By ISU Sports Information
NORMAL – Former Illinois State baseball star Dave Bergman and cross country and track standout Sue Daggett Miller were selected as two of six inductees in the 19th Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame class, which was revealed by MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin Friday.
Bergman joins the MVC Hall of Fame in the Institutional Great category, which recognizes coaches, student-athletes and administrators who represented a current league school, when their institution was not a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. Daggett Miller becomes just the third women’s track and field honoree to enter the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame, joining Indiana State’s Holli Hyche and Southern Illinois’ Connie Price-Smith.
“The Missouri Valley Conference has always been recognized for the great success of its athletics programs, with a rich history that dates back more than a century,” Commissioner Doug Elgin said. “The individuals we will be honoring in the Class of 2016 are representative of the men and women who have preceded them in our Hall of Fame. They’ve brought significant honor to themselves, their institutions and to the Conference. We are truly humbled to have this opportunity to salute them for their achievements.”
Bergman and Daggett Miller are the ninth and tenth Illinois State representatives in the MVC Hall of Fame, respectively, joining Kenneth “Buzz” Shaw (1998), Doug Collins (1998), Cathy Boswell (2003), Will Robinson (2003), Jill Hutchison (2008), John Coughlan (2009), Linda Herman (2014) and D.A. Weibring (2015).
“Dave Bergman and Sue Daggett Miller are both very deserving of this honor,” Illinois State Director of Athletics Larry Lyons stated. “Dave was a gifted baseball player as a Redbird and in the professional ranks, but he was an incredible person and father. He was a joy to be around and he always gave of himself willingly to help others. Sue was as talented of a student-athlete as there has been at Illinois State. Team results always came first for her and she truly embodied the Redbird spirit, but her level of individual success in MVC Championships is unprecedented.”
Bergman is the first Redbird baseball player to enter the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame. Bergman passed away last February after a three-year battle with bile duct cancer, and was made aware of the honor prior to his passing. He is survived by his wife, Cathy, and three children, Troy, Bria and Erika.
“Larry Lyons reached out to us a couple weeks before my dad’s passing to let him know that he had been inducted into the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame on behalf of the league,” Bergman’s son, Troy, said. “I know that meant a lot to my dad and was a special honor for him, as his health was deteriorating. He appreciated everything Illinois State did for him and he always spoke highly of the people there, so this was a special honor for him coming from the Valley.”
A member of the Redbird baseball team from 1972-74, Bergman registered a career batting average of .366 with 63 RBI at Illinois State. He was voted the team MVP in both 1973 and 1974 and was named an All-American outfielder in 1974 by The Sporting News, after hitting .351 and leading the team in hits, home runs, runs scored and stolen bases. Following his junior season at Illinois State, Bergman was drafted by the New York Yankees in the second round of the 1974 Major League Baseball Draft.
He totaled a .258 batting average, 690 hits, 289 RBI and 54 home runs during a 17-year Major League Baseball career. He was a member of four Major League Baseball teams, including the New York Yankees (1975, 1977), Houston Astros (1978-1981), San Francisco Giants (1981-1983) and Detroit Tigers (1984-1992) as an outfielder, first baseman and designated hitter.
Bergman was the starting first baseman for the 1984 Detroit Tigers team that defeated the San Diego Padres to win the 1984 World Series. He appeared in 120 games for the 1984 Tigers, posting a career-high 44 RBI and seven home runs. In 1989, he enjoyed his finest MLB season, establishing career highs in games (127), at bats (385), hits (103), and walks (44) and matched a career-high with seven home runs.
During his professional playing career, Bergman returned to Illinois State and completed work on his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1978. Bergman’s Redbird jersey (No. 12) was retired by Illinois State in 1994, joining Duffy Bass (No. 13) and Buzz Capra (No. 9).
Daggett Miller is one of the most decorated female student-athletes in both Illinois State and Missouri Valley Conference history, as she claimed a league-record 17 individual conference championships during her four-year Redbird career. In addition, she was a three-time All-America selection and was the 1995 NCAA District V cross country champion.
“I’m still trying to digest this overwhelming honor from the Missouri Valley Conference,” Miller said. “I feel so fortunate and blessed to be a part of this class and in this incredible group. All of the support I received from my coaches, teammates and staff made all of this possible for me. My time at Illinois State was special beyond words and I am looking forward to the ceremony in March.”
Her numerous conference championships include two cross country titles (1995 and 1996); three indoor 5,000-meter championships (1994, 1996 and 1997); two indoor 3,000-meter titles (1996 and 1997); an indoor mile run championship (1997); four outdoor 10,000-meter championships (1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997); two outdoor 3,000-meter titles (1996 and 1997); two outdoor 5,000-meter championships (1995 and 1997); and an outdoor 1,500-meter run title (1997).
She was a four-time indoor all-conference honoree and a four-time outdoor all-conference honoree, and was also named the Missouri Valley Conference Female Track Athlete of the Meet three times, earning the award at the Indoor Championship in 1996 and both the Indoor and Outdoor meets in 1997.
Daggett Miller led the Illinois State team to back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships titles (1996 and 1997).
In addition to her success on the track, she was also a 1994 Cross Country Coaches Association Academic All-America selection, while being named a three-time All-Valley Academic Cross Country selection (1994, 1995 and 1996) and a four-time Academic All-Conference track and field selection (1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997).
For the 13th time in 14 years, the league will conduct its annual Hall of Fame ceremony as part the Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Championship next March 3-6. The March 4 festivities will begin with an 8:00 a.m. breakfast, followed by the induction ceremony at 8:30 a.m.
Tickets to the 2016 Hall of Fame event – scheduled to be held in the Peabody Opera House which is adjacent to Scottrade Center – can be obtained by calling the league office at (314) 444-4300. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
