Tallahassee, Fla. -- The Athletics Hall of Fame at Florida State University will induct seven members on September 13, including current NFL star Sebastian Janikowski and the Tampa Bay Rays Matt Diaz.
Janikowski will begin his 14th season in the NFL all with the Raiders when the season begins in August. Joining the two-time Groza Award winner and first team All-America outfielder Diaz will be 2000 Lombardi winner Jamal Reynolds, soccer great Cindy Schofield, legendary softball coach Dr. JoAnne Graf, record setting running back Sammie Smith and Moore-Stone Award winner Douglas Mannheimer.
The 2013 class will be formally inducted at a banquet the night before the Seminole’s first home football game.
MATT DIAZ
Baseball
Lakeland’s Matt Diaz came to Florida State with high expectations and over just two seasons forged a career worthy of hall of fame honors.
Diaz burst on the college baseball seen virtually from his first at-bat in 1998 and finished his freshman season as The Sporting News Freshman of the Year. He earned first team Freshman All-America honors and was a third team outright All-American as a rookie. He earned a spot on both the AFCA and NCBWA first team All-America squads as a sophomore in 1999.
FSU’s star outfielder posted impressive career numbers over just two seasons including finishing sixth in both batting average (.384) and all-time slugging percentage (.700). His 43 career home runs ranked him among FSU’s all-time leader (t-11th), while he finished 23rd in RBIs (178) and 24th in total bases (399). Diaz also appears on a number of FSU’s single-season Top 25 lists including home runs with 22 in 1998 that ranked 11th all-time and 21 in 1999 which ranked 13th. His 94 RBIs driven in as a sophomore ranked eighth all-time and his .390 batting average in 1998 was 21st best in Seminole history.
Diaz was selected with the 505th overall pick in the 17th round of the 1999 MLB Draft by the Tampa Bay Devil Ray
JOANNE GRAF
Coaches and Administration
Softball coach JoAnne Graf finished her legendary career coaching on the field at Florida State that had has been named in her honor. Over the span of her 30 year career with Seminole softball, Graf managed the unique accomplishment of building FSU into a national power in slow pitch softball and adjusting to the adoption of the fast-pitch format and continuing the program’s domination.
Coach Graf’s slow pitch teams won back-to-back AIAW (now NCAA) National Championships in 1981 and 1982 and she became the first collegiate softball coach in the country to earn 1400 victories before retiring in 2008. Florida State advanced to the Women’s College World Series seven times under Coach Graf and made 21 NCAA Regional appearances. She led the Seminoles to 10 Atlantic Coast Conference titles and was named ACC Coach of the Year six times.
Graf won over 75 percent of her games as a head coach (1437-478-6) and her Seminoles posted three season with 60 or more wins, 15 50-win seasons and 25 seasons with 40 or more victories.
Graf’s players earned 25 All-America honors, 98 All-Region awards and 74 of her players were named All-ACC. In celebration of its 50th Anniversary, the ACC named the top 50 athletes in each sport and 23 of her FSU players made the 50-member roster.
SEBASTIAN JANIKOWSKI
Football
Sebastian Janikowski came to Florida State in 1997 from Daytona Beach where the strength of his leg was legendary. A soccer star at Seabreeze High, Janikowski grew up in Poland moving to the U.S. just before 10th grade.
Janikowski played three seasons for the Seminoles and by the time he left his name was all over the FSU record book and he had completed a collegiate career that placed him among the best in the history of the game. He won the Lou Groza Award given to the nation’s top placekicker as both a sophomore (1998) and junior (1999), but Florida State fans appreciate even more the 1999 National Championship Trophy he helped deliver.
Janikowski was a two-time consensus All-American (’98, ’99) and left as the ACC’s all-time scoring leader and co-holder of the FSU record for field goals in a game with five against NC State as a junior. As remarkable as he was as a field goal kicker where he averaged a 76% career success rate, the value of his booming kickoffs to the Seminole defense were nearly equal. In 1999 alone, 68.7% of his kickoffs were not returned and a fair number of those sailed into the stands.
The Raiders made the rare move of selecting a kicker in the first round of the NFL draft when they picked Janikowski in 1999 and he was in his 14th year with team when inducted in 2013.
JAMAL REYNOLDS
Football
Jamal Reynolds continued the remarkable run of outstanding defensive ends at Florida State earning the 2000 Lombardi Trophy as the nation’s top defensive lineman.
A native of Aiken, SC, Reynolds came to FSU in 1997 and earned a starting spot at the coveted position as a junior in 1999. The season was magical for Florida State as the Seminoles became the first team ever to go wire-to-wire as AP’s No. 1 team giving FSU its second National Championship. Reynolds had three sacks of Virginia Tech quarterback Michal Vick in the Sugar Bowl. He earned second team All-ACC honors over the season.
Reynolds’ senior season would see the Seminoles reach the National Championship game again this time in the Orange Bowl. Reynolds dominated all other defenders that season earning the Lombardi along with consensus All-America honors and finishing as a finalist for both the Bednarick and the Football News Defensive Player of the Year. He had 12 sacks, 15 tackles for loss, forced four fumbles and had three safeties in the 2000 season alone.
Reynolds’ hall of fame career at Florida State included 23.5 quarterback sacks, which ranked fourth on FSU’s all-time list. He totaled 33 tackles for loss and 170 career tackles. He was selected by the Green Bay Packers with the 10th pick of the first round of the NFL draft.
CINDY SCHOFIELD
Soccer
Lakeland, Fla., native Cindy Schofield became the first soccer player in Florida State history to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Schofield starred for the Seminoles from 1999-2002 playing a large role in elevating the program from its inception to the national power that it has become.
Schofield, a forward from Jenkins High, was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter for the Seminoles who earned the school’s first-ever NCAA berth during her sophomore season in 2000. She was named first team All-ACC as a junior and senior in the best collegiate soccer conference in the country, and FSU recorded its first win in an ACC tournament game during her career.
Schofield recorded 42 points on 17 goals and eight assists as a junior (2001) which was the second most points ever totaled in a season by a Seminole when she was inducted in 2013. She is also second on the Florida State career records list for goals scored with 40 and points with 102.
Florida State began playing intercollegiate soccer in 1995 on a worn-out intramural field and thanks to the talent and hard work of Schofield and a number of other dedicated athletes and coaches the program had advanced to the NCAA Tournament within six year
SAMMIE SMITH
Football
Florida State had already served notice that it was ready to move into college football’s big time by 1985, but the signing of highly coveted running back Sammie Smith that year rushed the program into the recruiting fast lane and paved the way for the most successful run in the history of the sport. Everybody recruited Smith out of Apopka High in Zellwood, Florida who possessed the coveted combination of size (6-2, 220) and blinding speed.
Smith had a record setting sophomore season in 1987 rushing for a then school record 1,230 yards that stood until Warrick Dunn broke it 12 years later. While he missed several games as a junior due to injury, Smith finished his FSU career as the school’s third all-time leading rusher with 2,539 yards. He gained 244 yards rushing against East Carolina in 1987 a mark that stood as the second best single game performance in school history as of his induction in 2013. He also gained over 200 yards two other times as a Seminole. His 95-yard touchdown run against Furman in 1987 was just two yards short of the school record as well. His 12 career 100-yard rushing games were second all time when he left following the 1988 season.
Florida State finished 11-1 in both Smith’s sophomore and junior seasons and he was named MVP of the 1989 Sugar Bowl win over Auburn where he gained 214 yards on 24 carries.
He was selected by the Miami Dolphins with the 9th pick in the first round of the 1989 NFL draft.
DOUGLAS MANNHEIMER
Moore Stone Award Winner
The Moore-Stone Award inductee for 2013 is Tallahassee attorney Douglas Mannheimer, a former Seminole Boosters Chairman and long-time FSU volunteer.
Doug began attending FSU athletics events as a child with his parents. He has seen 291 consecutive home Seminole football games over 50 seasons, attended 52 consecutive FSU-UF football games, and traveled to 44 cities for FSU athletics events.
While earning FSU degrees in Government and Law, he was Student Senate President, Homecoming Chairman, a commentator for Seminole basketball on WFSU-TV, and chosen for Phi Beta Kappa.
In the 1980's Doug was a leading fundraiser for Seminole Boosters and has served on its Board of Directors for 34 years. He served as both Secretary and Treasurer for the Boosters and was Chairman in 1993 when FSU won its first football National Championship.
Doug is Founding Chairman of the University Center Club, received FSU's Circle of Gold Award and was a leader in the development of Heritage Grove and Collegetown.
In 1988 Dean Coyle Moore asked Doug to become keeper of the Sod Cemetery. Last year the Cemetery was voted a Top 100 Tradition in college football. He is Trustee of the Moore Family Trust, a leading contributor to FSU Athletics.
Doug has been on the FSU Athletics Hall of Fame Committee for 36 years, serving as Chairman for over 18 years..
He is a partner at Broad and Cassel, a statewide law firm. Doug and his wife Cricket are proud parents of sons Andrew and George, all Seminoles.
