PROVO -- Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters Champion, along with baseball great Gary Cooper, All-American volleyball sensation Michele Fellows Lewis, and swimming standout and BYU record-holder Melanie Rile will be inducted into the Cougar Club Hall of Fame, Wednesday, Sept. 17. The annual banquet and ceremony begin at 7 p.m., in the Cougar Room of LaVell Edwards Stadium.
The 2003 Masters Champion Mike Weir was the first left-handed golfer to make a BYU varsity team.
Weir was at BYU from 1989 to 1992, where he led the golf team to three WAC Championships from 1990-92. At the 1990 championships he placed second individually. Championships. He was named Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 1992 the same year he earned second team All-America honors. The John Geertsen Award, given annually to the Cougar golfer with the best stroke average, was also awarded to Weir in 1992.
In 1992 Weir turned professional and joined the PGA Tour in 1998. In 1993 Weir was named Canadian Tour Rookie of the Year. Weir made history in April 2003 by becoming the first Canadian and only the second left-hander to win a major with his outstanding performance at the Masters Tournament. Weir has picked up two other first-place finishes at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and Nissan Open, and is among the top-five money-winners on the PGA tour for the same year.
Weir and his wife Bricia Rodriguez, reside in Draper, Utah, with their family.
The second inductee of the year is baseball great Gary Cooper. Cooper had an outstanding college career while wearing BYU blue.
For starters, the 6-1 outfielder holds the BYU record for stolen bases with 95. He was one on BYU's No. 1 team in the nation in 1983 and started nearly all of his 292 games as a Cougar. He was instrumental in helping take the baseball team to two NCAA Post-season Tournament appearances in 1983 and 1985. Those same years the squad won the Western Athletic Conference crowns. While on the team, the Cougars clinched WAC division titles in 1983, 1984 and 1985. Cooper set a BYU record of five stolen bases in one game in 1984.
He was named First-Team All-America in 1985 and 1986. As a senior he was named WAC Player of the Year. He was a three-time All-WAC division selection. Cooper finished second in NCAA career runs scored (320), fourth in NCAA career hits (349), sixth in NCAA career total bases (612) and set WAC and BYU career records for runs, hits, RBI, stolen bases and walks.
Batting a collegiate career .409, he was drafted in the seventh round by the Houston Astros in 1986. Coop led the Anchorage (Alaska) Glacier Pilots to a third-place finish in the National Baseball Congress All American Tournament in Wichita, Kansas, in the summer of 1985.
Cooper played with the Houston Astros in 1991, and also had significant playing time on the Triple A level with teams like the Tucson Toros. He also played in the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates organizations. He played in several AAA all-star games during his 10-year pro career and was named MVP of one of those games as well as being voted Outstanding Player of the Year in the Pacific Coast League.
Gary and his wife April have two daughters, Taylor (9) and Nikki (8), and a son Camden (4) and currently reside in Alpine, Utah.
Volleyball standout and two-time All-American Michele Fellows Lewis will also be inducted in to the Cougar Club Hall of Fame on Wednesday night.
Over her four-year career at BYU, Fellows helped lead the BYU women's volleyball team to an 84-12 record, two WAC championships and its first appearance in the NCAA Final Four.
During her sophomore year Fellows was named Academic All-WAC, Cougar Club Scholar/Athlete, second-team All-WAC and First-Team AVCA All-West. She led the Cougars in hitting percentage at .268 and aces with 36, was second in kills with 411 and third in digs with 339. Fellows would end her career with two additional AVCA First Team All-West honors.
As a junior, Fellows continued to dominate, being named first-team All-WAC, second-team All-America by AVCA and honorable mention All-America by Volleyball Monthly. She was once again named Academic All-WAC and Cougar Club Scholar/Athlete. Fellows also led the Cougars in hitting percentage.
In her final senior season, Fellows helped lead BYU to its first-ever Final Four appearance, the first WAC school to do so. For her efforts Fellows was given WAC Player of the Year honors as well as being named first-team All-WAC and first-team All-America by AVCA and Volleyball Monthly. She finished the season third in kills per game (3.94), fifth in career kills (1185) and seventh in career block assists (272).
After her career at BYU, Fellows married Chad Lewis, former Cougar tight end and current All-Pro with the
Philadelphia Eagles. The couple has three children: Emily (6), Sarah (5), Jacob (2) and are expecting a fourth in January.
The final 2003 inductee is Melanie Rile. As a freshman, Rile rewrote the Cougar record books with her outstanding speed and determination to win. She set school records in the 100-meter freestyle, the 200 free, 500 free, 50 backstroke and t200 free relay. In that same year she captured five regional championships and became only the second swimmer in BYU history to receive AIAW All-America honors.
At the 1982 AIAW Championships, Rile earned first-team AIAW All-America honors after finishing fifth in the 500 free, fourth in the 200 IM and sixth in the 100 IM. She then went on to win the consolation races in the 100 and 200 freestyle events to single-handedly give BYU a No. 18 national finish. The following year Rile became the first athlete from BYU to qualify for the NCAA Championships, where she qualified for three events--the 200 and 400 IM along with the 500 free.
In her junior year Rile dominated the 1984 HCAC Conference Championships by claiming four individual and two relay titles with her performances in the 100-, 200- and 500-yard freestyle events, the 200-yard IM and as a member of the winning 400 free and 400 medley relay teams. Her finishes at the Championships earned her a place on the HCAC All-Conference team.
Rile once again qualified for the NCAA Championships with her top times in the 200 IM, 500 free, and the 400-medley relay. She once again qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials that same year.
As a senior Rile continued to excel in the 400 IM and the 500 free as she broke her own school records in both events. In setting both of those records, Rile earned HCAC All-Conference honors and qualified for the NCAA Championships, her fourth consecutive trip to the national championships.
Nearly 20 years later Rile's records for her high altitude swims in the 500 free, 100 IM, and the pool record for the 500 free remain unbroken on the Cougar record books.
Rile is married to former Cougar men's team swimmer Ron Menezes. The two live in Centennial, Colo., with their two daughters Natasha, and Michelle.