Maybe it’s time for the Bulger family to have their own Hall-of-Fame wing at West Virginia. The school announced Saturday that former women’s basketball standout Meg Bulger was among nine inductees into WVU’s 2019 Hall-of-Fame class that will be enshrined on Sept. 14, prior to the start of the West Virginia-North Carolina State game.
That completes a family trio that includes her brother Marc and sister Kate, who were enshrined in 2010 and 2018. Meg Bulger was a standout from 2003-08 and scored 1,665 points and connected on 265 3-pointers during her career. She is seventh on WVU’s all-time scoring list and second in 3-pointers behind her sister.
The 2019 class also includes three-time NCAA wrestling champ Greg Jones, as well as his brother Vertus. Former WVU men’s basketball standout Darryl Prue is also included in the class, as is Steve Dunlap (football), Lisa Stoia (women’s soccer), John Thornton (football), Dr. Stefan Thynell (rifle) and Pete White (men’s basketball/track & field).
This class brings the total number of inductees to 197.
Meg Bulger
Bulger completed her WVU career in 2008 as a two-time All-America honorable mention and four-time All-Big East pick.
In 2004-05, Bulger became the first Mountaineer, male or female, to win the Big East scoring title, averaging 19.6 points. Bulger led the league in 3-point percentage (.447), 3-pointers per game (2.59) and 20-point games (16). Her five 30-point scoring efforts were a WVU single-season record.
As a junior, Bulger ranked atop the nation with 3.5 3-point field goals per game. She set WVU Coliseum records for points in a half (26) and a game (38). She was third in the Big East in scoring but tore her ACL at the end of January and missed the remaining 13 games.
After sitting out the 2006-07 season, Bulger picked up where she left off as a senior in 2007-08, ranking fourth in the nation in 3-point accuracy. Bulger joins her brother, Marc (2010 inductee), and her sister, Kate (2018) in the WVU Sports Hall of Fame.
Steve Dunlap
Steve Dunlap lettered three years as a linebacker from 1973-75 playing for Bobby Bowden. He helped WVU to a 9-3 mark in 1975 and a 13-10 win over N.C. State in the Peach Bowl.
The native of Hurricane compiled 359 tackles, a career school record at the time, and three interceptions. He currently ranks 10th on WVU tackles chart. In 1974, Dunlap made 190 tackles including 28 against Boston College – both still school records.
Dunlap later embarked on a 35-year coaching career, working at West Virginia as a linebackers or defensive backs coach from 1984 through 2000. That included 10 seasons as defensive coordinator. The 1994 squad set a then-school record for fewest points allowed in a 13-game season. His 1996 squad led the nation in total defense at 223.4 yards per game, No. 2 in rushing defense (65.9 yards) and turnover margin, No. 4 in scoring defense (13.0 points) and No. 5 in pass efficiency defense.
Dunlap was a finalist for the inaugural Frank Broyles Award in 1996. He also coached at Syracuse from 2001-2004, spent two seasons at NC State (2005-06) and spent the 2007 season at Marshall before returning to West Virginia as assistant head coach and safeties coach from 2008-11, and linebackers and special teams coordinator in 2012.
Stefan Thynell
The first six-time All-American in school history, the native of Goteborg, Sweden set a new standard for collegiate competition for the smallbore full course competition in 1980 with an 1181 out of a possible 1200 at the NCAA Rifle championships in April 1980 — a mark that stood until 2002.
He also held the NCAA mark for the top smallbore score in the standing position in team competition with a 389 until 2000. He was a two-time member of the Swedish Olympic Team, competing in the 1976 Montreal Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Games.
Lisa Stoia
The Big East Midfielder of the Year in 2002 helped West Virginia to its first regular-season championship. As a senior she set the season assist record (12) and became the first Big East player to earn midfielder of the year honors in consecutive seasons. Stoia earned first team All-America honors from Soccer Buzz and the NSCAA.
A three-time first team All-Big East selection, Stoia was a member of the 2003 U-21 National Team Pool and one of a select group invited to train with WUSA teams. Stoia played three seasons of professional soccer – one with the St. Louis Athletica of the WPS (2009) and two with the Boston Renegades in the Women’s United Soccer League (2005-06). Stoia returned to her alma mater in 2007 as a member of coach Nikki Izzo-Brown’s staff.
On the cusp of her 13th season, she serves as the Mountaineers’ senior associate head coach and helped solidify WVU as a perennial top-10 team. The Mountaineers have made 12 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, including three quarterfinal appearances and the program’s first-ever NCAA College Cup Final in 2016.
Pete White
A standout men’s basketball player, the Clendenin native served as captain of the 1954-55 basketball team that earned the school’s first NCAA Tournament bid. He played in 70 varsity games, scoring 746 points (10.7 average) and grabbing 561 rebounds.
As a senior, White averaged 15.8 points and 12.0 rebounds, one of 10 Mountaineers to average a double-double for a season. White had a career-high 29 points and 27 rebounds against Pitt in 1955.
White declined an invitation to join the NBA’s St. Louis Hawks to fulfill his ROTC commitment in the United States Air Force, where he was commissioned as a first lieutenant.
He served 42 years on the WVU Foundation Board and received WVU’s Order of Vandalia in 2001.
Vertus Jones
He became the Mountaineers’ first three-time wrestling All-American and first four-time Eastern Wrestling League champion during his career. A two-time NCAA runner-up, Jones posted a 30-2 record as a senior in 2000 at 184 pounds, setting the all-time West Virginia consecutive wins mark at 24. He was a finalist for NCAA Sportsperson of the year as a senior.
As a junior he posted a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships at 184 pounds. As a sophomore in 1998, he was the youngest of 20 finalists at the NCAAs and had a second-place finish at 177 pounds.
Jones was inducted into the EWL Hall of Fame, the Southwest Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame the Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Greg Jones
WVU’s all-time wins leader and only three-time NCAA champion, Jones had a career record of 126-4. He won the 2002 NCAA title as a freshman at 174 pounds, as a junior in 2004 at 184 pounds and as a senior at 184 pounds.
Jones is the only WVU wrestler to post an undefeated season, doing it in 2004 with a record of 26-0 and in 2005 at 25-0. He ended his career on a 51-match win streak. He was a four-time Eastern Wrestling League champion. Jones was inducted into the EWL Wrestling Hall of Fame, the Southwestern Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
He was named to InterMat’s Top 10 College Wrestlers of the 2000s. Jones served as an assistant at WVU for nine seasons.
He and his brother, Vertus, become the second set of siblings to be inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame.
Darryl Prue
He was one of the top forwards in the Atlantic 10 from 1986-89, earning first-team honors in 1989. During his career, the Mountaineers posted an 89-38 record with three NCAA Tournament appearances and one NIT. The Washington, D.C., native scored 1,426 points, currently 20th all-time. Prue ranks second in career field-goal percentage (55.8) and 11th in rebounds (865).
Prue averaged 12.2 points as a senior, 12.5 points as a junior and 12.6 points as a sophomore. As a senior, he shot a 63.3 percent, still second-best in WVU history. Prue left second in all-time career steals with 230 (now ranks fourth) and tied a then-school record with nine steals in a game against George Mason in 1986.
Prue posted a career-high 25 points against St. Bonaventure in 1987 and pulled down a career-best 18 rebounds against George Washington. In 1989, Prue was the Atlantic 10 field-goal percentage leader at 63.3 percent, while leading the Mountaineers to a regular-season championship. The Mountaineers had the nation’s longest winning streak that season at 22 games.
Prue was named the A-10 Freshman of the Year in 1986. A member of the 1986-95 WVU All-Time basketball team, Prue is currently the boys basketball coach at T.C. Williams High in Alexandria, Va.
John Thornton
Thornton made 41 consecutive starts from 1995-98 and was two-time All-Big East selection. He was a member of 1996 unit that led the nation in total defense at 223.4 yards per game.
Thornton was drafted in 1999 by the Titans in the second round and had a 10-year career in the NFL. He earned a spot on the NFL’s All-Rookie Team and appeared in Super Bowl XXXIV against the Rams.
He helped the Titans to the playoffs in three of his four years. After signing with the Bengals he made 88 starts out of a possible 96 games.
