Purchase tickets to the Nov. 16 Hall of Fame induction ceremony
BOSTON—Six standout Northeastern Athletics alumni will be inducted into the Northeastern University Varsity Club Hall of Fame for excellence in their respective sports, the department announced today.
Jim Bowman, Liam Ezekiel,
Katherine Glessner, Don MacLeod, Will Miller, and Jordon Shields will be honored in formal ceremonies at the Curry Student Center on the Northeastern campus in Boston on Saturday, Nov. 16.
The Class of 2013 includes four former student-athletes, a former coach and one individual who fulfilled each of those roles. Together, they transformed the Northeastern Athletics landscape, winning 17 varsity letters and achieving multiple individual top-10 school records. The two coaches combined for 222 wins, two conference titles, eight Beanpot championships, two coach of the year awards, and a New England Coach of the Year nomination.
Jim Bowman earned varsity letters on the Northeastern men's basketball team in 1962 and from 1964 to 1965. As a junior, he led Northeastern to the NCAA College Division Tournament. During his final season as a Husky, Bowman was elected team captain and averaged more than 17 points and 10 rebounds per game, earning him First Team All-New England honors. Bowman later served as one of the team's assistant coaches before taking over at the helm in 1971-72, when he led the Red and Black to a 12-9 record and was nominated for New England Coach of the Year.
Liam Ezekiel was Northeastern's first three-time All-America honoree in football, earning the distinction in his sophomore, junior and senior seasons from 2002 to 2004. As Northeastern's premier linebacker, Ezekiel, a native of Arlington, Mass., recorded 489 total tackles in four seasons—a program record and second all-time in Division I-AA history—and added 13 sacks. He was named first-team all-conference and a New England all-star in each of his final three seasons, and in 2004 was a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, presented annually to Division I-AA's top defensive player. Ezekiel was signed by the NFL's Buffalo Bills in 2005, where he played for two seasons.
Katherine Glessner rowed for the Northeastern varsity from 2005 to 2007, earning All-America status in each of her final two seasons. A native of Seattle, Wash., Glessner led Northeastern to a pair of eighth-place finishes and a sixth-place finish at the Eastern Sprints during her time on Huntington Avenue and earned the school's Outstanding Varsity Oarswoman award in both 2006 and 2007. She went on to a very successful career with the U.S. National Team, winning the women's eights at the World Rowing Under-23 Championships in 2006 and 2008 before going on to win the women's eights at the World Rowing Championships in 2009 and 2010. In 2011, she won gold in the eight at the Rowing World Cup stop in Lucerne and captured the Remenham Challenge Cup and set the course record at the Henley Royal Regatta.
Don MacLeod of Winthrop, Mass., coached the Northeastern women's ice hockey team during one of its most dominant periods in program history, leading the Huskies to 210 wins and eight consecutive Beanpot championships while behind the bench from 1981 to 1993. During that span, Northeastern won two ECAC titles, held a 42-game unbeaten streak and completed the program's only undefeated season (26-0-1) in 1987-88. His winning percentage (.772) ranks as the second-best all time in Division I women's hockey. MacLeod also coached the U.S. Women's National Team at the first-ever IIHF World Tournament in Ottawa in 1990, leading the Americans to a silver medal.
Will Miller was a three-year varsity letter-winner for the men's rowing team from 2003 to 2006. A native of Duxbury, Mass., Miller led the Huskies to three top-four finishes at Eastern Sprints. He was named team captain as a senior in 2006 and went on to win the program's Outstanding Varsity Oarsman award that season. Miller has enjoyed a highly-successful international career, which culminated in a first-place finish in the eight at the 2012 Final Olympic Qualification Regatta and a trip to the Olympics in London. In 2006, he finished sixth in the four with coxswain at the 2006 World Rowing Under 23 Championships. He placed fourth and eighth in the quadruple sculls at the Rowing World Cup stop in Lucerne in 2009 and 2010, respectively, and finished eighth in the quadruple sculls at the 2010 World Rowing Championships. In 2011, he placed fifth in the double sculls at the Rowing World Cup stop in Munich and reached the semifinals of the Double Sculls Challenge Cup at the 2011 Henley Royal Regatta.
Jordon Shields was a four-year varsity hockey letter-winner at Northeastern from 1992 to 1996 and was one of the most prolific athletes to ever play the sport on Huntington Avenue. Shields, a native of Ottawa, Ontario, made his mark as a prolific scorer, accumulating 104 assists and 166 points in his career, good for fourth and sixth, respectively, in Northeastern history. During his sophomore campaign in 1994, he helped lead the Huskies to the NCAA tournament. In 1995 he was named a Hockey East Second-Team All-Star and awarded the Huskies Radio Most Exciting Player Award, and in each of his final three seasons he scored at least 43 points—a feat accomplished by only five other players in NU history.
The Varsity Club Hall of Fame was established in 1974. This year's class, the 38th in the Hall of Fame's history, joins 233 past inductees in recognition of their contributions to Northeastern, its athletic programs and the Husky community, both during and after their time on Huntington Avenue.
Tickets for the event are available for $50 per person or $400 to reserve an eight-person table. To reserve your ticket, visit
GoNU.com/HallofFame2013 or contact Katie Congdon at
k.congdon@neu.edu or (617) 373-4327.
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