The AGLOA Hall of Fame Committee met in May 2022 to discuss the criteria that were established when the Academic Games Hall of Fame was established in 2000. The committee voted on some changes to the criteria for each of the three categories in the Hall of Fame—players, coaches, and teams. Below is a summary of the updated criteria. The complete criteria can be found on the Hall of Fame page.
Updated Criteria:- Individual players will be inducted into the Hall of Fame only after the AGLOA National Tournament of the year in which they graduate from high school. Therefore, it is possible for a player to meet the existing criteria to be included in the Hall of Fame, but their name will not be added to the Hall of Fame list until they are no longer an active participant in Academic Games.
- Teams can have one or more coaches training them, so the established point system for coaches to be inducted into the Hall of Fame will now evenly divide points that a team earns from national championships amongst the coaches of that team.
- The previous criteria for a coach to be inducted into the Hall of Fame required them to have at least two team Sweepstakes championships, but now a coach can either have two Sweepstakes teams and 150 total points OR a coach can simply earn 200 total points. A point breakdown can be found on the Hall of Fame page.
- The Hall of Fame Committee will vote on teams that are nominated that meet the established minimum criteria, and three of the five team must be the same from year to year.
Along with the update to the Hall of Fame criteria, several new individuals, coaches, and teams have been inducted into the Academic Games Hall of Fame following the 2022 AGLOA National Tournament. AGLOA would like to congratulate its newest Hall of Fame inductees.
Players
Two members of the Class of 2022 were inducted into the Academic Games Hall of Fame
- Akshaya Kannikeswaran (Northville, MI) was the Middle Division WFF ‘N PROOF and overall Sweepstakes champion in 2018, and she took 1st Place in Senior Division Presidents at the 2022 AGLOA National Tournament solidifying her place in the Hall of Fame.
- Mahir Rahman (Jefferson Parish, LA) earned three national titles in his playing career—1st Place Middle Presidents (2017), 1st Place Middle Sweepstakes (2017), and 1st Place Junior Sweepstakes (2019)—earning him a spot forever in the Hall of Fame.
Coaches
These four coaches were inducted into the Hall of Fame and have amazing Academic Games careers. More information about their coaching accomplishments will be shared in featured articles this summer. Summaries of their coaching titles can be found on the Hall of Fame Coaches page.
- Ellen Bredeweg (Palm Beach County, FL)
- Dave Campbell (Palm Beach County, FL)
- Becky McLaughlin (Palm Beach County, FL)
- Margie Walsh (Palm Beach County, FL)
Teams
This year, three teams were nominated and inducted into the Academic Games Hall of Fame. Each of the teams have much to show for their dedication to Academic Games.
- A team from Ann Arbor, Michigan, that played for six years collected three Sweepstakes championships and fourteen titles. The team included Rhea Cong, Young Seo Lee, Elizabeth Li, Zach Nelson, Daniel Muenz, Will Panitch, Marisa Redding, Eli Shavit, James Xiu, Benjamin Zhao, and Henry Zhou
- One team from Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, made up of Christian Fernandez, Gun Kang, Siddesh Ponnapakkam, Dennis Stokes, Justin Turnbull, Adnan Yousuf, and Fang Zhou took home three Sweepstakes championships and eight team titles in their five-year run.
- Another Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, team was a two-time Sweepstakes winner and garnered eight game titles. The team members included Kristina Gutierrez, Nameera Islam, Jeffrey Lin, Neel Mondal, Diesn Xing, and Suraj Zaveri.
View all members of the Academic Games Hall of Fame on our website here.