Reiner Kolodinski ’81, Rebecca Kopchik Carcamo ’94, Murray Via ’54, Olivia Sabins, and Jacqueline Shimamoto ’14 join a select group of SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ legends
The Occidental Athletics Hall of Fame welcomed five new inductees with a spirited ceremony in Cannon Plaza—site of the old Taylor Pool—on October 19, with coaches, family, teammates, and colleagues inducting this year’s honorees. Established in 2012, the Hall of Fame recognizes outstanding achievement in competition, service, dedication, and commitment to SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ athletics.
Murray Via ’54 is Occidental’s all-time batting leader in baseball with a .435 career average and holds the school single-season batting record at .500 (in 1954). Playing center field for Coach Bill Anderson, Via was selected First-Team All-Conference for three consecutive years and co-captained the championship 1954 team, which was inducted in the SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.
Jacqueline Shimamoto ’14 is SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½â€™s all-time hits leader in softball. A four-time All-SCIAC selection and two-time First Team pick, she leads the Tigers in a number of performance metrics, including career batting average (.422), career hits (139), and most hits in a single season (50, in 2014). Hitting .455 her senior year, Shimamoto was a second team National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Region selection in 2014.
Reiner Kolodinski ’81 M’01, a 5'11" point guard, led the Tigers to the SCIAC men’s basketball championship with an 11-1 conference mark and advanced to the NCAA Division III Western Regional playoffs. He was selected as All-SCIAC Second Team in 1979, and All-SCIAC First Team and All-District in 1980. After graduating from SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, Kolodinski played pro basketball in Germany for two years with ASC Göttingen in the Basketball Bundesliga, and was a member of the 1983 German championship team.
A two-time SCIAC champion in cross country (1991 and 1993), Rebecca Kopchik Carcamo ’94 is widely considered SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½â€™s best-ever female distance runner. A seven-time Division III All-American in cross country and track and field, she was the 5k national champion in track and field in 1992 (with a time of 17:57.46) and national runner-up in cross country in 1991 (with a personal-best time of 17:33).
Department Coordinator Olivia Sabins joined the Occidental Athletics Department in February 1989 and was a mainstay of the department for more than 36 years, retiring in June. She was known as the welcoming face of SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ athletics, supporting thousands of students and staff and helping foster the department’s family-like culture—which was evident on a morning full of Tiger pride. 
