WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., Sept. 23, 2018 — The 38th annual induction ceremony for the West Liberty University Athletic Hall of Fame will be held Saturday at the university’s Academic, Sports and Recreation Complex.
This year’s class features Darren Banks (football), Rich Brothers (football), Eddie Christian (football), Bruce Cox (track and field), Jim LeMasters (baseball) and Rich Schoene (wrestling).
Festivities will begin with a social gathering in the lobby of the ASRC from 8:30-9 a.m. with breakfast and the formal induction ceremony to follow at 9 a.m. in the R. Emmett Boyle Conference Center. The event was open to the public. The Hall of Fame’s Class of 2018 was recognized on the field at West Family Stadium during halftime of Saturday’s home football game against UVa-Wise. The Toppers won the game, 23-17.
DARREN BANKS, Football
One of the most decorated defensive backs in the history of NCAA Division II football, Darren Banks turned the West Liberty secondary into a “no-fly” zone from 2005 to 2008.
A ball-hawking cornerback, Banks was the only 3-time first-team All-American in the 90-year history of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The four-year starter finished his stellar career with a staggering 35 interceptions – a number that still ranks No. 2 all-time in the NCAA Division II record book.
A 3-time first-team All-WVIAC and All-Region selection, Banks led the nation with a school-record 13 interceptions as a junior in 2007 and capped his senior season by being honored as the WVIAC and NCAA Division II East Region Defensive Player of the Year.
Banks graduated from West Liberty with a degree in Sports Management and has put that degree to good use since leaving the hilltop. He and his wife, Cornetta, have owned and operated a janitorial services company in the Chesapeake, Va. area for the past seven years. They also run a home health agency and sell real estate.
Darren and Cornetta reside in Chesapeake with their growing family – Desire (13), Kam’ran (7) and Darriana (5) – with another addition on the way.
RICH BROTHERS, Football
The leading tackler in West Liberty football history, Rich Brothers was a dominant defensive presence for Hilltopper teams during the early 1980s.
Brothers came to the hilltop after a stellar multi-sport career – football, wrestling and baseball – at Bridgeport (Ohio) High School and quickly played his way into West Liberty’s starting lineup. A wide-ranging linebacker, Brothers got his career off to a fast start with 123 tackles as a true freshman.
The All-WVIAC standout also posted a 127-tackle season as a junior, making him the only West Liberty gridder with multiple 120-tackle seasons, before finishing his career with a school-record 406 stops.
Brothers graduated from West Liberty in 1983 with a degree in Business Administration/Hotel and Restaurant Management. A professional chef who has worked in several areas of the food service industry, including stints with Marriott and Sheraton, Brothers now owns and operates a highly-successful catering business, Designated Chef, Inc., in Acworth, Ga.
He has been happily married to the former Lori Noble, a West Liberty alumna, since 1984. The Brothers are the proud parents of two daughters, Erin and Keri. Rich remains active in coaching wrestling at Kell (Ga.) High School and was recently honored as the conference’s Assistant Coach of the Year.
EDDIE CHRISTIAN, Football
The first 1,000-yard rusher in the history of West Liberty football, Eddie Christian was one of the top running backs in the West Virginia Conference during the mid-1990s.
Christian came to the hilltop in 1992 after a stellar career at Cadiz (Ohio) High School and made history as a junior when he posted the first 1,000-yard rushing season in Hilltopper history. His 242 carries and 1,015 rushing yards established school records that stood for nearly a decade.
A 2-time All-WVIAC selection and a Preseason All-American heading into his senior year, Christian was also the first West Liberty back to post multiple 200-yard rushing games. He graduated as the school record-holder for single-season and career rushing yards and single-season carries.
Christian has been a small business owner in the fitness industry since 2003. He currently owns and operates a successful personal training and nutritional supplement business where he works with athletes of all levels. He also works as a life coach, teaching personal development and leadership values.
Eddie resides in Circleville, Ohio with his wife, Jessie – a former collegiate athlete – and two children, Maleah (9) and Solomon (6). Eddie also has two daughters, Bryanna (21) and Olivia (10) along with two other sons, Justin (24) and Noah (17).
BRUCE COX, Track and Field
An outstanding distance runner who set numerous records on the hilltop during the mid-1970s, Bruce Cox also made his mark as an outstanding collegiate coach.
Cox helped lead West Liberty to multiple West Virginia Conference track and cross country titles during his dazzling run from 1973-76. A 6-time national qualifier and 10-time All-WVIAC honoree, Cox posted a Top 40 finish at the 1975 NAIA Cross Country Nationals and was honored as the 1976 WVIAC Male Track Athlete of the Year.
He set nine outdoor and indoor school records – many of which remain on the books nearly four decades after Cox graduated from West Liberty. He went on to earn his master’s degree at Marshall while serving as a graduate assistant coach with the Thundering Herd’s track and cross country programs.
After a quarter-century in the insurance business, Cox was hired as the founding coach of the track and cross country programs at the University of Charleston in 2000 and has been head track/cross country coach at WVU Tech since 2007. In 18 years as a coach, Cox has coached 43 conference champions, 20 national qualifiers and 8 All-Americans.
Bruce resides in Belle, W.Va. with his wife, Faith. They have three daughters – Maeve, Erin and Emma – and four grandchildren.
JIM LEMASTERS, Baseball
One of the West Virginia Conference’s most dominant pitchers, Jim LeMasters was an All-American ace who followed up his record-setting run at West Liberty with a multi-year pro career.
The Wheeling, W.Va. native came to the hilltop in 1984 as the West Virginia American Legion Player of the Year after leading Wheeling Post 1 to its third straight state title. The hard-throwing righthander picked up where he left off with Coach Bo McConnaughy’s diamond powerhouse, capping his stellar career by leading the Hilltoppers to the 1986 WVIAC championship.
LeMasters set school records for wins (11), complete games (12) and innings pitched (95.1) that season. The WVIAC and NAIA Area 7 Pitcher of the Year, he became only the second first-team NAIA All-American in West Liberty history.
He was a 10th-round draft pick of the Atlanta Braves and spent six seasons in professional baseball, rising as high as the Class AAA level with the Braves and Kansas City Royals organizations before returning to the Ohio Valley.
LeMasters has spent the past 22 years working for United Electric of Wheeling with the last 13 years as Project Manager.
He and his wife, Dawnetti – also a WLU alumna – will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary on Sept. 24. They have two daughters, Breanna (27) and Adreanna (20), and reside in Bethlehem, W.Va.
RICH SCHOENE, Wrestling
One of the most accomplished wrestlers in the program’s long and storied history, Rich Schoene earned back-to-back All-America honors for the Hilltoppers during the mid-1980s.
A product of John Marshall High School, Schoene was a four-year letterman and two-year captain for legendary mat coach Dr. Vince Monseau at West Liberty. He claimed his first NAIA All-America honor as a junior when he finished 6th at 190 pounds in the 1983 NAIA Nationals and followed that up with a 3rd-place finish in 1984.
Schoene posted a sparkling 86-31-2 record on the mat at West Liberty and still ranks among the top three all-time in shutouts, pins and reversals.
After graduating from West Liberty in 1984, Schoene taught and coached in Marshall County and Ohio County schools, serving as an assistant coach on Wheeling Park High School’s 1986 state champion wrestling team. He has been employed as an educator with the Belmont-Harrison Vocational School District since 1994, serving as District Superintendent since 2010.
Rich and his wife, Robin Stevenson – also a West Liberty alumna – reside in Glen Dale, W.Va. They are the proud parents of one adult daughter, Emily.