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Five former student-athletes and two incredible supporters of UAM Athletics have been chosen for induction into the UAM Sports Hall of Fame and to receive the UAM Spirit Award, Director of Athletics Hud Jackson announced, recently.

The new inductees will be honored in the 2023 UAM Hall of Fame Ceremony on Thursday, September 28th. The inductees will also be recognized during pregame ceremonies at Willis ‘Convoy’ Leslie Cotton Boll Stadium on September 30th prior to the 2:00 p.m. kickoff when Arkansas-Monticello hosts East Central University in a key Great American Conference game. Both events will be live streamed on the official UAM Sports YouTube Page.

The 2023 induction class was chosen by a selection committee, and includes former 3x All-American football player Jalen Tolliver; Cole Sears, an Academic All-American, All-Regional and All-GAC football player; Andres Rios, an All-American and 2x 1st Team All-GAC baseball player; Jordan Goforth, an All-Amercian, 2x 1st Team All-GAC, and former GAC freshman of the year women’s basketball player; Kori Forge, an All-American, 2010-2020 All-GAC Decade Team member, and former GAC Player of the Year basketball player; and Larry and Shirley Fisackerly as this year’s Spirit Award winners.

“We would like to congratulate the 2023 class,” said UAM Athletic Director Hud Jackson. “This group is made up of outstanding student-athletes that represented UAM as incredible athletes and continue to do so in their daily lives today. We are proud to say that they were a part of our great university. Additionally, we would like to congratulate Larry and Shirley Fisackerly for being recognized as our spirit awards recipients. Their family has been and continue to be huge supporters of our athletic department and our student athletes present, past, and future. I would also like to thank members of the selection committee for taking the time out of their busy schedules to evaluate and ultimately vote on this year’s Hall of Fame class. It is a tremendous honor to be elected to the UAM Sports Hall of Fame. Since its inception in 2001, the Hall of Fame has seen some outstanding women and men inducted.”

Inductees were nominated by UAM Athletics supporters, friends, or former teammates are required to have earned a college degree in order to be elected for induction into the UAM Sports Hall of Fame. The committee then evaluates their careers to determine their selection into the HOF. The induction ceremony is scheduled to be held on Thursday, September 28th, in the Green Room of the UAM University Center.

The first of the selectees is Jalen Tolliver, who played wide receiver for the football team at UAM from 2014-2017. Over his football career at UAM, he received numerous national, regional, and conference recognitions. Since his graduation in 2018, Tolliver’s name has continued to be in the Weevils record books multiple times for both individual season and career records. After the conclusion of his collegiate career, Tolliver went on to play two years in the NFL, followed by a two-year stint in the XFL and a year in the CFL.

National, Regional, and Conference Recognitions:

• 2015 All-GAC – Second Team
• 2016 All-GAC – First Team
• 2016 D2CCA All-Central Region – Second Team
• 2016 Don Hansen’s Football Gazette All-Central Region – Second Team
• 2016 Don Hansen’s Football Gazette All-American Honorable Mention
• 2017 All-GAC – First Team
• 2017 D2CCA All-Central Region – First Team
• 2017 Don Hansen’s Football Gazette All-Central Region – First Team
• 2017 Don Hansen’s Football Gazette All-American – Third Team
• 2017 D2Football.com All-American – Second Team

Cole Sears was a quarterback on the football team at UAM from 2015-2018. Over his four-year career with the Boll Weevils, he appeared in 43 games, marking his name in the record books on multiple occasions. During his sophomore season, Sears set the record for most passing yards in a single game with a 533 yards performance against Northwestern Oklahoma State University. After his career with the Boll Weevils, he went on to sign with the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League for a season.

National, Regional, and Conference Recognitions:

• 2018 All-GAC – Second Team
• 2018 CoSIDA Academic All-District – First Team
• 2018 CoDISA Academic All-American – Second Team

Record Book Stats:

• 2nd in UAM Record Book for Career Passing Yards (8,561)
• 2nd in UAM Record Book for Career Passing Touchdowns (70)
• 1st in UAM Record Book for Longest Passing Touchdown (97 yards to Trevon Smith vs. SAU 11/12/16)
• 2nd in UAM Record Book for Total Offense (9,398)

Andres Rios was a baseball player at UAM in both the 2017 and 2018 seasons and is a 2-year letter. Over his baseball career at UAM, he was selected to first team all-conference in both of his years competing with the Boll Weevils. He posted a career batting average of .332, with a senior season average of .354. Upon completion of his career at UAM, Rios has gone on to play professional baseball in multiple organizations, currently competing with the Florence Y’alls.

National, Regional, and Conference Recognitions:

• 2017 All-GAC – First Team
• 2017 NCBWA All-Region Honorable Mention
• 2018 All-GAC – First Team
• 2018 NCBWA All-Region – First Team
• 2018 D2CCA All-Region – First Team
• 2018 ABCA/Rawlings All-Region – First Team
• 2018 NCBWA All-American Honorable Mention

Jordan Goforth was a women’s basketball player at UAM from 2012-2016. Over the course of her four-year career at UAM, she was selected as the GAC Freshman of the year, as well as received multiple first team honors with the conference. She left UAM with her name in the record book for career points with 1,803 to claim the 5th spot all-time. She improved her points per game average every year, concluding her senior season with an average of 20.7 ppg. Her free throw percentage is among the top two all-time in the UAM record book, with a .849 career percentage and a single-season record of .912.

National, Regional, and Conference Recognitions:

• 2012-13 GAC Freshman of the Year
• 2014-15 All-GAC – First Team
• 2015-16 All-GAC – First Team
• 2015-16 D2CCA All-Region – First Team
• 2015-16 D2CCA All-American Honorable Mention

Kori Forge was a men’s basketball player at UAM from 2011-2013. Over his two-year career with the Boll Weevils, he helped lead the Weevils to 37 total wins. In the 2012-13 season, Forge ended his final collegiate season as the leading scorer in the Great American Conference, totaling 531 points throughout 27 games for an average of 19.7 points per outing. He ended the regular season ranked 27th in all of NCAA Division II and fourth in the Central region in scoring. He racked up 1,041 points in his career, becoming the 22nd leading scorer in UAM history.

National, Regional, and Conference Recognitions:

• 2010-2020 All-GAC Decade Team
• 2011-12 All-GAC – Second Team
• 2012-13 All-GAC – First Team
• 2012-13 GAC Player of the Year
• 2012-13 Daktronics All-Region – First Team
• 2012-13 D2 Bulletin All-American Honorable Mention

Larry and Shirley Fisackerly are the recipient of the 2023 UAM Spirit Award. As parents of a former UAM graduate, the two know the impact that the University of Arkansas at Monticello can have on those that come here. After working as an officiate at various UAM athletic events, the Fisackerlys began to slowly get more and more involved in UAM Sports. Through developing friendships throughout the years of living in Monticello, they began to fall in love with not only the school, but athletics as well. Through years of supporting Boll Weevil and Blossom athletes, the UAM Athletics Department is proud to present this year’s Spirit Award to the Fisackerlys.

2023 UAM Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Class
• Jalen Tolliver, Football
• Cole Sears, Football
• Andres Rios, Baseball
• Jordan Goforth, Women’s Basketball
• Kori Forge, Men’s Basketball
• Larry and Shirley Fisackerly, Spirit Award
#WeevilNation | #BlossomNation

This entry was posted on Monday, July 10th, 2023 at 12:45 am and is filed under UAM Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.