SALEM, W.Va. – The Salem University Athletic Department inducted a former player, coach and team into the Salem Hall of Fame, in the T. Edward Davis Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.

The ceremony kicked-off with opening remarks from President and CEO Danny Finuf. President Finuf talked about Salem's recent successes and upgrades, while he also added that they are planning a new Hall of Fame and Distinguished Alumni Exhibit.

Athletic Director Steve Potts introduced each of the honorees which included Martha Rice, the 1987-1988 Salem College women's basketball team and Guillermo Tolaba.
The first honoree, the late Martha Rice, was introduced by Adele Ruszak, a former player of Rice.  

"Mrs. Rice always made sure women, had equal opportunities at the college. At a time when women's sports were referred to as girls' sports, she made sure we moved ahead and would be called women," stated Ruszak.

The award was accepted by Martha Rice's daughter Beverlee Rice.  

Martha Rice was a graduate from Salem College with a Bachelor of Arts in Education with a major in music and physical education.  In the 1960's Rice accepted a position with Salem as a physical education instructor.
 
Rice, a Clarksburg, W.Va. native, started the field hockey, women's basketball and softball programs at Salem. In her fourth year at Salem, she secured enough funding and was able to award athletes with scholarships.

The next inductee was the Salem College 1987-88 women's basketball team.

Pat Atwell, head coach of the women's team in 1987-88, introduced the team, as Kelly Corcoran-Underwood spoke in honor of the team.

Cocoran-Underwood started her speech off with a quote from the rapper Drake, "We started from the bottom and now we are here."

Cocoran-Underwood went on to talk about how when she arrived at Salem they were at the bottom of the conference and overlooked by everyone until they had won the regular season conference championship in 1987-88
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The 1987-88 team won the first regular season conference championship in school history and was also the first team to eclipse the 20 win mark.

The final inductee was Guillermo Tolaba, he was introduced by Men's Soccer Head Coach Florin Marton.  

"My years at Salem had three things in common, joy, happiness and luck. Some moments of happiness at Salem were winning the conference titles, but my best moment of happiness was graduation from Salem in 2006," said Tolaba.  

Tolaba was a member of the men's soccer and tennis teams. Tolaba was a three-time West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) soccer champion, two-time First-Team All-WVIAC, WVIAC Player of the Year in 2006 and was a member of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-Appalachian Region second team.
 
In 2006, Tolaba was crowned as the WVIAC Tennis Champion. It was previously 52 years since the last championship won by Salem's tennis team.