The University of Louisiana of Lafayette will induct four former athletes into the UL Lafayette S Club Hall of Fame this year. Those athletes are Alyson Habetz, softball; Gerald Landry, football; Garrett O’Connor, baseball; and Ndabe Mdhlongwa, track and field.
Alyson Habetz (softball - 1992-94) received a bachelor of arts degree in 1995 and was the outstanding graduate for the College of Liberal Arts at UL Lafayette that same year. During her college career, she was a four-year letterman in softball and basketball. She received All-South Region honors all four years and was named All-American in 1994 and Academic All-American two years. Habetz helped to lead the Lady Cajuns to their first ever World Series appearance.
Gerald Landry (football - 1963-66) received a B.S. in Marketing and an M.A. in Education from UL Lafayette. He was a four-year letterman on the football squad, receiving All-Conference honors two of those years. Landry holds UL Lafayette records in most extra points and consecutive field goals as well as leading scorer and receiver.
Garret O’Connor (baseball – 1982-86) graduated from UL Lafayette in 1985 with a degree in Business Administration. O’Connor, a four-year letterman, received All-Louisiana and All-American honors during his career.
Ndabe Mdhlongwa (track and field – 1993-96) graduated from UL Lafayette in 1996 with a degree in General Studies and then received his MBA from UL Lafayette in 1998. Mdhlongwa was a four-year letterman for the track and field team. He received All-American honors three times and was an eight-time Sun Belt Conference Champion in the triple jump.
The purpose of the UL Lafayette Hall of Fame is to give recognition to those athletes who have made a significant contribution to the good name of the university by demonstrating exceptional ability and sportsmanship on the playing fields, commendable scholarship in the classroom, high quality leadership on the campus, and who after leaving the university established a personal reputation for character and citizenship in the community which they reside.
"Our goal is to remind each new generation of athletes of the tradition they must uphold and the ideals that they should strive for while they are wearing the UL Lafayette uniforms," said S Club President Dwight Prudhomme (football – 1979-82).
The S Club Alumni Chapter is comprised of men and women who lettered in athletics while they were students at SLI/USL/UL Lafayette. The S Club is a constituent chapter of the UL Lafayette Alumni Association and it retains close ties to the Athletic Department.