavros, women's tennis (1999-2002), Tracy Daniel, softball/volleyball (1983-86), Jamal Mayers, ice hockey (1993-96), Leon McGee, men's basketball (1991-93) and Dick Pond, men's track & field (1960-61).
Tracy Daniel
From being a coach to getting coached, 2014 WMU Hall of Fame inductee Tracy Daniel has seemingly done it all. Daniel succeeded in both volleyball and softball at Western Michigan, which has translated to her professional success as well.
Daniel was a rare breed of athlete at WMU, playing for both the volleyball and softball teams. She thrived on the softball field being a part of the 1984 Mid-American Conference Championship team and earning First Team All-MAC honors. Daniel excelled in the classroom as garnering All-MAC Academic team honors three years in a row (84', 85', 86'). During her one year of volleyball before injuring her wrist she was a part of the 1982 MAC Championship squad.
“My injury was possibly the best thing that happened to me,” said Daniel. “I turned my positive into a negative and focused primarily on softball more.”
Following the 1984 MAC Championship for softball, Daniel and the rest of her Bronco teammates would face Northwestern for a chance to make it into the College World Series. In one of her most unforgettable experiences at WMU, the Broncos would take down the Wildcats in game one of the series due to clutch hitting.
“I remember getting up the in the batter's box and hitting one over the left fielders head to get on base and the next batter up hit one off the foul pole to win the game,” said Daniel. “I will never forget that moment as that was a phenomenal team to be a part of.”
After WMU, Daniel would then become a part of Comstock Public Schools as a physical education teacher. Spending a year at the elementary level and two years at the middle school level, Daniel moved up to Comstock High School and has now been teaching there for 27 years.
“I love being at Comstock and I want to do as much as I can to help as many people as I can through physical education,” said Daniel.
While it may not be on the playing field, Daniel is still racking up awards as in 2010 she was named the Michigan Physical Education Teacher of the Year and has recently been given the Distinguished Service award by the Wolverine Conference.
Daniel has also pursued her passion of not only teaching but coaching as well as she served as Varsity coach for several sports including Softball (13 years), tennis (11 years), Volleyball (6 years) and heads into her 12th year as varsity women's golf coach after starting the program in 2003.
“I am happy to have had a lot of great teams and a lot of success over the years,” said Daniel.
Although there have been many successes of the field for Daniel, she is always quick to revert back to WMU and the coaches and people who helped her along the way to make her who she is.
“I always had tremendous coaches while at WMU including hall of fame coach Fran Ebert,” said Daniel. “I was very lucky to come through Western when I did.”
It's the second straight year and 12th member overall from the softball program to be inducted into the WMU Hall of Fame. The WMU Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2014 will be honored during a ceremony on Friday, Nov.14 at the Fetzer Center at 6 p.m., followed by an on-field acknowledgement at halftime of the WMU football game versus Eastern Michigan the following day.
