Vin Lananna, Cheridan Hawkins lead Oregon Hall of Fame class

Eugene’s athletic identity ran through the 2026 Oregon Athletics Hall of Fame class, which put Cheridan Hawkins and Vin Lananna alongside four other honorees and the 2016 men’s golf team in a group that linked 12 sports to the University of Oregon’s most visible traditions. The class was announced May 28, the 35th since the Hall of Fame tradition began in 1992, and it underscored how often Oregon’s biggest sports moments have been built in Lane County and still resonate there.

Hawkins gave Oregon softball one of its defining stretches. From 2013 to 2016, she became a three-time Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year and a two-time NFCA All-American, while finishing her career as the program’s all-time leader in strikeouts with 1,081. She also set Oregon records with 108 wins and 33 shutouts. Those numbers helped drive four straight Pac-12 titles, including the program’s first in 2013, and back-to-back Women’s College World Series trips in 2014 and 2015, achievements that made Howe Field-era Oregon softball part of the city’s broader sports memory.

Lananna’s imprint was even more structural. Named associate athletic director at the University of Oregon in July 2005, he helped shape the vision for Oregon track and field and Historic Hayward Field as a national center for the sport. He was inducted into the USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame in 2012, later was recognized by USA Track & Field as its 2025 Legend Coach Award honoree, and has been credited with 11 NCAA team titles across cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field. For Eugene, his legacy is not only in trophies but in how Hayward Field became a place that draws the sport’s attention year after year.

The class also included Jillian Alleyne, Liz Brenner, Ifo Ekpre-Olomu and the 2016 Oregon men’s golf NCAA championship team, the university’s first national title team won in front of home fans. Oregon Athletics said the class represented 12 sports, with Robinson Mullens saying the inductees “elevated their sport” and left “lasting legacies” for future generations. In a city where Hayward Field remains a focal point and Oregon sports are woven into civic identity, the 2026 Hall of Fame class served as a reminder that the Ducks’ biggest names still shape how Eugene remembers itself.