A SPORTS Hall of Fame which it is hoped will serve as an inspiration to future generations of students was officially unveiled at St Andrews University last night.

Former Olympic athlete Sir Menzies Campbell was among the first round of distinguished sporting professionals—both past and present—to be honoured.

He was joined by alumni, staff and other leading names in sport with a link to the university, in a celebration of St Andrews’ long association with sporting excellence.

Sir Menzies, who is chancellor of the university, was among several inductees present for the ceremony at the university’s Gateway building, and was honoured for his achievements as a sprinter in the 1960s and 70s.

The Sports Hall of Fame is a joint venture between the university’s athletic union and its department of sport and exercise.

Those who attended the ceremony included Donald Macgregor, who finished in seventh place in the 1972 Olympic Games marathon in Munich; Professor Emeritus Bill Shaw, who held several titles in squash and won 35 Scottish international caps; and Fiona Lothian, a former postgraduate student and staff member, winner of a bronze medal at the World Duathlon Championships in 1999.

They were joined by Kirkcaldy-born Terry Mitchell, a talented runner of some 20 years, who works for the university’s estates department; Ross Napier, who won 27 caps for Scotland in hockey; Cupar-born David Whyte, a St Andrews MA and champion sprinter and long-jumper for Scotland and Great Britain, who won 13 Scottish rugby caps between 1965-67; Tyrone Howe, another MA and former Ulster, Irish and British Lions rugby player; and Jack Ferguson, former deputy director of the university’s department of physical education from 1963-90, who capped a long water polo career with his 1952 and 1956 selection for Great Britain’s Olympic team.

Seven others were introduced into the hall of fame in absentia, including golfers Colin Montgomerie, Severiano Ballesteros, Peter Alliss and Jack Nicklaus, who all hold honorary degrees from the university.

They were joined by fellow honorary graduate and manager of Manchester United Sir Alex Ferguson, and Chris Hoy, a 1996 graduate who holds a panoply of Olympic medals as well as a world record in track cycling.

Dr Allan Lindsay, who took his degrees from the university in 1949 and 1958, broke the Scottish native triple jump record at the Edinburgh Highland Games in 1949, and held it for nine years, was also inducted in absentia.

During the ceremony, the inductees were formally introduced and presented with their scrolls by student athletes and university staff.

Their places in the hall of fame—to be located at the university’s sports centre—are being marked with a photograph of the athlete from their time competing, a modern photograph, a note on their achievements and their own reflections on their careers and sporting lives.

John Scott, assistant director of the department of sport and exercise, said, “Over the centuries, the university has produced and been associated with achievement and distinction at a national and international level. Sport has been very much a part of those achievements, but is, as yet, an untold and unknown story.”

The presentations followed the formal opening of the hall of fame by university principal and vice-chancellor Dr Brian Lang.

Dr Lang told the invited audience of more than 150 people, “We are very proud of our hall of fame and there will be many more inductees to come.

“It will grow substantially in the future.”

The group is the first of several to be inducted over the next few years, as continuing research unearths more sporting legends with an association to the university.