University of the Pacific

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Stockton, Calif. - Five individuals and two teams were inducted into the University of the Pacific Athletics Hall of Fame in annual induction ceremonies on Saturday, April 20, 2013.

As part of this special evening, the 2012-13 Pacific Tigers Student-Athletes of the Year Awards were presented. This evening of celebration and recognition provides a unique opportunity for connecting Pacific's heritage of outstanding athletic alumni and Hall of Famers with the current generation of exceptional student-athletes.

Following are brief biographical sketches of the 2012-13 Pacific Athletics Hall of Fame inductees.

Mike House (1978-80)
Mike House is being inducted into the Pacific Athletics Hall of Fame after a two-year football career in which he established himself as one of the top tight ends in school history.

Mike was a tight end for the Tigers in the 1978 and 1979 seasons, leading the Tigers’ attack under head coaches Chester Caddas and Bob Toledo. House was the leading receiver in both of his seasons at Pacific, tallying 86 career catches for 1,009 yards. His 86 catches are tied for eighth all-time in the Tiger record book, while his 1,009 yards stand as the 15th best career total in Pacific annals. At the time, he was the sixth Tiger to cross the 1,000 yard mark.

In 1978, House had 34 catches for 461 receiving yards, averaging 13.6 yards per reception. He helped the Tigers to a third place finish in the Pacific Coast Athletic Association, with three league wins. He earned First Team All-PCAA honors following the season.

Mike became a go-to receiving option for the Tigers in 1979. With 52 receptions for 548 yards, House was sixth in the NCAA with 5.2 receptions per game. He earned All-America honors as a senior, in addition to again being named First Team All-PCAA. Following his senior campaign he received the team’s Larry Heller Award as the top offensive player. He was selected in the eighth round of the 1980 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots.

Following his football career, Mike was a member of the Oakdale Joint Unified School District School Board for 20 years. He has been the owner and operator of House Poultry Ranches since 1984 and is currently a real estate agent with Touchdown Properties. He is also a member of the Oakdale Sports Hall of Fame.

Mike and his wife Judy have been married for 37 years and live in Oakdale, Calif. They have six adult children, Jennifer, Kelly, Cortney, Brittany, Kevin and Tim.

“I’m grateful for the chance I had to be coached and taught by the incredible staff at Pacific. After attending BYU and Stanford, I felt like I was coming home when I was at UOP.”

Brandee McArthur (1995-99)
Brandee earns induction after an outstanding four-year career with the Tigers as one of the top pitchers in Pacific Softball history.

As a freshman in 1996, she earned National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Region honors after winning 17 games with a 1.55 ERA. She was also a Second Team All-Big West Conference selection as a pitcher and a First Team choice as a utility player after hitting .292. In her second year at Pacific, she had 10 wins and ERA of 1.72 in just 19 games. In her junior season Brandee earned Second Team All-Big West honors once again after a 16 win season and a 1.64 ERA.

She earned NFCA All-America Second Team honors following her senior season in 1999, after leading the Tigers to their second consecutive NCAA Regionals appearance.  As a senior, McArthur had a career-best 0.93 ERA and recorded 260 strikeouts, the second-highest single season total in program history. She was 22-12 that year, pitching 12 shutouts for the Tigers, the fourth best single season mark. She faced 1,041 batters in 1999, the most batters any Pacific pitcher has faced in a single season. She also had two of her three career no-hitters in 1999, with a 1-0 win over Creighton on March 10 and a 6-0 no-hit victory over New Mexico State on April 11. Her first career no-hitter came on April 7, 1998 in a 2-0 victory over Saint Mary’s. Brandee still holds the top two strikeout games in Tiger history, with 16 against Southern Illinois on March 17, 1999 and 15 against Loyola Marymount on Feb. 19, 1999.

Brandee’s 65 victories in the circle sparked Pacific to 124 victories during her four seasons as a Tiger. She was the pitcher of record in more than half of the Tigers’ wins during her time at Pacific. Her legacy remains intact in the Tiger record book, as she ranks in the career top 10 in 16 different categories. Among those career rankings, she ranks third in victories (65), ninth in ERA (1.39), second in strikeouts (568) and second in shutouts (31).  She also finished with a career batting average of .279, finishing with 175 hits and 15 home runs.

Following her outstanding Pacific career, Brandee went on to play professional softball, including in 2001 in the Italian League where she led the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts. She then pitched in the National Pro Fastpitch League. As of 2011, she ranked 12th in all-time wins in the National Pro Fastpitch League with 32. Brandee has worked in sales and as a collegiate assistant coach and is currently a stay at home mom. She and her partner Colleen Quinn live in Aurora, Ohio, with their children Caden and Kennedy.

“My time at Pacific is filled with so many wonderful memories that I will never forget. I loved playing for Brian Kolze and was always proud to represent University of the Pacific. I had the best teammates any one could ask for and made lifetime friends along the way. I always was and still am so proud to be apart of such a high class University.“

Ernie Segale
Ernie Segale is being honored by Pacific Athletics as a longtime volunteer and generous contributor.

Ernie was a founding member of the Pacific Athletic Foundation (PAF) in 1970, the same year he began his business in Stockton, Segale Travel Service.  As a PAF Fund Drive volunteer, Ernie consistently ranked in the Top Ten every year and was instrumental in the success and development of the Athletic Department’s annual Orange & Black Ball fundraising dinner and auction. Over the past five years, Ernie has donated vacation packages and trips valued at more than $75,000 to help raise money for Pacific sports programs and student-athlete scholarships through a variety of special events, auctions and raffles.  In 2010, Ernie initiated a Grand Prize Raffle at the Orange & Black Ball with 200 raffle tickets sold at $100 each.  The Grand Prize Raffle now routinely features three fantastic trips for two such as a week in Hawaii, a Princess Cruise and a weekend stay at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.  

As a student-athlete at Pacific, Ernie played varsity golf from 1961 to 1964 as the Tigers competed as a member of the West Coast Conference.  Ernie averaged 75 for all four years and became a player/coach during his senior year.  One of his fondest memories was playing in the Western Collegiate Tournament at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, which is a renowned golf tournament today. 

For years, Segale Travel put on a corporate golf tournament and invited all of its customers to play.  Ernie says, “without golf his company would not be in a profit position today.”

For the past 12 years, Ernie has coached boy’s golf at St. Mary’s High School in Stockton.  He has mentored over 200 student-athletes during his coaching career and his greatest thrill was coaching Danny Garcia who was later a standout golfer at Pacific from 2008 to 2012.

Three Pacific professors really helped to mold Ernie’s future, namely Dr. Alonzo Baker, a professor of International Relations; Dr. Gordon Zimmerman, his speech and debate teacher; and Dr. Ding from China, his economics teacher.  And finally, Ernie is thankful for meeting so many great friends at Pacific, including teammates John Ball and Don Stagnaro, who are still close to him today.

Ernie has three adult children: John Segale, age 43; Shelly Purdy, age 41; and Mike Segale, age 26.  Ernie and his wife Pam are proud to make their home in Stockton.

“I would not be where I am today if it were not for the University of the Pacific.  The education I received helped me to buy a business and retain that business for the past 43 years building Segale Travel into a national travel agency with $20 million in gross sales and over 50,000 clients.  Playing varsity golf for 4 years gave me the discipline to move forward in life and opened so many doors to expand my company.”

Chip Sell (1990-94)
Chip Sell was one of the top baseball players for Pacific from 1991 to 1994.

Chip is the Tigers’ all-time leader in hits, runs scored, doubles, runs batted in and total bases. With a .355 career batting average, he leads all Pacific players who registered more than 400 at bats. In 209 career games, he racked up 293 hits, 167 runs and 144 runs batted in. He clubbed 61 doubles, 13 home runs and stole 53 bases. Sell ranks in the Tigers’ top 20 in every single offensive category except one (most sacrifice bunts).

Sell burst onto the scene at Pacific by hitting .326 during his rookie year with 26 runs batted in. His debut season was recognized by the Big West with honorable mention all-conference accolades. As a sophomore, Chip posted a .342 batting average with 16 doubles and a pair of home runs while driving in 27 runs and scoring 29. After the season, he was named All-Big West Honorable Mention again. In 1993, his junior season, Sell took his game to another level as he established new Tiger single-season records for batting average, hitting .388, as well as setting the single season records for hits with 83, runs scored with 58, and doubles with 21. Sell slugged .547 and appeared among the Big West leaders in most offensive categories. He was once again an All-Conference pick, earning Second Team accolades. As a senior, Sell reached program bests for his career, as he set the record for career hits at both Pacific and within the Big West Conference.

His 293 career hits currently rank sixth all-time in the Big West, as does his doubles total of 61. He hit .360 during his final season in the orange and black, scoring 53 runs and driving in 45 runs. Sell also stole a career-best 18 bases. Ranking among the conference leaders in most offensive categories, he earned First Team All-Big West honors in 1994. A four-time All-Big West selection, Sell is one of just eight players in Big West history to earn All-Conference honors in four seasons.

Sell was drafted following the 1994 season by the Los Angeles Dodgers and played professional baseball for eight seasons. He finished his pro career with a .291 average playing at various levels with the Dodgers and later the Arizona Diamondbacks organizations.

A Sports Science major while at Pacific, Sell resides in Stockton with his wife Sharon and sons Brock (6) and Jake (4). He is a firefighter engineer and paramedic for the City of Stockton.

“Pacific changed and shaped my life and I would not be the person I am today without the opportunities I was given and personal connections I made while at Pacific.”

Molly Smith (1996-2000)
Molly Smith had an outstanding four-year career as a member of Pacific’s women’s water polo team, earning four letters from 1997 to 2000. She earned the program’s first-ever Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches All-America award in 1997, and would receive ACWPC All-America recognition twice more in her outstanding career.

Smith, the program’s first-ever scholarship player, came to Pacific from Eugene, Ore., where she earned first team All-America honors at Sheldon High School. In her first season in Stockton, she led the Tigers to their first 10-win season, a mark that would not be matched until 2005, as Pacific finished the year ranked 13th in the Collegiate Water Polo Association Poll. She racked up 85 scores as a freshman, highlighted by a school-record nine-goal outing versus UC Santa Cruz, en route to earning Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Northern Division First Team honors.

Smith, the school’s all-time leading scorer with 286 career goals, would lead the Tigers in scoring in each of her four years in Stockton, earning All-Conference honors each season. She was also a Regional Qualification All-Tournament Second Team selection as a junior. She is Pacific’s only three-time ACWPC All-America selection in the program’s 17-year history, and is one of only four players to eclipse 200 career goals.

In the classroom, Smith was a four-time Big West Scholar Athlete and graduated with a degree in business administration in 2000. She played professional water polo for the Cronulla Sharks in Sydney, Australia, before becoming an elementary school teacher from 2005-2009. Smith is now a yoga and spin instructor, and she and her husband Jason, currently reside in Denver, Colorado. 

“Pacific allowed me to be not just an athlete, but a student-athlete. They supported both sides and allowed me to thrive and succeed in the pool and the classroom.”

1972-73 and 1973-74 Men's Swimming Teams
The 1973 and 1974 Pacific Men’s Swimming teams are being honored for winning the first two conference championships in school history and finishing in the top 20 at the NCAA Championships in consecutive years.

The Tigers’ 1973 squad rolled through the dual meet portion of their schedule, finishing the year with a perfect 11-0 mark in dual meets. Wins over California, UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara highlighted the Tigers’ dual meet season. Pacific would go on to win its first-ever Pacific Coast Athletic Association championship, edging out UCSB by more than 50 points. Joe Dietrich won both the 50 Free and 100 Free while Rick Reeder claimed the 200 Free while the Tigers won both the 400 Free and 800 Free Relays. Pacific finished the season placing 18th out of 96 schools at the NCAA Championships.

Pacific claimed it second consecutive PCAA Championship in 1974 after finishing its dual meet season with a record of 10-1. The Tigers won that year’s conference title by nearly 250 points over two-time champion Long Beach State. Pacific claimed wins in nine races as Dietrich and Reeder kept their event crowns from the previous season. The Tigers also retained their event titles in the 400 Free and 800 Free Relays. At the 1974 NCAA Championships, Pacific improved two spots over the previous year as they came in 16th place.

The 1973 and 1974 swim teams set a number of school records that stood well into the 1980’s while the two squads combined for a total of 16 conference titles. The head coach of both teams, Bill Rose, was inducted into the Pacific Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989 while All-Americans Rick Reeder, Joe Dietrich and Craig Schwartz were inducted in 1989, 1995 and 2002, respectively.