Class of 2024 Utah Sports Hall of Fame inductees announced

Early next month, on Sept 9, five new faces will be inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame as the Class of 2024.

They are:

• Former Weber State track star/women’s track and field coach and U.S. Olympian Lindsey Anderson
• Former Real Salt Lake star/current UVU men’s soccer coach Kyle Beckerman
• Gates Foundation founder Kevin P. Gates
• Former BYU women’s track coach Robert Craig Poole
• Former Utah State basketball coach/athletic director Rod Tueller

Lindsey Anderson

An Olympian at the Beijing Games in 2008, Anderson is one of the best athletes in Weber State history. Ranked No. 9 among the Big Sky Conference’s all-time greatest female athletes, she set school records in the steeplechase and the 10,000-meters outdoors and the 5,000-meters indoors during her collegiate career.

She was the first Weber State athlete to compete in the Summer Olympics.

Kyle Beckerman

Beckerman played 12 seasons with Real Salt Lake after arriving in Salt Lake via a 2007 trade from Colorado. Beckerman became captain in 2008 and helped RSL reach the postseason seven straight seasons. In 2009, RSL won the MLS Cup. The club also reached the finals in the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League, the 2013 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, and the 2013 MLS Cup during Beckerman’s prime.

At the time of his retirement, Beckerman was Major League Soccer’s all-time leader in games played (498), games started (461) and minutes played (41,164) among field players. He was a nine-time MLS All-Star and a four-time club MVP.

In 2021, he took over the men’s soccer program at Utah Valley University.

Kevin P. Gates

Gates is the founder of the Marshall Gates Foundation and builder of Gates Field at Kearns High.

The Kearns High alumnus “has helped residents of the entire west side of the Salt Lake Valley see what’s possible in their neighborhoods,” per a release.

Craig Poole

One of the more notable coaches involved in women’s sports in Utah state history, Poole coached BYU’s women’s track and field program for 30 years, during which time he coached 14 NCAA individual champions (who accounted for a total of 18 titles). Poole’s BYU teams recorded 15 top-10 finishes in NCAA indoor and outdoor meets, including two third-place and two fourth-place finishes.

All told, Poole was named Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year seven times and coached more than 160 All-Americans during his time at BYU, as well as six Olympians.

Rod Tueller

Most notable, Tueller did double duty as Utah State’s men’s basketball coach and the university’s athletic director.

He spent 19 years at Utah State as both a basketball coach and administrator.

During his nine years leading the Aggies’ basketball team, Tueller compiled a 139-120 (.537) record, including a 77-68 (.531) mark in conference play. He led USU to one PCAA regular season championship (1980), one Big West Tournament title (1988), three NCAA Tournament appearances (1980, 1983, 1988) and one NIT appearance (1984).