Bowling Green State University Athletics
Four To Join BGSU Athletic Hall Of Fame
July 08, 2002 | Men's Track and Field
July 8, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University Athletic Hall of Fame will welcome four new members on Sept. 13, BGSU Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Paul Krebs has announced. The 2002 class will be inducted during a formal dinner on the BGSU campus.
The class of 2002 will include men's soccer player Rob Martella '94, hockey player Greg Parks, women's basketball coach Fran Voll '68 and track athlete and coach Tom Wright '66.
The official induction ceremony will take place Friday, Sept. 13, in the ballroom of BGSU's new Bowen-Thompson Student Union. The social hour begins at 6:00 p.m. with dinner served at 7:00 p.m. and the program starting shortly thereafter.
In addition, the class will be introduced at halftime of the Sept. 14 BGSU-Missouri football game at Doyt Perry Stadium. The game begins at 6:00 p.m. and is designated as Varsity BG & Hall of Fame Night.
Tickets for the Sept. 13 dinner can be purchased at the Memorial Hall Ticket Office for $30 and advance reservations are required. Tickets can also be reserved by calling the ticket office at 1-877-BGSUTICKET or 372-0000. Football game tickets can also be purchased through the ticket office.
The public is invited to attend the induction dinner.
Information on each of the four inductees follows:
ROB MARTELLA
Martella was a four-year letterwinner for the Falcons. He helped the Falcons to a 50-18-0 (.711) record during his four years, including a 31-4-3 (.855) over his final two seasons of 1991 and 1992.
A Cincinnati, Ohio, native, Martella was named an NSCAA First-Team All-American following his senior year, and was selected to participate in the 1992 ISAA Senior Bowl. His totals of 45 goals and 115 points still rank first and second, respectively, on the BGSU career charts.
Martella was the first player in school history to earn NSCAA All-Region status in all four years, and remains the only player in BGSU soccer history to lead the team in scoring in four consecutive seasons.
He was named the team's top rookie in his initial season of 1989, earned co-MVP honors in 1990 and was the team MVP in 1992. A four-time All-MASC (Mid-America Soccer Conference) and All-Ohio First-Team pick, he remained with the Falcons as a volunteer student assistant coach in 1993, before graduating in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in sport management.
Martella was the assistant coach for the women's soccer team at the University of Dayton for the 1995-96 academic year, and played professionally for the Cincinnati Silverbacks of the National Professional Soccer League in 1997-98 and 1998-99.
Martella returned to BGSU as the team's assistant men's soccer coach in 1998, and spent three seasons under head coach Mel Mahler. He left in June of 2001 to become the Director of Soccer Operations for the United States Youth Soccer Association.
GREG PARKS
Parks, a native of Edmonton, Alberta, capped his four-year Falcon career by earning All-America honors in his senior campaign of 1988-89. That winter, he finished third in the nation in scoring, with 74 points in 47 games, earning All-CCHA in addition to All-America honors. Parks had 32 goals and 42 assists for the Falcons, who earned an NCAA berth for the third consecutive season, and was named the team's MVP.
Parks capped his career as the school's third-leading scorer with 240 points. He became only the seventh BGSU player to score 100 career goals, finishing with 101, and he added 139 assists. Parks still ranks fourth on the BGSU career scoring list, and he is ninth in goals and sixth in assists on those school lists.
Parks had also scored 74 points in his junior year, finishing second on the team and fourth in the CCHA in scoring that year. He had his first career hat trick in the league tournament semifinal win over Michigan State, and added a goal and an assist in the title win over Lake Superior State. Parks had 50 points as a sophomore after amassing 42 points in his freshman campaign. He tied for the school record with 178 games played as a Falcon.
While at BG, Parks helped the Falcons to a four-year total of 117 wins, tying the school record set by the 1976-79 teams for wins over a four-year period. The Falcons advanced to Joe Louis Arena for the CCHA Finals in all four of Parks's seasons, and made three NCAA appearances. BGSU went 117-55-7 (.673) during that time, including a 81-40-7 (.660) CCHA mark.
Following his BGSU career, Parks joined the professional ranks. He made it to the NHL, playing for the New York Islanders in parts of three seasons (1990-93) and totalling three points in 23 career NHL games. Parks also had stints with teams overseas, and played with the Canadian National Team from 1992-96. He represented his country in the 1994 Olympic Games, helping Team Canada claim a Silver Medal.
FRAN VOLL
Voll guided the women's basketball program at his alma mater to heights never before reached at BGSU. He compiled a 144-60 record in seven years as head coach, while leading the Falcons to four NCAA Tournament appearances, four MAC Tournament titles, and three MAC regular season championships. His teams compiled a sparkling 89-27 record in MAC regular season play and a 10-3 record in MAC Tournament play.
In 1988-89, Voll led the Falcons to a 69-59 win over Cincinnati at Anderson Arena in the NCAA Tournament, the first win by a women's basketball team from the MAC in the national tournament. The game was played before 4,100 fans, at the time the largest crowd in the history of the program.
Voll led the 1986-87 and 1988-89 teams to perfect 16-0 records in MAC play, and was named the MAC Coach of the Year in each of those seasons. He was the NCAA District IV Coach of the Year in 1987.
Voll coached one academic All-American, one freshman All-American, a Naismith Award winner and two MAC Freshmen of the Year while at BGSU. Voll's student-athletes had a 100% graduation rate during his seven seasons.
Voll, a native of Marion, Ohio, had a high school coaching mark of 208-17 (.924) at Delphos St. John's, and was the winningest high school girls' basketball coach in the nation prior to coming to BGSU in 1984. While at St. John's, Voll's teams won three state titles in nine years, and he was twice named Ohio prep coach of the year.
In October 1991, Voll resigned from his coaching post to take the position of Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Development at BGSU. In that position, he worked primarily with fund-raising and public relations while running the Falcon Club. He held that position until 1996, when he took the head-coaching job at Central Michigan University, where he remained until 2000.
Voll's overall collegiate coaching record is 187-134 (.583), including a 116-68 (.630) mark in MAC games. He still ranks second in MAC history on the coaching wins lists, both overall and in league contests.
Voll, a 1968 graduate of BGSU, currently resides in Marion, Ohio and is the principal at Marion Catholic High School.
TOM WRIGHT
Wright, a native of Trotwood, Ohio, has enjoyed success at BGSU as both an athlete and a coach. The 2001-02 academic year marked his 29th with the Falcon track and field program.
As an athlete, Wright was a three-time All-American, and was part of the Falcons' top mile relay team in school history. The mark of 3:07.5, set in 1966, still stands as the school record. Wright was a member of mile relay teams that captured the MAC title twice, setting a conference record in 1966, and placing in the top six at the NCAA Championships in both 1965 and 1966. He also was a MAC champion in the 440-yard dash.
Wright earned both his bachelor's (1966) and master's (1967) degrees from BGSU, and obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Utah in 1973.
He served as an assistant football and head track coach at Dayton Wayne High School, and as head track coach at the University of Illinois-Chicago Circle, before returning to Bowling Green in 1974.
Wright spent seven years as an assistant coach under Mel Brodt, before succeeding Brodt as head coach of the men's track and field program in 1980. He spent 10 years in that role, before returning to an assistant-coaching role. Wright has coached nine All-Americans and 18 MAC champions in his tenure.
In addition to his coaching duties, Wright was an assistant professor in the School of HPER at BGSU, and served as the Chair of the Health Education Division. Currently, he is an assistant professor in Family/Consumer Sciences.
The 2002 class of inductees, the 39th class in history, brings membership in the Athletic Hall of Fame to 172. The 1983-84 national championship hockey team is also in the Hall of Fame.
