Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame
Vern Akins, 1939-41
Pittsburg, Kansas
Track & Field Legacy
Vern Akins was a five-time Central Intercollegiate Conference (CIC) champion in the sprints in track & field from 1939-41. Akins captured CIC crowns all three years in the 440 yard dash and he captured league titles in the 220 yard dash in 1939 and 1941. He also helped PSU’s mile relay team to three straight CIC championships, and Akins earned All-CIC honors with a third-place finish in the 220 yard dash in 1940.
Frank Crespino
Pittsburg, Kansas
Meritorious Achievement
Frank Crespino was a four-year letterman on the Pitt State football team, from 1951-54, before enjoying a decorated coaching career at St. Mary’s-Colgan High School. Crespino compiled 416 combined victories in the sports of football, basketball and baseball in a tenure that spanned from 1961-79. In football he led the Panthers to consecutive Kansas Class 1A state titles in 1974-75 and won 33 straight games between 1973-76. In baseball, Crespino won state titles in 1964, 1967 and 1971 while finishing as the state runner-up six times between 1965-75. In basketball, he led SMC to a state runner-up finish in 1962. Crespino also served as an assistant football coach at Pittsburg State for six years from 1980-85.
Aaron Richard McConnell, 2000-03
Midwest City, Oklahoma
Football Athlete
Aaron McConnell became just the second player in the history of the Pitt State football program to earn All-America honors in each of his four seasons from 2000-03. McConnell was a consensus first-team All-America selection as well as the MIAA Defensive Player of the Year as a senior in 2003. He also earned first-team All-America honors from the AFCA as a sophomore in 2001 and from the Associated Press as a junior in 2002, after garnering honorable mention All-America recognition as a freshman in 2000. A four-time first-team All-MIAA performer, McConnell recorded 232 tackles (116 solo) with 75.0 tackles-for-loss and 21.0 quarterback sacks in 48 career games for the Gorillas.
Charles H. Morgan, 1931-48
Girard, Kansas
Football Coach Legacy
Charles H. Morgan served as a coach in the Pittsburg State Department of Intercollegiate Athletics between 1931-48. He compiled a 44-43-15 (.505) record as head football coach from 1936, ’38-48, leading his 1941 and 1942 teams to CIC titles. Morgan’s 1943 squad, comprised mostly of former football players from Texas colleges in Navy training, posted the school’s first unblemished record (6-0-0) during a war-shortened season. Pitt State was one of just nine teams nationwide to post an undefeated record that year. Morgan also served as the Gorillas’ interim head basketball coach in 1935 when John Lance took a leave of absence. He guided that squad to a CIC co-championship.
Jeanette (Mott) Owens, 1998-2002
St. Marys, Kansas
Cross Country/Track & Field Athlete
Jeanette (Mott) Owens captured the NCAA Division II national championship in the women’s steeplechase as a senior in 2002 for Pittsburg State. She earned All-America honors on five occasions in track & field. In addition to her national title, Mott also finished as the national runner-up in the steeplechase at the 2001 NCAA-II Outdoor National Championships and the 5,000m at the 2002 NCAA-II Indoor National Championships. In cross country, Mott also twice earned All-America honors, finishing as high as eighth at the national meet as a senior in 2001. Mott captured 12 MIAA individual event titles during her career and earned All-MIAA honors on 17 occasions in track & field. She captured MIAA cross country titles twice, in 2000-01. Additionally, Mott earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors three times and she was selected as the 2002 Ken B. Jones Award Winner as the MIAA Female Student-Athlete of the Year.
Chuck Shelton
Rolla, Missouri
Meritorious Achievement
Chuck Shelton earned second-team All-CIC honors as a halfback for Pittsburg State as a senior in 1960, before enjoying a decorated collegiate coaching career. Shelton served as head football coach at Drake (1977-85), Utah State (1986-91) and Pacific (1992-95). He earned Conference Coach of the Year honors four times between the schools. Shelton served tenures on both the NCAA Football Rules Committee and the NCAA All-America Committee. He also enjoyed stints as head coach for the New York City Hawks of the Arena Football League and as an assistant coach for the NFL Europe-Amsterdam franchise. Shelton also has served as athletic director at Pratt Community College as well as serving in assistant AD roles at Drake and Delaware State and as an athletic consultant at Utah State.