CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics named 11 new members to the UI Athletics Hall of Fame. This is the ninth Hall of Fame class and includes one coach and representatives from basketball, football, baseball, track and field, swimming and diving and softball.
“The Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2025 is another reminder of the many great athletes and coaches who have represented the Fighting Illini,” said Illinois Director of Athletics Josh Whitman. “Every year I love calling the new class members and hearing the excitement in their voices. We look forward to hosting each of these great Illini and their families this fall during the induction weekend.”
The only non-athlete in this class is former women’s basketball head coach Theresa Grentz, who led the Illini to their only Big Ten title in 1997, two NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen appearances and five NCAA Tournament appearances during her 12-year career in Champaign-Urbana. Grentz is a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame after compiling a record 681-360 during her 35 years as a head coach.
Football is represented by quarterback Kurt Kittner and defensive tackle Joe Rutgens. Kittner led the Fighting Illini to the 2001 Big Ten Championship and Sugar Bowl appearance, earning Second-Team All-Big Ten honors his senior year. A three-year starter, Kittner finished second in career passing yardage with 8,722 yards.
Rutgens earned First-Team All-Big Ten honors in 1959 and 1960, and First-Team All-America recognition in 1960. He was drafted in the first round of the 1960 NFL Draft as the third overall pick by Washington and played for them from 1961-69, earning Pro Bowl honors twice.
Swimming and diving star Jane Fauntz Manske competed for the U.S. at the 1928 and 1932 Olympics, winning a bronze medal at the ’32 Los Angeles Games in the three-meter springboard dive, after competing in the 1928 Amsterdam Games in the 100-meter breaststroke, reaching the semifinals. She once set two world records in the breaststroke within 30 minutes at a meet in 1928.
Baseball star Scott Spiezio is the UI career home run record holder with 48 homers from 1991 to 1993. He earned All-America honors in 1993 while also earning second and third-team All-Big Ten recognition. Spiezio went…
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