Gene Crane in new class for Tech Hall of Fame

BLACKSBURG -- Gene Crane, a former track star at Hermitage High School, will join five others in the latest class selected for the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1977, Crane set a school record in the steeplechase that still stands when he ran a time of 8:47.2 on the way to a third-place finish in the 1978 State Championships. He also set a school mark in the 5,000 meters that day, finishing fourth. Crane took second place in the steeplechase at the 1979 Metro Outdoor Track & Field Championships. He finished second in the event at the Atlantic Coast Relays and the State Championships that season.

While specializing in the steeplechase during the outdoor season, Crane continued to make contributions to the cross country and indoor track squads throughout his Tech career. He helped the indoor team win the state title in 1978 with a sixth-place finish in the 3-mile run, ending an 11-year run by William and Mary.

Crane graduated from Tech as an honor student in health and physical education in June 1979 and went home to Richmond to begin training for the Olympic trials. Tragically, he was struck and killed by a car later that month after completing a workout.

Joining Crane in the Hall of Fame will be Maurice DeShazo, a mobile quarterback whose productivity on the field helped the Hokies to back-to-back bowl games for the first time in school history; Aaron Marchetti, an All-America tennis player who earned the highest rankings of any Tech tennis player during the late 1990s; and the late Chuck Noe, a fiery, innovative coach who instilled a winning tradition into Tech's men's basketball program during seven successful seasons at the helm from 1955-62.

Rounding out the class are Brian Sharp, who is the only Tech golfer to be named all-conference and first-team all-state four consecutive seasons, and Lisa Witherspoon Hansen, whose tough, unselfish play at point guard helped spark the Tech women's basketball program to new heights in the late 1990s.

The six new honorees will be inducted at a Hall of Fame dinner on the Tech campus Nov. 20, the evening before Tech's home football game against N.C. State. Each of the living inductees and families of all of the inductees will be introduced to fans at halftime of the football game.

The new inductees will bring the total number enshrined to 147. The Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame was established in 1982 and is currently located near the Bowman Room on the fourth floor of the Jamerson Athletic Center. Hall of Fame plaques engraved with portraits of all the members are displayed there. Under Tech Hall of Fame guidelines, persons are not eligible for induction until they have been out of school for 10 years.