Charles Rogers, Carol Hutchins among 8 to enter Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame

East Lansing — Eight new names are set to join the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame, as the 2021 class was announced on Monday.

The class is led by former football standout Charles Rogers and includes Carol Hutchins (softball/women’s basketball), Franklin Gomez (wrestling), Anthony Hamm (men’s cross country/track and field),  Lynn Janson (men’s golf), Elizabeth (Shimek) Moeggenberg (women’s basketball), Floor Rijpma (field hockey) and Ron Scott (hockey).

The class will be inducted Sept. 24 as part of Michigan State’s “Celebrate” weekend. The festivities include the Varsity Letter Jacket Presentation on Sept. 23 and the Hall of Fame induction ceremony the next day. On Sept. 25, the class will be recognized at halftime of Michigan State’s football game against Nebraska.

In just two seasons at MSU, Rogers made a significant impact. The Saginaw native is still the program’s leader in touchdown catches with 27 and ranks third in school history in receiving yards (2,821) and eighth in catches (135). He also has the top-two MSU single-season marks for receiving yards (1,470 in 2001 and 1,351 in 2002) and TD catches (14 in 2001 and 13 in 2002).

A first-round pick of the Detroit Lions in 2003, Rogers died in 2019 at the age of 38.

“Charles was a special player — athletically, he was phenomenal,” said Lorenzo Guess, a former teammate and current associate head strength and conditioning coach for the Spartans. “His energy was awesome, and he really loved the game and his teammates. He was very loyal to everyone he played with and he had tremendous respect from everybody. He was a real person. Sometimes you might have the best player on the team and people don’t relate to him, but Charles related with everybody.”

Hutchins is best known as the national championship-winning softball coach at Michigan, but her career got rolling at MSU. The Lansing native lettered in softball and basketball, helping the Spartans to an Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) National championship in softball in 1976 — prior to the NCAA sponsoring championships for women.

Hutchins, who has led Michigan to 22 Big Ten tiles and 12 appearances in the College World Series, is also a member of the Greater Lansing Sports Hall of Fame (2000), the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame (2006) and Michigan Athletics Hall of Fame (2011) and is the NCAA’s winningest active softball coach, with nearly 1,700 victories to her credit.

Gomez is the Spartans’ last national champion, winning the 2009 NCAA title at 133 pounds. A two-time Big Ten Champion for MSU at 133 pounds in 2008 and 2009, Gomez amassed 119 career wins for the Spartans from 2006-10 and is tied for sixth all-time on the career wins list at Michigan State. A total of 15 of his wins came in NCAA Championship action, tied for fourth on MSU’s all-time NCAA Tournament wins list.

Hamm, a six-time All-American, captured two outdoor Big Ten Championships in the 10,000 meters. In 1991, he won the title with a stellar time of 29:11.83. He repeated the title in 1992 with a time of 30:02.38. Hamm is one of only six athletes in the Big Ten to repeat titles in the 10k. In cross country, Hamm helped Michigan State finish in the top five in the Big Ten Championships three times, including a second-place team finish in 1988. He is still the only Spartan men’s cross country runner to be a four-time All-American. A three-time participant in the NCAA Cross Country Championships, Hamm helped MSU finish has high as sixth in 1991.

Janson, an East Lansing native, was a three-time All-American and two-time All-Big Ten performer and led the Spartans to the program’s first Big Ten Championship in 1969. He won the Michigan Amateur in 1968, and went on to play in seven U.S. Opens, seven PGA Championships, one Senior PGA Championship, one Senior U.S. Open and nearly 30 total PGA Tour events in all.

Moeggenberg is the fifth women’s basketball player to enter the Hall of Fame after a career highlighted by a 2005 Final Four appearance. Moeggenberg left Michigan State as the all-time leading scorer with 1,780 points and now stands third all-time in points scored but remains first in field goals made with 719. The forward is one of only two Spartans to earn All-American honors twice and is one of only six MSU women’s basketball players to earn All-Big Ten honors all four seasons.

Rijpma was a two-time All-American and helped lead MSU to three straight NCAA tournament appearances, including reaching the regional finals in both 2008 and 2009. The Spartans went 6-0 in league play in 2009 to win their first-ever outright Big Ten regular season title and captured the conference tournament title to become just the second team in league history to finish the regular season undefeated and win the Big Ten Tournament.

Scott earned two first-team All-America selections, two first-team All-CCHA awards, two Hobey Baker Award finalist appearances, three team MVPs and two George Alderton MSU Male Athlete of the Year trophies. He went on to play five seasons for the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings. 

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @mattcharboneau