by STANFORD, Calif. – Eight new members of the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame will be inducted Oct. 11, adding to a long and distinguished list of individuals honored at the school known as the Home of Champions.
Indian Country’s own Notah Begay, III ’95 (men’s golf) will be presented by his long time friend and former teammate Tiger Woods.
All of the inductees will be honored at a private reception and dinner at the Bing Concert Hall on Saturday, Oct. 11 beginning at 6 p.m. The class will also be introduced at halftime of Stanford’s football game against Washington State on Oct. 10.
Begay led his Stanford team to the 1994 national championship as a first team All-American, he finished his career with a stroke average of 72.6. A three-time All-American, in 1992, ’94 and ’95, Begay’s career low score of 62 came during the 1994 NCAA championships, finishing one stroke shy of the school record, held by teammate Tiger Woods.
A full-blooded Native American (Navajo/Pueblo), Begay turned pro and collected six victories including four on the PGA Tour while earning a top-20 world ranking. In 1998, he became one of only a handful of golfers to shoot 59 in the second round of the Nike Tour Dominion Open. He was also a member of a U.S. Walker Cup team as well as a U.S. Presidents Cup team that included former Stanford standout Tiger Woods.
Currently an analyst with NBC Sports and The Golf Channel, Begay became the first player in a pro tour to putt both right and left-handed. Begay was named one of Golf Magazine’s Innovators of the Year in 2009 and has also been named one of the Top 100 Sports Educators in the world by the Institute for International Sport. Begay graduated with a degree in economics during his time at Stanford.
