FLORENCE -- The 32nd class of inductees for the University of North Alabama Athletic Hall of Fame will be inducted on Saturday, October 16, as part of UNA's Homecoming celebration.

The ceremony will be at 9:00 a.m. at the Performance Center inside the Guillot University Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Due to UNA's current COVID guidelines for indoor activities, masks will be required.

The Hall of Fame inductees will also be recognized at Braly Stadium as part of the pre-game ceremonies beginning at 5:30 p.m.

 The UNA Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2021 includes volleyball All-American Laura Bellinger, men's golf All-American Daniel Creel, football All-Americans Marcus Keyes and Michael Johnson, women's basketball standout and decorated educator Kindra Moore Smith and long-time faculty athletic representative Dr. Patricia Roden.
 
Following its creation in 1990, the UNA Athletic Hall of Fame has inducted at least four members each year. This year's induction brings the total number of inductees into the UNA Athletic Hall of Fame to 149.




LAURA BELLINGER
A three-year starter on UNA volleyball teams from 2004-06, Laura Bellinger was a two-time All-American who helped lead the Lions to a 95-14 record in three seasons.
 
The Portage, Mich., native was a three-time first-team All-Gulf South Conference selection in 2004, 2005 and 2006, the GSC East Division Player of the Year in 2006, selected MVP of the 2006 GSC Tournament and was a three-time All-GSC Tournament pick from 2004-06. She was also a two-time GSC Player of the Week honoree in 2006.
 
She was a three-time AVCA All-South Central Region selection and two-time Daktronics all-region pick. In addition, she was named to the 2006 NCAA Division II South Central Region All-Tournament team and Elite Eight All-Tournament team.
 
Bellinger was a first-team All-America pick by the AVCA as a senior and was a second-team selection by Daktronics. She was selected second-team All-American by both the AVCA and Daktronics as a junior.
 
She led  the NCAA Division II in assists with 1,910 as a junior, ranked second in the nation in assists per game in 2005 (14.36), eighth in 2006 (13.04) and 22nd in 2004 (12.71). She finished her career with a 13.33 assist-per-game average.
 
A CoSIDA Academic All-District selection in 2006, Bellinger was voted the Alabama Sports Writers Association State Small College Athlete of the Year for 2006.
 
She helped lead the Lions to three straight GSC championships from 2004-06, and the 2006 team added a regional championship and finished as the national runner-up with a 35-6 record. The Lions had a 28-match winning streak before falling to Tampa in the national championship match, with 22 of those wins coming by 3-0 scores.
 
A 2006 UNA graduate with a degree in Public Relations, she later earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Rochester University and is a practicing RN. She currently works for OakMed as a hospital liaison injury specialist, assisting patients who have suffered traumatic or catastrophic injury, transition from hospital care to home care. She lives outside Detroit, Mich.



DANIEL CREEL
A three-year letterman on the UNA men's golf team from 2006-08, Daniel Creel helped lead the Lions to three straight NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament appearances where the Lions finished 14th in the nation in 2006, 12th in 2007 and tied for second in 2008.
 
A Killen, Ala., native, he played his freshman season at the University of Alabama before transferring to UNA.
 
At North Alabama, he was first-team All-Gulf South Conference in 2006 and 2007 and second-team All-GSC in 2008. He also earned All-South Region honors in 2007 and 2008 and was the GSC individual medalist in 2007 with a three-round, 210 total.
 
Creel was selected first-team All-American in 2007 and honorable mention All-American in 2008.
 
In his three NCAA Tournament appearances, he finished tied for 69th in 2006 (309), tied for 56th in 2007 (309) and tied for 17th in 2008 (284).
 
As a team, the Lions won the 2007 South Region Championship, finished third in the region in 2006 and fourth in 2008.
 
At the 2008 NCAA Championships, the Lions finished in a three-way tie in the final round with West Florida and St. Edwards and UWF eventually won the national title in a playoff.
 
In all, Creel played in 28 total tournaments at UNA and had 17 Top 10 finishes, including taking medalist honors at the 2007 Bobcat Invitational and the 2007 GSC Championships.
 
He was later named to the GSC Team of the Decade for 2000-09.
 
After earning a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from UNA in 2008, Creel played professionally on the E Golf Tour in 2008 and then began teaching as a golf professional.
 
He began a career in sales in 2010 and moved into insurance in 2012.
 
A long-time insurance agent in the Shoals, he is currently head of the Daniel Creel Allstate Agency in Florence.
 
He and his wife Brandi have three children, Cameron, Hunter and Sadie Marie.



MARCUS KEYES
A two-time All-American defensive lineman on UNA football teams in 1994 and 1995, Marcus Keyes helped lead the Lions to two NCAA Division II Football National Championships and went on to a professional football career that spanned a decade.
 
A Taylorsville, Miss., native, Keyes, had 80 solo tackles and 60 assists for 140 total stops in his UNA career. Those totals included 14 tackles for loss of 39 yards, seven fumbles caused,one recovered, nine sacks for 51 yards, three pass breakups and 31 quarterback pressures.
 
As a junior in 1994, Keyes was part of a UNA team that went 13-1, winning Gulf South Conference and Division II National Championships. He started all 14 games, making 82 tackles. He was selected first-team All-GSC, first-team All-South Region and first-team CoSIDA All-American. He was also named GSC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against Central Arkansas.

 
As a senior in 1995, he helped lead UNA to a perfect 14-0 record as part of one of the most dominant defensive units in Division II history. The Lions' Purple Swarm defense led Division II in total defense (209.0), rushing defense (56.8) and scoring defense (10.6) as UNA won another GSC title and a third straight Division II National Championship.
 
He made 58 tackles, caused three fumbles and had three quarterback sacks and 14 tackles for loss.
 
Keyes was again first-team All-GSC and All-South Region and was named All-American by CoSIDA, Football Gazette and the Associated Press.
 
The Lions ranked No. 1 in the nation in every Division II poll during Keyes' career with the Lions as UNA had a combined 27-1 record.
 
Following the 1995 championship run at UNA, Keyes played in both the Blue-Gray All-Star Classic and the Senior Bowl. He was drafted in the seventh round of the 1996 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears. He spent the 1996 and 1997 seasons in Chicago before suffering an injury. In 1998 he was with NFL Europe as part of the Scottish Claymores. He then played in the Arena Football League from 2001-07 with the Florida Bobcats (2001), Carolina Cobras (2002), Georgia Force (2002-07) and the Grand Rapids Rampage (2007-08). He was a second-team All-Arena Football selection in 2007.
 
Keyes was named to the UNA Team of the Decade for 1989-98, the Gulf South Conference Team of the 1990s, the 50th Anniversary UNA Football Team (1949-99) and the GSC Team of the Quarter Century (1973-97).



MICHAEL JOHNSON
A Panama City, Fla., native, Michael Johnson was a four-year starting linebacker at North Alabama from 2006-09 and was a four-time All-Gulf South Conference, four-time All-Super Region 2 and two-time All-American for the Lions.
 
Chosen first-team All-American by Daktronics and  second-team by D2football.com as a junior in 2008, Johnson followed with first-team All-American selections by Daktronics, D2Football.com, Football Gazette and the Associated Press as a senior in 2009. He was also voted National Defensive Player of the Year by Daktronics and D2Football.com, in addition to being named the Gulf South Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
 
Johnson was part of a UNA senior class that had a combined 44-7 overall record to rank as third winningest senior class in school history. The Class of 2009 was ranked nationally in the Top 11 for 54 straight weeks, or every week that they were part of the UNA program. The Lions had four straight seasons with 10 or more wins and made four straight NCAA playoff appearances.
 
As a junior in 2008, he helped lead UNA to a 12-2 record and to the semifinals of the Division II playoffs. He led the Lions  in tackles with 84 and added two interceptions. He also returned an interception 77 yards for a touchdown against Delta State in an NCAA playoff game.
 
As a senior in 2009 he was a All-GSC pick for the fourth straight year, an all-region selection for the fourth time and led the team with 113 tackles, 17.0 tackles for loss and five sacks. He added two interceptions for 23 yards, caused four fumbles and recovered two, while helping lead UNA to an 11-2 record, a Gulf South Conference Championship and a spot in the quarterfinals of the playoffs.
 
Johnson finished his career with 365 total tackles, 31.5 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks.
 
He signed a free agent contract with the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 and later signed with the Kansas City Chiefs.

 
A Sports Performance Coach and Personal Trainer, as well as a Wind Turbine Technician at GE, he recently accepted a position on Mark Hudspeth's staff at Gulf Shores High School.



KINDRA MOORE SMITH
A Centerville, Tenn., native, Kindra Moore Smith was a two-year standout on women's basketball teams at UNA from 1992 to 1994 and helped lead the Lions to the Final Four as a senior, marking the most successful finish by a women's basketball team in school history.
 
That group of Lions finished with a 22-10 record and finished third nationally in the Women's Elite Eight in Fargo, N.D.
 
Moore earned a spot on the 1993-94 All-South Region Tournament team after helping lead the Lions to three straight wins and the first regional championship in the program's history.
 
Moore started all 58 games that she played in at UNA and averaged 11.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.3 steals per game for her career.
 
She scored 408 points in 32 games in 1993-94 for a 12.7 scoring average and scored 283 points in 26 games in 1992-93 for a 10.9 average.
 
In 1992-93, Moore led the team in free throw percentage, hitting 69 of 97 for a 71.1 percentage. She also led the Lions in assists as a senior in 1993-94 with 145 for a 4.5 average per game.
 
Her career numbers were 691 points, 36-of-116 on three-point attempts, 249-of-591 on field goals, 163-of-234 on free throws, 307 rebounds, 218 assists and 78 steals.
 
While at North Alabama, Moore was also voted by the student body as the 1994 UNA Homecoming Queen.
 
After graduating from UNA with a bachelor's degree in elementary education in 1995, she went on to earn a master's degree from Kennesaw State University and a specialist degree in educational leadership from the University of West Georgia.
 
After teaching at the elementary level for seven years, she served as an assistant principal for eight years at Northwestern Middle School in Milton, Ga.
 
In 2010, she was named principal at Roswell North Elementary, leading one of the largest elementary schools in the district. While leading Roswell North Elementary in 2014, she was named the district's Principal of the Year for "her unwavering commitment to seeking success for all students through innovative practices and creative programming."  
 
She previously worked as principal of Elkins Pointe Middle School before she began a new role as Principal of Riverwood International Charter School in Fulton County, Ga., on July 22, 2019.
 
She currently resides in Canton, Ga., with her husband Michael and two children, Tori and Trey.




DR. PATRICIA RODEN
Dr. Patricia Roden served as the UNA Faculty Athletic Representative for more than two decades, from 1997-20, and played a crucial role in the success of the Lions' athletic program.
 
After serving 40 years on the teaching faculty at UNA, including the last 24 years as Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR), Dr. Roden retired at the end of August, 2020.
 
As an associate professor of mathematics and computer science, Dr. Roden was a part of unprecedented success for the UNA athletics department. During her tenure, the Lions won NCAA Division II national championships in volleyball (2003) and softball (2016) and also began the transition to Division I status.
 
The Lions also continued high standards in the classroom, completing a ninth consecutive semester with at least a 3.0 department-wide grade point average.
 
In her role as FAR, Dr. Roden reported to the university president, while working closely with the athletics director. She was on call to address athletics-related issues throughout the calendar year.
 
Her responsibilities, in addition to a regular faculty appointment, was to promote a balance between academics, athletics and social lives of UNA's student-athletes. She reviewed travel and competition schedules to minimize missed class time, while also engaging in the "certification for competition" process for all Lion student-athletes. She was charged with reviewing athletic scholarships, participating in student-athlete exit interviews, serving as an independent source of counsel, assistance and information, and encouraging and facilitating interactions between student-athletes and the mainstream of institutional activities.
 
Roden and her husband Randy are both North Alabama graduates, and their daughter, Miranda Bowie, is an associate professor at UNA.