7 Former Bruins Join UCLA Sports Hall of Fame

Seven new members have been inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame: football players Pete Dailey and Tom Fears; Vic Kelley, a golfer, golf coach and sports information director; Carl McBain and Pat Turner, who competed in track and field; swimmer Karen Moe-Thornton and volleyball player Ernie Suwara.

Dailey was a single-wing fullback and tailback on top UCLA teams during 1951-53. In his senior year the Bruins won the Pacific Coast Conference championship. He also played defense, was a place-kicker and returned punts and kickoffs. An advertising man who also served in the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan, he was U.S. ambassador to Ireland in 1982-83.

Fears had a fabled football career as an offensive and defensive end with the Bruins and as a record-setting receiver with the Los Angeles Rams. He was UCLA’s Most Valuable Player in 1947 and from 1948 through 1956 caught 400 passes for 5,397 yards for the Rams. He also was a head coach in professional football and is a member of the NFL and National Football Foundation halls of fame.

Kelley, who retired as sports information director in 1981 and is UCLA’s sports historian, was a golfer from 1934 through 1936 and sports information director for 36 years and head golf coach for 27 years. He is a member of the Golf Coaches and Sports Information Directors halls of fame.

McBain was a top hurdler during 1938-40 and was team captain as a senior. In 1940 he won the National Amateur Athletic Union hurdles championship, setting an American record of 51.6. After serving in the Navy in World War II, he was a medical researcher for the Atomic Energy Commission.

Moe-Thornton was one of the school’s first women to receive an athletic scholarship and swam during 1974-76. A gold medalist at the 1972 Olympics in the 200-meter butterfly, she also set four world records in that event. She was captain of 1976 Olympic swim team. The head women’s swim coach at Berkeley, she was named an NCAA Coach of the Year in 1987.

Before volleyball became an NCAA sport, Suwara was a U.S. Volleyball Assn. All-American four times and played on UCLA national championship teams in 1965 and 1967. In 1964 he was the Most Valuable Player on the U.S. Olympic volleyball team and also played in the 1968 Olympics. He works for Dean Witter and the Kansas City Board of Trade.

Turner placed third in the broad jump (now called the long jump) in the 1939 NCAA championships and was fourth nationally in 1940. He was the school’s athletic trainer in 1941-42 and cross-country coach from 1946 through 1951. He later became an administrator in the Los Angeles Unified School District.