The Washburn athletics Hall of Fame has announced its 2009 class with the addition of two Sigma Phi Epsilon members who will be inducted on Oct. 3 and introduced at halftime of the football game between the Ichabods and the Fort Hays State Tigers. Joining the class of 118 are former football player Gary Yager and as a meritorious service inductee, former Ichabod golfer Mark Heitz.

Gary Yager • Football (1972-75)

Gary was a first team all-CSIC selection as a senior after wrapping up his career with 1,297 rushing yards which is currently 15th on the all-time Ichabod rushing chart and was the fifth-highest at the end of his career after playing only three seasons missing one with an injury. He has 12 career touchdowns and four 100-yard rushing games while leading the Ichabods in rushing as a junior and senior. He rushed for 784 yards as a senior with eight touchdowns and his rushing total would have been the third-highest single-season total in school history. He rushed for a career-high 135 yards on 28 carries against Pittsburg State as a senior. His junior season, he rushed for 439 yards on 119 carries with three touchdown. His 862 all-purpose yards led the Ichabods as a senior as did his 54 points scored on nine touchdowns. He led the team in rushing during the 1974 Boot Hill Bowl in a 21-7 win over Millikin with 57 yards rushing on 22 carries. The Boot Hill Bowl win is also his top Washburn sports memory. Yager graduated from Washburn in 1976 and he is a graduate of East High School in Kansas City. He is the president and CEO of Vision Bank in Topeka. Yager and his wife Widge (also a Washburn graduate) have two sons - Tyson and Tab.

Mark Heitz • Meritorious Service • Golf (1970-72)

Mark has been instrumental in the success of Washburn athletics and the entire University by sponsoring many endowed scholarships for Ichabod and Lady Blues student athletes and both his and his wife Lisa's names as well as endowed funds for the Washburn law school. He has served on the Washburn Board of Regents as well as the law school's board of governors and is currently a trustee of the Washburn Endowment Association. Heitz's support of building projects such as the Lee Arena and Whiting Field House renovation projects and the Falley Field renovation project has helped put the Washburn athletic facilities on the map as some of the best in the country. He was honored as the Ichabod Club Person of the Year in 1998 and graduated from Washburn in 1974 earning his juris doctorate in 1977. He also is a member of the American Bar Association, Kansas Bar Association, Oklahoma Bar Association, Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity, past secretary for the Kansas Day Club and a past chairman of the Kansas Insurance Education Foundation and National Association of Life Companies. Heitz has served as president of the WU Law School Association and received the Alumni Association's Distinguished Service Award in 2002 and an honorary Doctorate of Law in 2001. The Heitz's have one daughter, Kara.