Cullowhee, N.C. – A pair of individuals including one former student-athlete and one head coach, as well as one honored team comprise the 2022 induction class into Western Carolina's Athletics Hall of Fame, it was announced this week. Skip Nelloms (Baseball, 1985-88), former head coach Steve Lott (Women's Golf, 1998-2010), and the 1995-96 Catamount men's basketball team comprise the 33rd class to be selected by the WCU Athletics Hall of Fame committee.
 
WCU's 2022 Athletics Hall of Fame weekend is scheduled for Nov. 18-19 surrounding the Catamounts' home football game against Southern Conference opponent Chattanooga at 1 p.m. Complete details of the weekend's ceremonies will be made available closer to the event.
 
 Sylvester "Skip" Nelloms was a three-time, first-team All-Southern Conference selection on the baseball diamond for the Catamounts in the mid-1980s, earning all-conference plaudits as a designated hitter in 1985 and as an outfielder in 1987 and 1988. He was a part of four-consecutive Southern Conference championship squads, twice leading the SoCon in runs batted in. Nelloms delivered 70 in 1987 – a mark that continues to rank 10th in the school's single-season record books – and posted 69 RBI in 1988, tied for the 11th-most at WCU in a year.
 
Nelloms played in 214 career games for the Purple & Gold, finishing with a career batting average of .346, tied for 26th in school history. Among his 264 career hits, which continues to rank him tied for 13th in WCU's record books, were 46 doubles (t-19th), nine triples (t-6th), and 47 home runs, tied for the fifth-most by a Catamount all-time. He scored 192 career runs, the 11th-most in program history while plating 212 to also rank fifth in program history in RBI.
 
Nelloms batted a career-best .367 during the 1986 season, posting 76 hits including 13 doubles, three triples, and 11 home runs including a school single-game record four home runs against mountain-rival UNC Asheville. He finished with a program-best 17 total bases in the win over the Bulldogs. Nelloms then batted .358 as a junior with 73 base knocks, legging out a career-high 16 doubles with a triple and 13 home runs in 1987. He went on to earn NCAA Mid-East Regional All-Tournament team accolades in Starkville, Miss., after batting .500 over the four games that included wins over Purdue and Mississippi State.
 
As a senior, Nelloms shared the title of male athlete of the year at WCU with Earl Bates in 1988. He hit .355 with a career-best 81 hits that included a career-high 22 home runs, the fourth-most by a Catamount baseball player all time. During his final collegiate season, he was recognized nationally during a 15-game stretch where he slugged 12 home runs including three against nationally ranked Clemson and a pair against a ranked South Carolina squad. During his mid-season tear, he drove in 23 RBI on a .467 batting average.
 
Following his collegiate playing career, Nelloms was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 22nd round of the 1988 MLB First-Year Player Draft. That same year, he was instrumental in winning the Penn League championship in his first year as a Yankee. He spent three years in the Yankees' farm system, playing for the Oneonta (N.Y.) Yankees in the New York-Penn League and two seasons in 1989 and 1990 with the Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Yankees of the Florida State League. Over a combined 274 career professional games, Nelloms recorded 217 hits including 34 doubles, 11 triples, and nine home runs as a part of a .238 career batting average, scoring 115 runs while driving in 114.
 
Nelloms was among seven Catamount baseball players to be selected to the Southern Conference's 100th Anniversary team in 2021. Among the most ebullient sentiments in favor of Nelloms' selection to WCU's Athletics Hall of Fame came from his former head coach – and fellow Hall of Famer – Jack Leggett who stated, "Of all the great players I've coached, Skip (Nelloms) stands out. There is no doubt in my mind that he belongs [in the Hall of Fame], and I only wish that this had happened sooner."
 
Originally from Decatur, Ga., Nelloms believed in being a true student-athlete during his time at WCU. He was the president of the "W" Club, an active member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., which sole purpose is "Achievement in every field of human endeavor" and he received academic honors, such as the Ronnie G. Childress award for academic achievement. Upon his retirement from the diamond, Nelloms enjoyed a career in public education that spanned 30 years as an educator and administrator in the DeKalb Public School System.
 
He is currently married to his beautiful wife Dr. Sheila Nelloms, and they have three children Kalela, Sydney, and Myles.
 
Steve Lott served as the head women's golf coach from 1998 through 2010, adding the title of Director of Golf to his ledger in January of 2004. He guided WCU women's golf to a pair of Southern Conference Women's Golf Championships in both 2003 and 2007, advancing the program from the bottom of the conference to the league title and the program's only two berths into the NCAA regional field. Including the two conference titles, Lott guided the Catamount women's golf program to 22 of its current 28 team championships between 2000 and 2010.
 
Lott recruited and coached WCU's three SoCon Freshman of the Year selections – Line Cordes (2003), Brandy Andersen (2004), and Desiree Karlsson (2007) – with 10 of his women's golfers combining to collect a combined 22 All-Southern Conference and SoCon All-Freshman plaudits during their WCU careers. Under his tutelage, five golfers earned SoCon Women's Golfer of the Week honors a total of eight times with five also collecting SoCon Golfer of the Month accolades a combined nine times between 2003 and 2009. A total of 14 of his golfers combined to earn Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholars recognition.
 
Lott was a three-time SoCon Women's Golf Coach of the Year, collecting plaudits from his peers in 2002, 2003, and 2006. He was previously enshrined in the WCU Athletics Hall of Fame as the coach of the 2002-03 Catamount Women's Golf team inducted back in 2014.
 
Since retiring from the full-time coaching role in 2010, Lott has remained active with the women's golf community, serving as the tournament director for the Southern Conference as well as assisting both WCU and league members Wofford and The Citadel with hosting home women's golf tournaments.
 
Originally from Blackville, S.C., Lott is married to Dr. Mickey Randolph.
 
The 1995-96 Western Carolina men's basketball team currently remains the only team to have won a Southern Conference tournament title and advance to the NCAA postseason tournament. The Catamounts claimed the 1996 SoCon South Divisional title and then won three games over three days in Greensboro, N.C., to dethrone league-favorite Davidson to claim WCU's first men's basketball tournament title.
 
Selected as the No. 16 seed in the West Region, the Catamounts drew three-time Big Ten champion and No. 4 overall tournament seed Purdue at "The Pit" in Albuquerque, N.M. Despite a herculean effort and a purple-skewed crowd that was witnessing history in the making – dubbed as "Ramsey Center West" by former Asheville Citizen-Times sports editor Doug Mead – the Boilermakers edged the upset-minded Catamounts, 73-71.
 
After being edged by just two points in the championship game of the 1995 SoCon Men's Basketball Championship, expectations were high entering the 1995-96 season. However, the year did not get off to a great start a WCU dropped its first five games – including two in of all places, Albuquerque, N. M., where fate would later see the Catamounts flirt with destiny.
 
The Catamounts caught fire at the end of January starting with a road win at Georgia Southern on Jan. 22. WCU won 11 of its final 13 regular-season games including a stretch-run of winning eight of its last nine, clinching the SoCon's South Division Championship with a convincing 19-point win over archrival Appalachian State on the final Monday of the regular season and capping the best second half of a hoops season in over two decades.
 
The Catamounts drew the rival Mountaineers in the opening round of the SoCon tournament in its first year in Greensboro, N.C., advancing with a 74-66 win over Appalachian State. Anquell McCollum struggled shooting but scored 16 points with Kevin Kullum adding 15 points and Joel Fleming chipped in 14 points and eight assists. Shooting woes were not a problem in the semifinal match-up against VMI as the Catamounts scorched the nets for a season-best 57.1-percent shooting and McCollum scored 40 points in the 97-93 victory over the Keydets to propel WCU into the title game for a second-straight season, earning a date with the 25-4 Davidson Wildcats and their 19-game winning streak.
 
Western Carolina went on to defeat heavily favored Davidson, 69-60, despite shooting just 36 percent from the field and committing 24 turnovers. The Catamounts crashed the glass, earning a 51-to-39 edge in rebounds, and made eight of 12 free throws down the stretch to set off a party that spanned Interstate 40 from the Piedmont Triad to the mountains.
 
Earning a No. 16 seed on Selection Sunday, the Catamounts returned to where the season had begun – "The Pit" in New Mexico, site of NC State's historical national title victory in 1983 – to face No. 1 seed, Purdue in the NCAA West Region. The Pit nearly saw another bout of history.
 
Rallying from a seven-point deficit midway through the second half, the otherwise see-saw affair stood tied 71-71 with less than three minutes remaining in regulation after a McCollum 3-pointer. The Boilermakers' Brandon Brantley scored the game's final basket inside the final 90 seconds to play on an offensive rebound stick-back and WCU's final attempts in the waning seconds both fell short. A blocked shot with 13 seconds remaining and a pair of missed shots in the final 11 seconds is all that stood between WCU and college basketball history. Guard Joel Fleming teed up a would-be game-winning 3-pointer from the top of the key that rebounded long where Joe Stafford corralled the ball and his 12-foot attempt at the buzzer just missed.
 
McCollum led the upset-minded Catamounts with 21 points with Jarvis Graham scoring 14 and Kevin Kullum adding 10. Fleming dished out nine assists without committing a turnover.
 
The roster of the 1996 Catamounts included 2010 WCU Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Anquell McCollum, who collected both SoCon Player of the Year and the SoCon Tournament Most Valuable Player honors on the way to the title. McCollum was among two seniors on the roster along with forward Kevin Kullum. Six juniors included forward Lazarus Channault, guard Ken Gibson, guard Larry Mayo, forward Scott Scholtz, guard Joe Stafford, and center Kerry Wright. Stafford received the Basketball Hall of Fame's Edward S. Steitz Award that season. The sophomores were guard Joel Fleming and forward Jarvis Graham, with freshman Joey Bryson.
 
WCU's 1995-96 men's basketball team was led by Phil Hopkins, who was in his first season as the head coach after serving as an assistant under Benny Dees. His assistant coaches were Thad Matta, Orlando Early, and Brett Lamb. The support staff for the 1995-96 squad included Mike Hooper (Pisgah Forest, N.C.), Kirk Macemore (Pfafftown, N.C.), Alex Smith (Huntersville, N.C.), and Martin Unger (Richmond, Va.).
 
The 1995-96 Catamount men's basketball team is the second men's hoops squad to earn induction into WCU's Athletics Hall of Fame, joining the 1963 NAIA national runner-up squad. It is also the seventh team to earn induction into the Hall all-time.
 
Founded in 1990, the Western Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame pays tribute to those superior Catamount athletes, coaches, administrators, and alum who have made major contributions to the honor and fame of WCU. Including this year's induction class, the WCU has enshrined 128 individuals, six athletic teams, 11 Patron Award recipients, and two individuals recognized for career achievements since its creation.
 
To be considered for induction into the WCU Athletics Hall of Fame, nominees must be submitted to the Hall of Fame committee where they are kept on file for five years. Each spring, the committee convenes to vote upon a list of nominees that are approved by the Hall's executive committee, which vets those nominated against the criteria put forth by the committee's constitution. The appropriate nomination forms are available online at CatamountSports.com.