Larry Satchwell was in his car when he received a phone call and heard the news. The call was from Mike Korcek, former NIU Sports Information Director and the chair of the NIU Hall of Fame Selection Committee, who told the former NIU track and field star he was part of the school’s annual Hall of Fame class.

“It was very emotional,” Satchwell said. “I was very excited because I had only spent one year of eligibility (at NIU).”

Satchwell (1974-75), is joined by Anne Mucci (Iwinski) (soccer 1995-98), Jeremy Goeden (wrestling 1996-98), Tammy Hinchee (women’s baskeball 1986-90), as well as the 1972 baseball team.

Satchwell started his collegiate career at Western Illinois (then a Division II program), and transferred to NIU for his senior season.

During his one and only season with the Huskies, Satchwell qualified for both the indoor and outdoor NCAA Division I Championships, and finished fourth in the 35-lb. weight throw at indoors.

Satchwell’s fourth place finish is the highest ever finish for the Huskie program. The Bloomington, IL., native also earned major college All-America honors. Satchwell’s NCAA distance for the 35-lb. weight throw ranked No. 8 in the world in 1975, according to the Track and Field News.

Unlike Satchwell, who spent over 20 years on the ballot, both Goeden and Mucci made it in rather quickly.

Goeden was the first Huskie wrestler to win repeat All-America honors in 1997 and 1998. The Minnesota native finished eighth at 190 pounds in the NCAA Championships as a junior and seventh as a senior. Goeden finished with a 43-6 record as a Huskie.

“It’s a huge honor,” Goeden said. “To be inducted (at NIU), it’s a great thing.”

Mucci (Iwinski) becomes the first women’s soccer player to receive induction. As a senior, Mucci was the MAC Player of the Year and led NIU to its second-consecutive regular season and MAC

Tournament titles. Mucci owns school records in career goals (43), career assists (43), and career points (129).

“When you’re a student you go to the game and see all the hall-of-famers there,” Mucci said. “You always look at those guys and think it would be really cool to be down there.”

Hinchee left NIU as the school’s career leader in rebounds with 1,099, and as the No. 3 career scorer with 1,921 points in 116 appearances. Hinchee also holds the single-season rebounding record at 322. Hinchee was a first-team all-North Star Conference selection as junior, and was a member of the 1989-90 North Star Conference champion squad that made the NCAA Tournament.

The 1989-90 team was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005.

The only team to be inducted as part of the 2008 class, the 1972 baseball team, was in a unique situation. With head coach Dave Mason taking the year off to finish his Doctorate degree, 21-year-old graduate student Wayne Franky took over for the 1972 season.

Under the interim head coach, the Huskies went 24-8, becoming the first NIU team to earn a NCAA Division I Tournament birth in any sport.

“I was just a graduate student who had played ball at Northern for four years, being asked to take over the team,” Franky said. “It was a very fun year.”

“We didn’t seem to skip much of a beat, Wayne did a heck of a job,” said Lee Hansen, an

all-conference pitcher on the 1972 squad. “That team was a lot of juniors and seniors. We had kind of been through the wars.”

The 2008 induction ceremony will take place on Friday, Oct. 17 at the Duke Ellington Ballroom inside the Holmes Student Center.

The inductees will also be featured at halftime of the homecoming football game when NIU takes on Toledo at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18.