LAS VEGAS — When Tanya Hughes received a phone call earlier this year, she had no idea about the gratifying news she’d receive.
The former Arizona track and field star was selected for the Pac-12 Hall of Honor, honored during the Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament in Las Vegas.
“When I got the call, I was shocked actually. I didn’t know they instituted this. It’s just an honor to be selected as Arizona’s inductee into the hall,” Hughes said.
Hughes, a four-time NCAA champion in the high jump and former Olympian, is the 20th UA athlete or coach inducted into the Pac-12 Hall of Honor. The UA’s honorees are mostly men’s basketball stars or coaches. Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr, Khalid Reeves, Pete Williams, Damon Stoudamire, Chris Mills, Miles Simon, Lute Olson, Mike Bibby, Michael Dickerson, Richard Jefferson, Jason Gardner, Luke Walton, Fred Snowden, Salim Stoudamire, Bob Elliott, Michael Wright and Sean Rooks have all been inducted. The only non-basketball player from Arizona in the Pac-12 Hall of Honor is Meg Ritchie-Stone, an Olympic discus thrower.
This year’s class consists of Hughes and with Curley Culp (Arizona State), Layshia Clarendon (Cal), Jenny Simpson (Colorado), English Gardner (Oregon), Steven Jackson (Oregon State), Tony Azevedo (Stanford), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (UCLA), John Naber (USC), Tina Frimpong Ellertson (Washington) and and Drew Bledsoe (Washington State). Hughes follows up the late Rooks — who was inducted in 2020 — as UA representatives. Due to the pandemic, the Pac-12 omitted the 2021 class.
“We didn’t get to do that last year,” said first-year Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff. “So, we’re looking forward to making up for lost time.”
Hughes’ selection comes at the perfect time. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX, a civil rights law created in 1972 that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex.
“This is a special year for me. For this to happen on the 50th anniversary of Title IX, it’s major,” Hughes said. “I couldn’t miss it for anything, so when I got the call, I was like, ‘I’ll be there, just tell me when and where.’”
Hughes will also share her induction ceremony with her Joyner-Kersee, a former Olympic heptathlete and ex-UCLA women’s basketball star who Hughes calls her “big sister.”
Joyner-Kersee is a three-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time World Championship gold medalist in both heptathlon and long jump. Hughes and Joyner-Kersee’s collegiate careers were a decade apart, but the Bruin served as a mentor for the Wildcat. After Hughes failed to qualify for the 1996 Summer Olympics, she stayed with Joyner-Kersee in St. Louis for nearly a month. The two trained together.
“She’s always been a big sister. Very approachable and so down to earth. She’s just very chill, but so down to earth and very relatable,” Hughes said.
Friday was also a moment to reflect on Hughes’ illustrious career on and off the track. A Lexington Park, Maryland, native, Hughes was recruited to the UA by longtime assistant coach Bob Myers, who returned to the Wildcats’ track and field program as a volunteer assistant in 2012. Considered one of the top high jumpers in 1991, Hughes chose Arizona over offers from Illinois, Florida, Texas and Stanford. Myers was her reason why.
“We have a strong tradition of track and field. We just had it and Bob is one of the best, so everything I was able to accomplish was a tribute to his work. We had amazing trainers and a great set of folks that kept me healthy,” she said.
At Arizona, Hughes was a seven-time All-American in both the indoor and outdoor seasons, and won the high jump championship at the 1993 World University Games. Hughes also brought home three straight high jump titles in the Pac-10 championships and NCAA women’s outdoor high jump championships from 1991-93. She was also a member of Arizona’s student-athlete advisory committee, which sparked her passion for assisting and empowering women athletes. Aside from her role as a coach and advisor, Hughes is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Sport and Social Justice in Orlando.
“Tucson is a college town, and so coming to Arizona was a great experience. It’s a huge university, but I felt at home being a student-athlete. … It’s McKale Center, it’s the energy and vibe of the town that loves the U of A, whether it’s sports or academic research,” Hughes said. “We’re truly a world-class organization as far as a university. It was a great experience. Being a student-athlete took it over the top for me.”
To cap her collegiate career, Hughes was named the NCAA Woman of the Year in 1994, the first in UA history. Hughes flew to Washington D.C. for the ceremony in ’94 and accepted the award with her family and youth track coach in attendance. Since then, three Wildcats have won the “next-level kind of award,” including swimmers Whitney Myers, Lacey Nymeyer and Justine Schluntz.
“It wasn’t about your athletic accomplishments, it was about academics as well as community service. I look at it like the Heisman for women in college sports, but the Heisman is more athletic; this is more rounded,” Hughes said. “That meant the most in terms of accomplishments. … I was with my family, so to enjoy that moment with them was amazing. That’s one of the biggest honors for me.”
Between the lifetime memories and several accolades, track and field carved a path for Hughes to travel the world and compete in countries like Bulgaria, Argentina, Canada, Jamaica, Cuba, Spain and Germany.
Friday, Hughes’ prolific career as a high jumper brought her to Las Vegas.
“Track and field took a young Black girl from St. Mary’s County — a small town, Lexington Park, Maryland — and it put her on the world stage, that’s what it did,” she said. “Track and field afforded me an opportunity to see the world and to see all the different cultures, which I absolutely love. It took me from a small town — there wasn’t even 70,000 people, if that — and it put me on a global stage.
“I’m just really blessed and grateful for all of it and the coaches and teammates and trainers and family that really supported me through it all.”
