The 1987-88 Sacramento State men’s basketball team was inducted into the Hornet Men’s Basketball Hall of Fame last night in the Alumni Center.

The team won 22 games in the season – the most in school history. The team also pulled off one of the biggest upsets in school history when it knocked off Div. I power Texas A&M, 87-84, at Arco Arena on Dec. 19, 1987.

Brian Katz, the current men’s basketball head coach, introduced every member of the team present at the event. Each player was called to the stage to accept a plaque and a team photograph.

The team voted for Chris Farr and Mike Scholl to speak on its behalf.

Scholl began his speech by thanking his team and saying he was honored to be inducted into the hall of fame.

“It’s always nice to have recognition, but we did not do this for the recognition. When you have something like this, you do it for the love,” Scholl said.

Earlier in the ceremony Katz talked about the importance of teamwork and how good teams have players that know their roles on the court.

Alex Williams and Robert “Money” Martin knew their roles. They led the team in three-point shooting with Williams making 167 and Martin making 128. The rest of the team combined to make only eight three-pointers all season.

Scholl later spoke about the players being truthful to each other and how that made them closer – not just as a team, but as friends too.

“Tonight, I wanted to be funny, but I wanted to be real. This team was a true band of brothers,” Scholl said. “When you look back on life, your real friends are the ones who tell you the truth.”

Farr briefly spoke about pulling through and how much he admired his teammates.

“You know what a setback is? It is a setup for a comeback,” Farr said. “We had a great team, great season, these guys are truly my brothers.”

Not only did the players share their emotional side, they also had a few comedic stories to share, mostly about their coach Joseph Anders.

“Two weeks into the season, none of us knew we were on the basketball team. Coach Anders had us on the track team,” Scholl joked. “We would run until coach got too tired of blowing the whistle.”

Alex Williams, who was inducted in the hall of fame as an individual in 2009, spoke on the toughness of teammate Bruce Woodard.

“Woodard made the game easy for me, I may have been averaging 25 ppg in games, but would average six in practice against him,” Williams said.

Williams also spoke on the cardiovascular torture Anders put them through on the track.

“We had fun, coach would go out there with an umbrella and some lemonade in that 108 degree weather,” Williams joked.

Scholl said the types of values Anders carried with him were instilled on the team.

“Coach valued toughness, work ethic, character, humility and taught us to become good god loving men,” Scholl said.

To close out his speech, Scholl broke apart the word pride. The “P” stood for perseverance, “R” stood for responsibility, “I” for intelligence, “D” for determination for doing things right and “E” for effort.

“This is a day I will remember for years to come,” Scholl said.

The last to speak was Anders and he said he never thought about this ceremony happening to the team and was deeply moved by the players’ speeches.

“None of us ever envisioned this happening,” Anders said. “The eloquence in which these guys shared makes my heart dance.”

Anders said the amount of effort and fire the players put in was incredible.

“Their commitment to me, dreams and love of the game was unbelievable,” Anders said. They took us on a ride that I’m on still today.”

Anders is the interim head coach of the women’s basketball team at Arizona State University.

Anders told a story where one day he was driving to his office and saw students lining up outside the gym to see the team play.

“We were the toughest ticket to get in town,” Anders said.

Anders also made sure the audience left knowing the track stories were fictional.

“They tell you of the track stories, and some of them were not true,” Anders joked.

To close out the ceremony, Sean Smartt took the microphone to “get the band back together” on stage.

The 1987-88 men’s basketball team that was inducted includes: Bruce Woodard, Larry Brown, Robert Martin, Brad Jorgenson, Henry King, Tristan Buckingham, Sean McClendon, Mike Scholl, Sean Smartt, Grover Perry, Rick Campbell, Chris Farr and Alex Williams.

Daniel Morales can be reached at [email protected].