Six to be Inducted into West Virginia State University ‘W’ Club Sports Hall of Fame

INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The National “W” Club has announced its 2026 Hall of Fame class, which features four former student-athletes and two coaches. The induction ceremony will be held Oct. 3 at 8:30 a.m. in the Wilson Student Center as part of Homecoming weekend.

The inductees include Bob Lewis, Harold Hughes, Terrance Quattlebaum, and Eddie Ballard. The coaching inductees are current women’s volleyball head coach Shanon Gerencir and former football head coach Clifton Moore.

Lewis played safety for four years at WVSU, earning four varsity letters and receiving West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) All-Conference Honorable Mention accolades. Following his graduation, Lewis embarked on a long and distinguished career in public service, starting on the Welch, W.Va., City Council and concluding with his retirement in 2016 as the USDA State Director for Rural Development.

Hughes was a member of the 1979 team that won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship, leading the Yellow Jackets to an appearance in the Coal Bowl. In 1980, he averaged 10.3 tackles per game en route to earning First Team All-Conference honors. Following his graduation, Hughes enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving 35 years before retiring in 2017.

Quattlebaum was named to the WVSU All-Decade team after earning four varsity letters in both football and track and field. He was a two-time all-conference selection in both sports. Shortly after graduating, Quattlebaum signed with the New Haven Ninjas of the Arena Football League. In 2005, he helped lead the Memphis Xplorers to the ArenaCup championship, earning game MVP honors. He currently serves as the wide receivers coach for the Nashville Kats of the Arena Football League and sits on the board of directors for the United States Tennis Association (USTA).

Ballard was a two-time team captain for WVSU baseball and earned All-WVIAC honors in four consecutive seasons. Originally recruited for basketball, he turned his focus to the diamond, where he won the WVIAC batting title in 1969 with a .419 batting average. He also dominated on the mound, leading the conference in strikeouts. Following his collegiate career, Ballard received a tryout invitation from the Cincinnati Reds and served in the West Virginia National Guard.

Gerencir, in her second stint as volleyball head coach, is in her 16th season leading the Yellow Jackets. The longest-tenured head coach in program history, she is the program’s all-time wins leader with 211 career victories. During her first stint from 2002 through 2015, she led WVSU to two conference championships and a pair of NCAA Division II Tournament appearances. She was named WVIAC Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2006, guiding the Yellow Jackets to their first-ever conference title—the first conference championship by any women’s team in school history.

Moore began his collegiate coaching career at WVSU, serving as an assistant football and basketball coach before taking the reins of the football program in 1984. In 1987, he led the Yellow Jackets to an 8-1-1 record and a WVIAC championship while guiding the program to a national ranking. He went on to coach at various HBCUs, concluding his head coaching career at Florida A&M University.