General Athletics | 3/15/2016 10:09:00 AM

BURNABY, BC – Simon Fraser University will welcome Canadian Olympians Ruky Abdulai (track and field) and Justin Abdou (wrestling), legendary men's basketball head coach Jon-Lee Kootnekoff, the 1976 NAIA national champion men's soccer team and business leaders and philanthropists Keith and Betty Beedie into its Athletics Hall of Fame, Senior Director of Athletics and Recreation Theresa Hanson announced today.
 
The 50th anniversary induction class will be honoured at the 2016 SFU Athletic Awards on March 22 at the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown. The inductees were chosen by a selection committee comprised of media, former sports information directors, alumni and staff.
 
"The 50th anniversary induction class honours our Olympic aspirations, pays tribute to our roots in the NAIA and celebrates the passionate support and goodwill of our biggest fans," said Hanson. "Together, this group represents who we want to be as student-athletes and a university."
 

Ruky Abdulai (2005-2008) fulfilled a life-long dream coming to Canada to attend Simon Fraser. She made the most of her experience, winning a record 17 individual NAIA national track and field titles, including four consecutive titles in the high jump. She also competed in long jump, triple jump, hurdles & relays. Shortly after becoming a Canadian citizen, Abdulai set the Canadian long jump record while still a student at SFU. Abdulai, who resides in Burnaby, competed for Canada in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
 
"Going to SFU and having the opportunity to compete for Canada was the greatest thing that ever happened to me," said Abdulai.
 
WATCH Ruky Abdulai: One Giant Leap https://youtu.be/tGHvBJ8Ky5s

In 1993, Justin Abdou (1990-1993) won his fourth consecutive national wrestling championship at 177-pounds, one of only seven four-time champions in NAIA history.  The 11-time Canadian champ and 2000 Olympian finished his collegiate career with a remarkable 205-24-2 record. Abdou never lost to an NAIA opponent and his 205 victories is the most-ever wins in NAIA history.
 
"The old wrestling room was known as the dungeon and when I came here the best wrestlers in the country and some of the best wrestlers in the world were down there," said Abdou. "When I looked around the room every guy at my weight class was on the national team. Practice was so difficult that competition became easy."
 
Abdou, who was born in Thunder Bay, grew up in Moose Jaw and now lives in Port Moody, was a senior on the Clan's 1993 NAIA national championship team that featured four future Olympians. He now coaches the SFU men's wrestling team.

WATCH Justin Abdou: Four-Time Champion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OS7LzQKP0k

 
The Hall of Fame selection committee received an unprecedented number of nominations on behalf of Jon-Lee Kootnekoff, whose contributions to basketball are legendary throughout Canada. Kootnekoff was head coach of the first men's basketball team at SFU and guided the Clan through its first 10 seasons, compiling a 167-116 record and .590 winning percentage. He led the Clan to three 20-plus win seasons and to victory over UBC in the inaugural Buchanan Classic during the 1967-68 season.
 
"Jon-Lee's visionary thinking and strategic skills as a coach led a generation of Canadians to believe we could compete in the United States against the best players in the world," wrote Queen's Council prosecutor Robert H. Wright, a charter member of the 1965 SFU men's basketball team, in his nomination letter.
 
WATCH Beat UBC https://youtu.be/g0sIc518y2Q
 
In just its second year as a varsity sport, the 1976 men's soccer team fulfilled the promise of SFU's first Chancellor, Gordon Shrum, that "one day SFU would play in the Rose Bowl" when it won the NAIA national title with a 1-0 win over Rockhurst College before 10,250 fans at the Rose Bowl.  A 2-1 semifinal victory over Quincy College went 14 overtimes and lasted 243-minutes, setting a Guinness World Book of Records mark for longest soccer game in modern history. The team finished 14-3-1 with 62 goals for and 13 goals against.

WATCH Rose Bowl Champions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLrPMvB_6Rw
 
The SFU softball team had been without a home field since its inception in 1990 until Keith & Betty Beedie, through the Beedie Foundation, constructed Beedie Field in 2010. The $1.5 million facility is the jewel of the Athletics Department and considered the best softball facility in Canada. It enables female softball athletes to remain in Canada to get a world-class education and compete against NCAA competition—while playing in a first-class facility.
 
WATCH Home Sweet Home https://youtu.be/Lvk_zbSdAvA
 

The SFU Athletics Hall of Fame recognizes and honours the memory of those individuals who have made outstanding contributions to Simon Fraser Clan athletics, and have helped to bring excellence to the university and its intercollegiate athletic programs.
 
SFU originally competed in the NAIA and then some of its programs competed in CIS in the 2000s. Simon Fraser is now the only school in Canada that competes in the NCAA.
 
The SFU Athletics Hall of Fame was established in 1986 to honour student-athletes, coaches, builders, teams and humanitarians. Since 1986, 64 individuals and four teams have been inducted.
 
--@SFUClan--