Isle of Palms, S.C. –  The Big South Conference inducted three former student-athletes into its Hall of Fame Thursday night, May 29, during a ceremony as part of the league's annual Spring Meeting Awards and Hall of Fame Dinner at the Wild Dunes Resort in Isle of Palms, S.C.  The inductions increase the Big South's Hall of Fame membership to 84 former student-athletes, coaches, administrators and contributors.
 
The 20th Big South Hall of Fame class consists of Octavia Goode (Winthrop women's track & field), Phil Leftwich (Radford baseball) and Mario Williams (Gardner-Webb football).  Also elected but requested deferment to the 2026 Class were High Point men's tennis standout Chris Archer, former Coastal Carolina baseball head coach Gary Gilmore, and former UNC Asheville track & field athlete Natalie Pearson.

OCTAVIA GOODE, Winthrop, Women's Track & Field, 2000-04
Goode was a 16-time Big South Champion (seven indoor, nine outdoor), as she won the 60m Indoor four times, the 200m Indoor twice and helped Winthrop win the Indoor Distance Medley Relay in 2003.  Her nine titles in Outdoor were in the 100m (four), 200m (three) and the 4x100m Relay (two).  Goode remains the only 4-time Champion in both the 60m and 100m events in Big South history, and finished her career as a 23-time All-Conference performer in Indoor (10) and Outdoor Track & Field (13).  Voted to the Big South 2000-09 All-Decade Teams in both Women's Indoor Track & Field and Outdoor Track & Field, Goode was a two-time Big South Most Outstanding Indoor Track Performer (2002, 2003) and Most Outstanding Outdoor Track Performer (2003, 2004) for the Eagles.  She remains Winthrop's record-holder for the Indoor 60m (7.43), which was also the Big South record when first set in 2002 and held until 2013.  Goode also set Big South records in 100m and 200m (since broken), and was a member of the Winthrop record-holding 4x100m and 4x200m relay teams.  She qualified for the 2003 and 2004 NCAA East Regional in the 100m, 200m and a member of the 4x100m team, and qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 2004 in the 100m and finished 17th.  Goode was inducted into Winthrop's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.