LAS VEGAS - The Pac-12 Conference officially inducted its 2018 Pac-12 Hall of Honor class, including Cougar Hall of Famer John Olerud, at the Pac-12 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.
 
The 2019 Hall of Honor class is the 18th since its creation in 2002, and the second to feature legendary figures from an array of sports after the Pac-12 last season expanded the field to be inclusive of the broad-based athletics success across the Conference of Champions. From NCAA champions, Super Bowl champions and World Series champions to Olympic medalists to legendary coaches, the 2019 class features a star-studded list of inductees with:

• Meg Ritchie-Stone (Arizona)
• Frank Kush (Arizona State)
• Natalie Coughlin (California)
• Lisa Van Goor (Colorado)
• Bev Smith (Oregon)
• Dick Fosbury (Oregon State)
• Dick Gould (Stanford)
• Ann Meyers Drysdale (UCLA)
• Ronnie Lott (USC)
• Steve Smith Sr. (Utah)
• Patricia "Trish" Bostrom (Washington)
• John Olerud (Washington State)

 Among the many combined accolades of this year's inductee class includes: 14 Olympic medals, nine bowl victories, eight members named to a Pac-12 All-Century Team, seven All-Americans, five Olympic athletes, five NCAA team or individual national championships as collegians, four Super Bowl victories, two members of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, two members of the College Football Hall of Fame, two members of their country's Olympic Hall of Fame, one member of the Naismith Hall of Fame and one back-to-back World Series winner.
 
John Olerud, Washington State (1987-89)
 
During his three seasons in a Cougar uniform, John Olerud had one of the finest careers of any Cougar student-athlete, in any sport, in Washington State history, rewriting the WSU record books and becoming the only Cougar baseball athlete ever to be named College Athlete of the Year. In 1988, Olerud became the only player in NCAA history to win 15 games on the mound and hit 20 home runs in the same season, going 15-0 with 23 home runs that year. Still holding numerous WSU records, Olerud went 26-4 overall with a 3.17 ERA over 241.1 innings during his three seasons, hitting .434 for Washington State. He set two Pac-10 records and 10 Pac-10 North marks, highlighted by his sophomore season when he was named Athlete of the Year by Baseball America. In January prior to his junior year at WSU, Olerud suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage, a type of brain seizure. He missed the first 28 games of the spring season, but returned to hit .359 for WSU over the final 27 games. Prior to his senior season, Olerud signed a contract with Toronto and went directly to the Major Leagues. In 1993, he became the first Blue Jay to win a batting title, hitting .363. Olerud played for Toronto, the New York Mets and Yankees, Seattle and Boston during his 17-year career, winning back-to-back world series titles with Toronto in 1992 and 1993. In 2001 he joined his father, John Sr., in the WSU Athletics Hall of Fame, and is a member of the College Baseball, State of Washington and Inland Northwest Sports Halls of Fame. The John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award, given annually by the College Baseball Hall of Fame, was named in his honor and in 2016, he was named the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Century, selected by a 36-member blue ribbon panel of experts chosen by the conference.