Wolfpack Celebrates NC State Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2024

It was a star-studded night inside Reynolds Coliseum on Saturday, as the 2024 NC State Athletic Hall of Fame class was officially inducted. Former Wolfpack swimmer and Olympic gold medalist Cullen Jones, who was inducted in the Class of 2018, served as host of the sold-out event.

Representing seven different Wolfpack programs, the class is comprised of standout former student-athletes Vic Molodet, Beth Harrell, Sam Okpodu, Volire Tisdale Brown, Trena Trice-Hill, Bradley Chubb and legendary head coach Rollie Geiger. Philip Rivers, who was elected in the class of 2013, was also officially inducted.

Here's a brief look at each of the inductees:
Bradley Chubb
Football, 2014-17
Bradley Chubb delighted Wolfpack fans, with his record-setting statistics and his dominating presence on the football field, but also with his obvious love of the game. After entering NC State as a 240-pound linebacker in 2014, he finished his career by being recognized as the nation's top defensive end.

A unanimous first-team All-American in 2017, Chubb set program records for career tackles for loss (60) and sacks (26) and finished his senior season as the Power 5 conference leader in both categories. He earned ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors and finished his career ranked fourth in ACC history in career tackles for loss.

The Marietta, Georgia, native also became the first player in school history to win two national awards, earning the 2017 Bronko Nagurski Trophy for the nation's top defensive player and the Ted Hendricks Award for best defensive end. He was the No. 5 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos.

Rollie Geiger
Cross Country/Track & Field, 1979-present
During his decades at the helm of NC State cross country and track and field, Rollie Geiger not only established the Wolfpack program as a national powerhouse, but has compiled a list of accomplishments and honors that are unmatched on conference and national levels.

Geiger, who came to NC State as an assistant coach in 1979 before being named head coach in 1981, had led the Pack to a combined 40 team ACC titles, four individual national championships, 240 All-America selections, 390 All-ACC honors and 234 individual ACC championships at the time of his induction. Even more impressive, he was named ACC Coach of the Year an unprecedented 34 times (as of 2023).

In 2015, the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) renamed the NCAA Southeast Regional Coach of the Year Award the "Rollie Geiger Award" for his contributions to the sport.

Geiger coached on the international level at the 1987 United States Olympic Festival and served as head coach of the United States National Team at the 1987 World Cross Country Championships in New Zealand.

Elected to the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame in 2019, Geiger has been a featured speaker at the U.S. Olympic Training Center and was a member of the U.S. Olympic Development Committee for distance running.

Beth Harrell
Women's Swimming, 1977-81
One of the most decorated swimmers in program history, Beth Harrell won 26 All-America mentions during her NC State career. Even more impressive, she earned All-America honors 26 of the 28 times she competed at the AIAW meet.

A U.S. Olympic Trials finalist in 1976, Harrell swam for the national team that competed in Russia and also participated in the World University Games in Bulgaria during her freshman year at NC State. In addition to enjoying success in collegiate competition, she set American records in two events–the 50-yard butterfly and 200-yard freestyle relay–and set the master's swimming world record in the 50-meter and 100-meter butterfly events.

Following graduation, Harrell founded the Piedmont Aquatic Club in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she served as head coach from 1992-94. From 1994-95, she was an assistant coach and interim head coach for the Wolfpack program before being named the head coach at South Carolina. In 2000, she founded the swimming and diving program at North Florida, serving as head coach there until 2014.

A member of the ACC 50th Anniversary team, Harrell has also been inducted into the North Carolina Swimming Hall of Fame.

Vic Molodet
Men's Basketball, 1954-56
For his three-year career, Vic Molodet entertained crowds and won championships with his flashy ball-handling and energetic style of play.

Under head coach Everett Case, the native of East Chicago, Indiana, helped lead the Wolfpack to the first three Atlantic Coast Conference titles. Teaming with fellow All-American and NC State Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Ronnie Shavlik, Molodet helped the Pack post an overall record of 78-15 in their three years together. All three of those teams ranked in the national top 10, reaching as high as No. 2 in the country in 1955 and again in 1956.

Molodet earned All-ACC honors all three seasons, including first-team accolades in 1956, and was named the ACC tournament Most Valuable Player as well. A first-team Converse All-American in 1956, he closed his career with 1,405 points, seventh-most in program history at the time.

Following his collegiate career, he was selected by the Boston Celtics in the 1956 NBA Draft. His No. 73 jersey was honored at halftime of the final regular-season game at Reynolds Coliseum in 1999 and now hangs in PNC Arena. He has also been inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.

Sam Okpodu
Men's Soccer, 1981-84
Sam Okpodu, the 1982 ACC men's soccer Player of the Year, scored 29 goals and 72 total points, single-season records that remain the best marks in school history. His record-setting sophomore campaign, when he won the first of his three consecutive All-America honors, set up Okpodu for career totals that are unmatched in the league more than 40 years later.

Okpodu's impact extends beyond NC State. The native of Warri, Nigeria, is the ACC's all-time leader in career points (191) and career goals (78). He was named All-ACC in each of his four seasons of collegiate competition and was the captain of the 1984 NC State squad that finished second in the ACC.

Okpodu played on the Nigerian national team from 1979-81 and competed professionally before entering the coaching ranks. He was the manager of the Nigerian women's national team during the 2003 World Cup, spent time as a college coach and went on to enjoy a long-time career as Chief Executive Officer of the South Carolina Youth Soccer Association.

Volire Tisdale-Brown
Volleyball, 1984-88
The first alumna from the volleyball program to be inducted into the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame, Volire Tisdale-Brown holds records that still stand long after her playing days ended.

In 1987, Tisdale-Brown led NC State to the first Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title in school history, earning tournament MVP honors as well as first-team All-ACC and AVCA All-Region selections for the season. The following year, she was named ACC Player of the Year, becoming just the second player in program history to earn that distinction, while also repeating as a first-team All-ACC and ACVA All-Region performer.

Tisdale-Brown notched 585 kills in 1988, a single-season program record that has stood for more than three decades. She also remains in the top 10 in the school record books in career kills (1,598), digs (1,452) and sets played (461).

She was also named to the ACC 50th Anniversary Team.

Trena Trice
Women's Basketball, 1983-1987
An All-Atlantic Coast Conference honoree in each of the four seasons of her career, Trena Trice-Hill is one of a select group of Wolfpack women's basketball players to have her jersey hanging in the rafters of Reynolds Coliseum.

Trice-Hill averaged 15.1 points and 8.4 rebounds for her career, including a double-double average as a senior (18.3 points, 10.4 rebounds) to remain inked in the program's top 10 in all-time points scored (1,761), rebounds (984), double-doubles (42), blocks (182) and field-goal percentage (.585).

A dominating center for the Pack, Trice-Hill led her teams to ACC regular-season and tournament title sweeps for the 1984-85 season and the 1987 ACC tournament crowns, capping her career as a Street and Smith and Women's Sports Federation All-American following her senior season. She was a 1986 finalist for the Wade Trophy that honors the top NCAA Division I women's basketball player.

Trice-Hill was drafted by the WNBA's New York Liberty and played professionally for nearly 15 years. She came back to Raleigh to serve as an assistant coach on Kay Yow's staff from 2004 to 2009 before making multiple other stops in her coaching career.

Philip Rivers
Football, 2000-03
Philip Rivers rewrote the NC State and ACC record books at the turn of the century, compiling what was then an NCAA-record 51 consecutive starts at quarterback between 2000-03.

The Alabama native began his collegiate career as the 2000 ACC Rookie of the Year and finished it as the 2003 ACC Player of the Year. In between, he amassed 13,484 passing yards, a mark that stood second in NCAA history at the time. More than two decades following his graduation, he still holds the Wolfpack career marks for yards, completions, touchdowns and total offense.

A four-time offensive bowl MVP, Rivers was a first-round draft pick of the New York Giants in 2004 but was traded to the San Diego Chargers on draft day and spent the next 16 seasons setting records for that franchise before spending his final year with the Indianapolis Colts. An eight-time Pro Bowl selection, Rivers is now a high school coach.

Rivers was voted into the NC State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013, but deferred his induction until 2024.

Wolfpack Celebrates NC State Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2024

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