Utah State Will Honor Two Historic Teams and Three Standouts in Its 2026 Hall Class

Utah State will bring five entries from three sports into its Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, September 25. The 1960 football team, the 1961 football team, track and field standout Chari Hawkins, men's basketball guard Reid Newey and women's basketball guard Jennifer Schlott make up the 23rd class, with the ceremony scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Russell/Wanlass Performance Hall on campus.

Utah State Athletics announced the class in May and later set the ceremony details: $10 tickets are on sale through the department's official ticket link. The group puts two consecutive Skyline Conference-era football teams beside three individual careers that span track, men's basketball and women's basketball.

Two football teams from back-to-back nine-win seasons

The 1960 Aggies set a school record for wins at the time, going 9-2, tying for first in the Skyline Conference and ending the season in the Sun Bowl. Utah State Athletics says that team outscored opponents 274-85 and averaged 312.0 rushing yards per game, a school record that remains in place.

Defense shaped that 1960 run, too. Utah State held opponents to 6.5 points per game during the regular season, fifth nationally, and the department lists that figure as another standing program record. The Aggies were ranked in consecutive late-October and early-November weeks, at No. 18 and No. 19.

The 1961 team followed with a 9-1-1 record, a 4-0-1 Skyline Conference mark and a Gotham Bowl trip to New York City. Utah State averaged 38.7 points per game, then a school record and first in the nation, while allowing 7.8 points per game.

That group finished No. 10 in both the Associated Press and UPI polls, the highest final ranking in program history, according to Utah State Athletics. The Hall of Fame bio says eight of the team's 11 opponents were held to 10 points or fewer; its 139.4 total yards allowed per game, including 50.8 on the ground and 88.6 through the air, remain school records.

Chari Hawkins' record book reaches the Hall

Hawkins competed for Utah State track and field from 2010 through 2015. The official Hall of Fame announcement calls her the most decorated female athlete in school history, a five-time All-American and the university's first female United States Olympian.

Her Utah State record list covers multiple events: 8.30 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, 1.83 meters in the indoor high jump, 1.81 meters in the outdoor high jump, 4,194 points in the pentathlon and 5,750 points in the heptathlon. She collected 24 all-conference honors across the Western Athletic Conference and Mountain West, plus WAC and Mountain West championships and two Mountain West Athlete of the Year awards.

Utah State Athletics also credits Hawkins with appearing for Team USA on eight national, world and Olympic teams after college, as well as 15 international medals. Her individual induction puts a combined-events athlete alongside two football teams whose defensive benchmarks still appear in the program record book.

Reid Newey and Jennifer Schlott own lasting scoring marks

Newey, a Roy native who played in 1984 and from 1987 through 1989, was a first-team All-Big West selection as a senior. He enters the Hall with 1,536 career points, 13th in Utah State men's basketball history, and 237 made 3-pointers, fourth on the program list.

His 98 made 3-pointers in 1988-89 are tied for third in a season at Utah State. Newey also finished with 298 assists and 128 steals, and returned as an assistant coach under Kohn Smith from 1989 to 1991 after his playing career.

Schlott, who played from 2011 through 2014, is Utah State women's basketball's career points and free-throws-made leader with 1,566 points and 401 free throws. The Hall announcement identifies her as the only player in program history to receive either Mountain West Player of the Year or Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American recognition.

Her senior season supplies the sharpest single-game and single-season markers: 811 total points, a 26.2-point scoring average and 192 assists, all school records, plus a 44-point game that remains the program's only 40-point performance. Utah State won 72 games during Schlott's four-year career, which the department lists as a women's basketball program record.

The September 25 ceremony in Logan

The Hall of Fame's official page lists the September 25 ceremony at Russell/Wanlass Performance Hall at 7 p.m. Utah State Athletics says the 2026 group will join a Hall that, since its 1993 inception, has inducted nearly 150 student-athletes, coaches, administrators and contributors, along with five teams before this class.

The event brings a precise set of eras into the same room: football teams from 1960 and 1961, Hawkins' 2010-15 track and field career, Newey's 1980s basketball production and Schlott's record-setting 2011-14 run. Tickets and any day-of updates should be checked through Utah State Athletics' Hall of Fame page before attending.

Key facts: Utah State's 2026 Athletics Hall of Fame class

• Ceremony: Friday, September 25, 2026, at 7 p.m. in Russell/Wanlass Performance Hall on the Utah State campus
• Tickets: $10 through Utah State Athletics' official ticket link
• Team inductees: 1960 football (9-2, Sun Bowl) and 1961 football (9-1-1, Gotham Bowl)
• Individual inductees: Chari Hawkins (track & field, 2010-15), Reid Newey (men's basketball, 1984; 1987-89) and Jennifer Schlott (women's basketball, 2011-14)
• 1961 distinction: Finished No. 10 in both the AP and UPI polls, Utah State's highest final football ranking
• Hawkins distinction: Five-time All-American and Utah State's first female U.S. Olympian, according to the department
• Newey distinction: 1,536 career points and 237 career 3-pointers
• Schlott distinction: Utah State women's basketball career leader in points (1,566) and free throws made (401)