FIU has some giants to celebrate this weekend. For only the second time in its history, the university will induct standouts from its athletic program into the official FIU Hall of Fame. Honorees include a former NFL wide receiver, an Olympic track and field star and some of the most successful coaches in FIU history.
Athletics Director Scott Carr called the five individuals to be honored – all of them alumni - “extraordinary” and said they “exemplify the highest standards of athletic achievement and Panther pride. Each has left a lasting legacy on their respective program and on FIU Athletics as a whole. It will be a pleasure welcoming them back to campus, and we're looking forward to a fantastic weekend honoring them."
The celebrations begin this evening with a ceremony and dinner in the Graham Center. And tomorrow night, the class will be recognized during halftime at the football game against Florida Atlantic University.
The five members of this year’s Hall of Fame Class are Munga Eketebi '88, T.Y. Hilton '13, Karl Kremser '87, Tayna Lawrence '98 and Cindy Russo '93.
"I never thought in a million years that I would be inducted into the FIU Hall of Fame,” says Tayna Lawrence '98, FIU’s most-decorated Olympian. “It’s a great honor.”
Lawrence represented Jamaica in both the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. She won three Olympic medals — one gold and two silver — in individual and team events.
Lawrence says she remembers her time at FIU fondly. “FIU was home,” she says. “I was raised in Miami, so it really was home. But not only that, my coaches and teammates made FIU even better. We were a little family. We supported each other. I have great memories of FIU. FIU is really where I developed the work ethic that allowed me to become an athlete on the world stage.”
Some of her FIU teammates, whom she still keeps in contact with to this day, will be cheering her on along with Lawrence’s family, when she receives the FIU honor this weekend. Lawrence is looking forward to the ceremony — and to the football game.
“I have not been to a football game on campus,” says Lawrence, who was a student before the football team was created. “I’m looking forward to that, especially with the rival school, FAU. That should be fun.”
So, what was it like competing in the Olympics?
“It’s like taking a test,” Lawrence says. “You’re putting in the work, studying, doing all the preparation. You’re not even thinking about \[what it will mean to win\] until you get a result and then you say, ‘Wow, I got 100%.’ That’s the surreal moment. When you realize you accomplished it, and the celebration begins. That’s when the memories of the hard work, everything that you put into it, just come back. You don’t even have a word to describe it. Those moments will stay with me forever.”