ENMU names six Hall of Honors inductees

PORTALES — Eastern New Mexico University’s athletic department unveiled its latest Hall of honors class Monday, with the six selections to be inducted during the school’s homecoming festivities in October.

Selections, listed alphabetically, are Leroy Chavez, Jessie Poku, Isaiah Samoei, Norma Stroik, Jeff Thibodeaux and Layla Turner. They will be inducted during the Oct. 11 Hall of honors banquet, and also recognized during halftime of the Oct. 12 football game against Tarleton State.

Hall selections are nominated by their peers, and voted on by the hall of honors committee, whose members include Charles Chambers, Thurman Elder, Bill Joy, Mike Maguire, Wayne Moore, Kathleen Salter, Mike Howard, Buck Wilson and Jennifer Poyer.

"On behalf of the ENMU Athletics Hall of honors selections committee, we are excited to announce this special class of inductees," Athletic Director Greg Waggoner said, "This class is particularly diverse and will represent the hall well."

• Chavez ran cross country for ENMU from 1970-74, and was an NAIA District 7 selection all four years. He was part of the 1973 NAIA national champion and the 1971 NAIA runnerup. He was inducted into the New Mexico Track and Cross Country Hall of Fame in 2016, and spent 31 years coaching cross country and track and field at the high school level. His daughter Lynne was a four-year letter winner on the Greyhound cross country team as well.

• Poku, a key part of the Greyhounds’ brief foray into coach Mark Ribaudo’s “NASCAR” spread offense, holds the school record with 26 career touchdown receptions and set a team record with 86 catches in the 2010 season. That season was him named a D2Football.com honorable mention all-American and a Don Hansen regional third team selection. The receiver, nicknamed “Go-to Poku” during his time, was a first-team Lone Star Conference selection in 2009 and 2010, and an honorable mention in 2008.

• Samoei is the most recent of the athletes to garner selection, and is generally considered the school’s most accomplished men’s cross country runner during its current NCAA era. He won the LSC championship meet in 2011 and 2012, and followed his 2011 newcomer of the year award with a 2012 runner of the year award from the conference. He was also named an All-American after his eighth-place national finish in 2012.

He also competed in track and field, winning All-American honors in the 10,000-meter in 2012 and the 5,000-meter in 2014. He won the LSC’s male indoor track athlete of the year award in 2014.

• Stroik is the lone recipient in the hall’s support category. She first became associated with the school as a student in 1978, and transitioned into employment well before finishing her bachelor’s degree in 1999. She spent 16 years as administrative office coordinator for the department. She was a 2007 winner of the Spirit of Eastern Award and the 2012-13 athletic club faculty/staff member of the year.

She retired from full-time status in 2013, but remains on as the school’s athletic insurance coordinator part-time.

• Thibodeaux played two seasons on the Greyhound baseball team after transferring from junior college, and batted .360 in 99 total games. His teams went 47-51-1 over his two years, and finished third in the LSC South in 2000. He was a second-team all-conference selection in 2000 after hitting .363 with 37 RBIs.

• Turner was a two-time Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American and the first All-American in program history. She finished the 2000-01 season ranked 18th in the nation in singles play. She was LSC freshman of the year in 1999, and helped ENMU make the Division II national championships as a sophomore.

For information or to RSVP for the banquet, contact Kim Sites at 575-562-2153.