Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Blue Raider Sports Hall of Fame class of 2021 announced
7/21/2021 11:15:00 AM | Baseball, Football, General, Men's Basketball, Men's Golf, Women's Basketball, BRAA
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The Blue Raider Hall of Fame announced its class of 2021 on Tuesday, surprising the six inductees during a Zoom meeting broadcast hosted by Voice of the Blue Raiders Chip Walters and Director of Athletics Chris Massaro.
Former Blue Raider student athletes Rawley Bishop (baseball), Nathaniel Claybrooks (football), Jason Millard (men's golf), Patrick Simpson (wrestling), Jamie Thomatis (women's basketball) and Desmond "Boogie" Yates (men's basketball) will be formally inducted into the hall of fame on October 2 before Middle Tennessee's football game against Marshall.
Each inductee was joined by a contemporary from their time in Murfreesboro to celebrate their accomplishments and wish them congratulations on this extraordinary honor. Prior to the class of 2021's induction ceremony, only 163 former Blue Raider student athletes have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Here are some highlights from Tuesday's celebration of Blue Raider History.
Rawley Bishop
Bishop remains one of the top all-around performers on the baseball diamond in Blue Raider history more than a decade after his senior season in 2009. A two-time All-Region and All-Sun Belt performer, Bishop leads the career list in five categories at MT, including RBI, runs scored and total bases. He's no. 2 all-time in home runs behind his former teammate Bryce Brentz, who was inducted into the Blue Raider Hall of Fame in 2020.
Bishop caught onto the surprise a tad bit earlier than the other inductees on the Zoom because helped with Brentz' surprise last summer. But the emotion on his face was evident when asked for what this moment meant to him.
"It's a little bit more difficult on this side than it was the previous time," Bishop said. "I'm just so appreciative and extremely honored to be included with all of these great athletes."
He was joined on the Zoom by Volunteer State Community College Head Coach Jim McGuire, who was an assistant at Middle Tennessee when Bishop and Brentz formed a top-tier one-two punch.
"That combination hitting back-to-back in the lineup, and what kind of production they had," McGuire said. "It was pick your poison throughout that entire lineup, but particularly when you got to those two guys."
Nathaniel Claybrooks
Claybrooks was one of the top defensive players during Middle Tennessee's time in Division I-AA football. He was a first-team All-American in 1995 as well as a two-time All-Ohio Valley Conference linebacker under Coach Boots Donnelly, leading the Blue Raiders in tackles during his All-Conference seasons in 1994 and 1995. He remains in the top 10 on the career tackles list with 270.
"I took pride at Middle Tennessee State every time I stepped on the field," Claybrooks said. "It means so much to me and my family to hear the great news today."
Former Voice of the Blue Raiders Dick Palmer stood in for Donnelly, noting the team success the Blue Raiders had during Claybrooks' years as a starter, winning 20 games across the 1993-1995 seasons.
Palmer highlighted Claybrooks' role in the Wide Tackle Six, a defensive set featuring six down lineman and two linebackers that has fallen out of favor in college football with the advent of spread offenses. But, in the more run-heavy days when Claybrooks played, it opened up gaps for him to control the running game.
"I owe everything to my defensive line, because they kept every offensive lineman off me," Claybrooks said. "That allowed me to really roam the field, drop back into my zone, and attack the offense."
Jason Millard
A four-time All-American golfer during his time at Middle Tennessee, Millard joined the Zoom during the pro-am day of the Price Cutter Charity Championship in Springfield, Missouri, where Millard currently competes on the Korn Ferry Tour.
From his golf cart on the course, Millard learned he was elected to the Hall of Fame during his first year on the ballot. A class of 2011 graduate, former student athletes become eligible for the Blue Raider Hall of Fame 10 years after they last competed for MT.
"There's a lot of people I need to thank along the way that made this achievement possible," Millard said. "My parents drove me to all those golf tournaments and supported me financially. And Whit Turnbow, who took a chance on me."
Turnbow joined the call to congratulate the Murfreesboro native, highlighting that he met Millard back when he was 10 years old and the "range rat" at Indian Hills Golf Club when his team would practice.
"To watch him develop into a fantastic young player, and then to make the decision to stay home and represent not only our University but Murfreesboro itself and Riverdale High School, it's pretty cool," Turnbow said.
Patrick Simpson
Simpson earned the honor of being the first ever Blue Raider wrestler elected to the Hall of Fame. A four-year starter from 1975-1979, Simpson was the first MT wrestler to qualify for the NCAA tournament, defeating a future two-time NCAA champion during Midwest Region qualifiers in 1979.
"I had a great coach in Gordon Connell," Simpson said. "I wouldn't be in (the Hall of Fame) without him."
Connell, fresh off a 50-year coaching career, joined the Zoom, saying Simpson was the first guy he called to recruit when the program transitioned to the NCAA level in 1974.
"I saw how he wrestled in the state finals, he didn't want to lose that match," Connell said. "He had that fighting spirit you had to have to succeed in wrestling."
Middle Tennessee no longer sponsors wrestling at the NCAA level, but the club team has multiple top 8 finishes at the National Collegiate Wrestling Association championships.
"We started almost practicing in a little-bitty closet," Simpson said of the humble beginnings of his career. "There weren't that many guys on the team. Gordon's strength was always teaching technique. And if you bought into that system, then you were going to get better as a wrestler."
Following his time at MT, Simpson has had an illustrious coaching career at the high school level, winning multiple state coach of the year awards for his mentorship of wrestlers at Father Ryan High School.
Jamie Thomatis
The first Blue Raider women's basketball player to be named First Team All-Conference in two different conferences, the OVC and the Sun Belt, Thomatis still holds the program records for career field goal and free throw percentage. Her 1,971 career points are still fourth all-time in Murfreesboro, 19 years after her career concluded.
Thomatis was clearly touched by the surprise announcement, with Walters noting he might've seen her wipe away a tear or two.
"It's just such a huge honor, so there are a lot of emotions there to be considered among so many great Blue Raiders," Thomatis said. "It's definitely very heartwarming to be among such great company."
She was joined by former Blue Raider head coach Stephanie Smith, highlighting how crucial Thomatis' diverse offensive prowess was to Middle Tennessee making the transition to the Sun Belt.
"We don't make that transition without Jamie Thomatis," Smith said. "Without that recruiting class, led by Jamie, we would've stumbled. Instead, it just raised everyone's focus and expertise."
Desmond "Boogie" Yates
The only men's basketball player to be named All-Conference three times, Yates is the program's all-time leading scorer with 1,775 points. He also leads the program all-time in made field goals with 714, and averaged double digit scoring all four years as a Blue Raider.
His head coach, Kermit Davis, was the first of the surprise visitors during the Zoom, highlighting that Yates was his first former student athlete to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
"I don't know if I've ever coached a guy who loves his school more than Boogie loves Middle Tennessee," Davis said.
Yates recalled various moments during his journey as a Blue Raider, from when he first met Davis as a freshman in high school to the time that he dominated rival Western Kentucky after his team was disrespected.
"We beat them in the Glass House in Murfreesboro, but after the game, their coach said 'They didn't win the game. We lost it. They're not a good team,'" Yates recalled, noting the first game was a defensive slugfest with scores in the 40s at the final whistle. "But that next Saturday, I came out from the first tip off and said 'we will not lose this game.'"
Yates dropped 28 points in Bowling Green to break the program's career scoring record, and sweep the Hilltoppers.
