Purdue Athletics Announces 2022 Leroy Keyes Hall of Fame Class

To be enshrined into any Hall of Fame is an honor that few in the world will ever know. It means you’ve reached the pinnacle of your profession and likely have made a substantial impact in your field. For the Leroy Keyes Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame class of 2022 that is certainly the case. The class was announced today and includes some heavy hitters. It includes a former AD, football players, basketball players (men and women), as well as soccer, wrestling, and swimming and diving. Let’s take a look at the inductees.

Morgan Burke - Swimming and Diving and Athletics Director

Morgan Burke is a Boilermaker through and through. While he might not be known primarily as a Purdue athlete it’s still a large part of who he was and colored his decisions as AD. Burke was captain of the swim team at Purdue during his senior year. He of course later returned to Purdue as the AD from 1993-2016. He is the longest ever serving AD. Given the nature of the position now it seems unlikely that record will be beat anytime soon. He oversaw numerous facilities upgrades as well as the National Championships in Women’s Basketball and Women’s Golf along with various individual titles.

Camille Cooper - Women’s Basketball

Cooper is best known as an integral member of the 1999 NCAA Tournament Championship squad. She was also on the 2001 team that finished runner-up in one of the best games I can recall watching. Purdue was just so close to a win. She was named an All-American during her senior season. During her time at Purdue she brought home three conference titles and scored 1,575 career points. She went on to play for the New York Liberty in the WNBA. Following her career in basketball she became an attorney.

Joe Corso - Wrestling

Corso competed at two weight classes during his time at Purdue, 118 and 126 pounds. He was team captain his senior year and finished his career with a 42-7 record. He was the 1975 Big Ten Champion in the 126 pound weight class and was named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler. He placed 3rd at the NCAAs that same year and was named an All-American. He competed in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.

Walter Jordan - Men’s Basketball

Jordan was at Purdue from 1975-1978 and led the team in scoring for his final three years. He averaged 16.6 points per game over his career and is one of just four players with at least 1,800 points and 800 rebounds (JBC, JJ, Terry Dischinger are the others). With 1,813 points he currently sits at 9th on the career scoring list which is all the more impressive when you consider how much the game has changed in the past 42 years. He was twice named All-Big Ten and was later drafted by the New Jersey Nets.

Darlene (Warta) Renie - Women’s Swimming and Diving

Renie is a two time Big Ten Champion in the 200 butterfly and also a two time All-American in the same event. That alone puts her in rarified air. At the time of graduation Renie was the Purdue record holder in both the 100 and 200 meter butterfly. Her 200 meter time currently sits at 9th overall in school history. She later came back to Purdue as a long time assistant coach from 1997-2011. She currently serves as the Director of Operations for the men’s and women’s teams.

Stuart Schweigert - Football

If you listen closely you can still hear the calls of STUUUUUUU echoing in some corners of Ross-Ade Stadium. The hard hitting safety made a huge impact during his time with Purdue. He earned two first team All Big-Ten selections and a second team All-American selection during his time at Purdue. He was the conference freshman of the year in 2000. He still holds the record for interceptions at 17. Schweigert would go on to play in the NFL with the Raiders and Lions to go along with some practice squad/preseason spots as well.

Lauren Sesselmann - Soccer

Sesselmann earned all conference honors twice in her career. Her leadership helped Purdue to make three NCAA Tournaments as well as an appearance in the Sweet 16. When she left Purdue she held records for goals, assists, points, game winning goals, shots on goal, and multi-goal games. That alone would be impressive but following graduation at Purdue she headed back to Canada where she landed on the National team and won gold at the 2011 Pan-American games, Bronze at the 2012 Olympics, and participated in the 2015 World Cup.

Alex Yunevich - Football

Taking the field from 1929-1931 Yunevich was known as one of the “four riveters” on Purdue’s first team to win a Big Ten title. The fullback earned all Big Ten recognition during the title winning campaign while rushing for over 400 yards and averaging more than 4 yards per carry. Following his time at Purdue he went into coaching and has a career record of 186-98-13 at stops at what is now Central Michigan as well as Alfred University.