The UDC Athletics Hall of Fame Luncheon is scheduled for noon on Saturday, February 10, at Maggiano’s Little Italy, 5333 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC 20015. To purchase tickets, click here.
This year’s induction class features four former student-athletes and a coach. The inductees are Leon Cunningham (UDC Class of ’98), Kaneesha Hollis (UDC Class of ’12), Tracey Oaks Jordan (UDC Class of ’93, MA ’07), Ronald Lewis (DCTC Class of ’73, MA UDC ’78) and C. Francis A. Silva.
Cunningham was a three-year letterman on the men’s basketball team when he attended UDC. He received the Coaches Award from the Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C. in 1996 and the UDC Coaches Award when he was a senior. He co-founded Get A.M.P.ed!, Inc., a program that helps high school basketball players and their families with the recruiting process.
Hollis was a four-year letter winner in cross country/track and field at UDC. She was a two-time All-American. She ranked first in the East Region as a freshman and 31st nationally in the 440-meter race. As a senior, she was team captain and the top cross-country runner for UDC, finishing 23rd out of 59 athletes at the 2011 ECC Cross Country Championship. Upon graduation, she served as an assistant coach at her high school in North Carolina and helped the team win state and regional championship titles.
Oakes Jordan is a three-year letter winner in track and field, who competed twice in the NCAA Championships. She also earned All-American accolades in 1991 in the 55-meter dash. After graduating, she coached track and field at St. Gabriel School in Washington, D.C.
Lewis, a 1969 graduate of the D.C. Teachers College – a UDC predecessor school – played football and baseball. He led the football team in tackles in 1971 and was named Defensive MVP that year and in 1973 and 1974. He received the 1972 and 1973 athletic awards for baseball. He was named Outstanding Defensive player for the East Capital Jets in 1975. He coached McKinley Tech High School and Theodore Roosevelt High School.
Silva coached the D.C. Teachers College men’s basketball team from 1973 to 1977. He coached UDC Athletic Hall of Fame inductees Harry Brockenberry, Robert Gates, Reginald Moore and Phillip Stevens. He became the director of athletics at North Carolina Central University in the late 1970s and served as interim men’s basketball coach for the 1978-1979 season. Silva also coached the Southeastern University’s men’s basketball team and Bowie State University men’s basketball team.
Stay up to date by visiting the Athletics Hall of Fame website.