Aug. 13, 2007

Baseball's Ben Broussard, football's Zack Bronson and John Miller and Keri Ange Gilroy and Leonard Chisholm from track and field have been selected for induction into the McNeese State Hall of Fame.

The induction ceremony will be held at halftime of the Cowboys' season opening football game with Portland State on September 1. A reception in honor of the 2007 inductees as well as for all other members of the Hall of Fame will be sponsored by the Cowboy Club and held in the Cowboy Room from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sept. 1.

This year's class is a selection of standout athletes, the group earning all-American and all-conference honors, winning conference titles, setting school and conference records and going on to perform in the professional ranks.

Broussard, who set McNeese and Southland Conference records for home runs in a single season and for a career, is still active in the pro ranks, being a member of the Seattle Mariner baseball team. He was drafted in 1999 by Cincinnati and played five years with the Cleveland Indians.

Twice named McNeese State's most valuable player (1998 and 1999) and the school's athlete of the year for 1998-99, Broussard led the SLC in batting with a .427 average in 1999, in home runs with 27 in 1999 and in RBIs with 77 in 1998. He continues to hold 11 school and three conference records.

Ben Broussard - now playing with the Seattle Mariners

The Sour Lake, TX native hit 43 home runs in his career with the Cowboys, drove in 174 runs and belted four grand slams. His No. 23 is the only baseball number to have been retired at McNeese.

Bronson also pursued a professional career after his collegiate days, playing eight seasons, seven of them as a starter in the defensive backfield for the San Francisco Forty-Niners, where he had 19 career pass interceptions, played in a NFC championship game and set a team record by returning an interception 97 yards for a touchdown.

As a collegiate player, Bronson is one of only five players in Southland Conference history to be named to the all-conference team four times. He earned all-American, all-conference and all-Louisiana honors, made 19 career pass interceptions, was named the team MVP and played in the Blue-Gray post season all-star game.

Bronson, who is from Jasper, TX, led McNeese in pass interceptions for three straight years and in 1993 he intercepted nine passes and returned them a school and conference record 253 yards.

During his McNeese career, he helped the Cowboys win two league titles and compete in three NCAA Division I football championships.

He is now in his second season as a defensive backfield coach with the Cowboys.

Miller, a native of Baton Rouge, was a standout defensive tackle for the Cowboys from 1976 to 1979, playing on two conference championship teams and in two Independence Bowl games. He was considered by then Cowboy assistant coach Tucker Debetaz as one of the top defensive linemen he had coached.

John Miller - started in the Blue Gray game.

He earned all-conference honors and in 1979 was named the team's co-defensive player of the year. Following his senior year he was selected to play in the Blue-Gray post season all-star game and was a starter for the Gray team at defensive tackle, becoming the first Cowboy player to start in this post season contest.

Miller also served as a graduate assistant coach for one season with the Cowboys in 1980 when they went to the Independence Bowl for a third time and he then joined Lamar Advertising where he now serves as a vice president in the division of national sales.

Ange, a native of Lake Charles, was the first top rated distance runner for the McNeese Cowgirls, setting numerous records and winning five Southland Conference championships.

During a four year career from 1990 to 1993, she won league titles in the 10,000 meter run (1991, 1992, 1993) and in the 5,000 meter run (1991, 1993).

Keri Ange Gilroy - five time conference champion and McNeese athlete of the year.

Three times she was named the team's most valuable athlete and at one time held school records for 11 events (800, 1500, 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 outdoors and 800, mile, two mile, three mile, 3000 and 5000 indoors).

She was named McNeese State's athlete of the year for the 1991-92 season.

Following graduation she continued to run, competing on a national professional road racing circuit for New Balance and Power Bar.

Ange is now a special education teacher at Iowa and Bell City High Schools and is married to McNeese track coach Brendon Gilroy.

Chisholm was one of the very first standout distance runners for the Cowboys, competing from 1956 to 1959. He helped the Cowboys win their only conference track championship (then the Gulf States Conference) in 1958 and he won a total of five league titles.

Three times he won the mile run and twice he won the two mile run, setting school records in both.

Chisholm, who grew up in Lake Charles and graduated from Westlake High, was named the McNeese team MVP in 1959.

Leonard Chisholm - five time conference champion.

At McNeese, Chisholm was also a distinguished graduate in ROTC and served with the U.S. Army for 10 years, rising to the rank of major. He served in Vietnam for 13 months where he was awarded the Bronze Star for valor and he was also awarded 19 other medals.

After his Army service, he entered into private business in the New Orleans and Lake Charles area and is now training riding horses as a "horse whisperer" in Plaquemine.