Liberty Athletics adds 7 members to Hall of Fame Class of 2025

Seven new members will be inducted into the Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame during a special ceremony in the fall.

The Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025 includes representatives from the football, men’s basketball, softball, track & field, volleyball and women’s swimming & diving teams.

The seven-member class, the 17th to be inducted into the Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame, will be honored during special ceremonies surrounding Liberty’s Hall of Fame and Homecoming Weekend football game against Delaware on November 1 at Williams Stadium.

The seven-member class includes Mike Brown (football), Alicia [Finnigan] Cardie (women’s swimming & diving), Erin [McKeown] Hagen (volleyball), Clendon Henderson (men’s track & field), Stacy [Radulovich] Neal (softball), Jesse Sanders (men’s basketball) and Brant Tolsma (head coach cross country/track & field).

The Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held Friday, October 31 at the Alumni Ballroom on the third floor of the Montview Student Union.

Additionally, the seven-member class will receive special recognition during the Delaware football game the afternoon following the ceremony.

The Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame celebrates the best of the best, honoring those who helped shape the face of Liberty Athletics. The Hall of Fame’s now 94 members have each played a key role in helping Liberty grow from an NCCAA program in 1972 to its current status as a thriving NCAA Division I program.

Brown, who played at Liberty from 2008-11, finished his four-year career at Liberty as one of the program’s most versatile players, earning All-America honors at both wide receiver and quarterback.

The native of Charlottesville, Va., came to the Mountain as a wide receiver, finishing his first two seasons with 79 receptions for 1,029 yards and three touchdowns. He was named to the CSN Fabulous FCS All-America first-team listing in 2009 and was selected as the Big South Player of the Year.

Brown moved under center in 2010 where he continued to flourish during his final two seasons. During the 2010 season, Brown threw for 2,956 yards and 23 touchdowns, repeating as Big South Player of the Year and earning CSN Sweet 63 All-America first-team honors as Liberty’s signal caller. As a junior, he set a then program record with 3,810 total offensive yards.

Brown was twice named to the Walter Payton Award watch list and was a top-20 finalist for the national FCS Player of the Year award in 2010 and 2011. Brown helped lead the Flames to three-straight Big South Conference titles (2008, 2009 and 2010).

Following his standout playing career at Liberty, Brown signed as a free agent with the Jacksonville Jaguars where he played for three seasons (2012-14). He has continued to thrive in college football, working as an assistant coach at Michigan (2016), Delaware (2017) Liberty (2018), Cincinnati (2019-22), Wisconsin (2023) and Notre Dame (2024).

Cardie is one of the most decorated student-athletes in Liberty swimming & diving program history, finishing her time at Liberty as a standout both in the pool and in the classroom.

Cardie, who competed with the Lady Flames from 2015-19, posted a program-record 10 podium finishes at the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA) Championship. She led the program to a team championship in 2019 during her senior season, Liberty’s second conference title in school history.

The native of Sugar Land, Texas, was named the CCSA Female Swimmer of the Year in 2018 and earned her second-straight appearance at the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championship. In 2018, she was presented the NCAA Elite 90 Award, given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA at the national championship event.

The 2019 Rock Royer/Mac Rivera Award winner was a four-time CSCAA Scholar All-American honoree, including first team honors in 2017 and 2018.

At the time of her Hall of Fame induction, Cardie still holds the program record in the 200 butterfly, while ranking third in program history in the 500 freestyle and 100 butterfly.

Cardie competed well on the national stage during her standout collegiate career, scoring three times at USA Swimming National meets. She placed fifth in the 200-meter butterfly at the 2018 USA Swimming Winter Nationals. In 2016, she competed in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

Hagen’s impact on Liberty Athletics has been felt for more than two decades, starting with a star-studded career on the volleyball court for the Lady Flames from 2000-03.

Hagen was a driving force at the middle blocker position behind Liberty’s volleyball success in the early 2000s. She helped the Lady Flames to two appearances in the Big South Championship title match (2001 and 2002), an NCAA Tournament berth (2001) and the 2003 Big South regular-season championship.

As a sophomore, the native of Glendale, Ariz., helped the Lady Flames win the 2001 Big South Conference championship and the program’s third NCAA Tournament berth.

One of only five players in program history with 1,000 or more kills, 1,000 or more digs and 300 or more blocks, Hagen was twice named the Big South first-team all-conference listing, a two-time first-team VaSID selection, the 2002 Big South Championships MVP and was honored as the 2003 Big South Player of the Year.

At the time of her graduation, Hagen ranked third in program history with 1,479 career digs, fourth with 341 career blocks and seventh with 1,308 career kills.

After serving two years as a graduate assistant with the Lady Flames volleyball program (2004-05), Hagen transitioned to the administrative side of Liberty Athletics where she has continually helped shape the upward trajectory of the department. She began her administrative role as Director of Compliance and has served as Senior Woman Administrator since 2013.

Henderson made the most of his two competitive seasons on the Mountain from 2007-08, laying the foundation for Liberty’s success in the throwing events for years to come.

Following a national runner-up finish in the discus with South Plains College at the NJCAA level, Henderson transferred to Liberty where he helped the Flames sweep the Big South Indoor and Outdoor Track Championships in 2007 and 2008 and win back-to-back IC4A Outdoor Track Championship titles.

The native of Meadow, Texas, became the first thrower in program history to qualify for the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships in 2007. He was also the first thrower in program history to earn All-America honors when he placed third in the discus at the 2008 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Henderson graduated in 2008 as, the Liberty and Big South Conference record holder in the indoor shot put, outdoor shot put and outdoor discus. The discus mark, which also earned him a trip to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, still stands as the Liberty and Big South standard at the time of his Hall of Fame induction.

Henderson, a three-time Big South individual champion, was twice named Big South Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was selected a 2008 CoSIDA Academic All-America® first team honoree.

Following his standout career on the track, Henderson continued to shape the future of the program by serving as an assistant coach with the Flames for 13 years (2009-21) where he coached four All-Americans in the throwing events.

Neal, who competed for Liberty from 1996-99, helped mold the softball program during its infancy at the NCAA Division I level as one of the program’s early dynamic standouts, allowing the program to quickly find success.

During her freshman season on the Mountain, Neal posted a Big South best .437 batting average, to go along with 53 runs scored, 12, doubles, seven triples, 24 RBIs and 39 stolen bases. The standout rookie season numbers earned her 1996 Big South Rookie of the Year accolades. Her star-studded freshman season helped the Lady Flames garner their first 30-win season at the Division I level in 1996 with a 36-18 record.

The native of South Holland, Ill., was a three-time Big South all-conference honoree and three-time VaSID all-state selection. In 1998, she was named the VaSID All-State Player of the Year after batting .339 with 37 runs scored, eight doubles, eight triples and a career-high four home runs.

Neal finished her days in a Liberty uniform with 31 career triples, which still stands today as the school record and is 10 more than any other player in Big South Conference history. The lofty career numbers earned her a spot on the Big South All-Decade team (1990-99).

During her final year on the Mountain, Neal and the Lady Flames captured the program’s first Big South regular-season title and posted their first-ever 40-win season (41-25).

Sanders set the standard for point guard play at Liberty University during his stellar four-year career from 2008-12.

As the program’s all-time career record holder with 727 assists, he was the first player in program history at the NCAA Division I level to record a triple-double during each of his four collegiate seasons. He finished his career with four triple-doubles, setting the program record at the time of his Hall of Fame induction.

During his junior season, Sanders averaged 11.3 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per contest, while shooting 42.8 percent from the field and 75.6 percent from the free throw line. He was named the 2011 Big South Player of the Year, becoming the only player in program history to garner the lofty award. He was also named an Associated Press All-America honorable-mention selection during the same season.

The native of Sugar Land, Texas, was twice named to the Big South all-conference first team (2011 and 2012) and was named to the 2009 Big South All-Freshman team and the Big South All-Decade team (2010-19). At the time of his graduation, he was the only player in Big South history to have four career triple-doubles and at least 1,000 career points (1,235), 800 career rebounds (815) and 700 assists (727).

Following his standout playing career for Liberty, Sanders played seven seasons overseas for six different teams.

The longest-tenured and arguably most successful head coach in Liberty Athletics history, Brant Tolsma enters the Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame after a storied 34-year coaching career (1986-2020).

Tolsma guided his teams to 116 conference titles, including 98 Big South Conference titles, seven Mason-Dixon Conference titles, six ASUN Conference crowns, three IC4A titles and two ECAC crowns.

Tolsma led Liberty to eight consecutive Big South men’s Triple Crowns. The Flames swept every conference men’s cross country, men’s indoor track & field and men’s outdoor track & field title between fall 2006 and spring 2014.

Tolsma, a 77-time conference Coach of the Year award winner, coached six NCAA Division I individual national champions, 61 NCAA Division I All-Americans, nine NCAA Division II All-Americans, and 13 CoSIDA Academic All-America® honorees.

Sam Chelanga’s national title in the men’s outdoor 5K helped Liberty tie for 12th place in the final men’s team standings at the 2011 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, marking the highest NCAA Division I team finish in Liberty and Big South history.

During his coaching tenure, Tolsma also released a book entitled “The Surrendered Christian Athlete” in 2001. Competitively, he won his age group in the World Double Decathlon Championship in both 2005 and 2010, as well as the Masters National Decathlon Championship in both 1993 and 2003.