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LIVINGSTON, AL— The University of West Alabama
athletic department will add two new inductees into its
Athletic Hall of Fame when the Tigers play host to
Webber International on Saturday, Oct. 7. Bob Riesener,
former UWA head baseball coach, and Johnny Montgomery,
former track athlete for the Tigers, will be inducted
into the 2006-07 class.
Riesener, a native of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was at the
helm of the Tigers baseball program from 1967 to 1971.
Under Riesener, Tiger baseball teams compiled a 111-34
record and appeared in post season action all four
seasons. Livingston won the Alabama Collegiate
Conference Championship in 1968 and won NAIA District 27
Championships in 1970 and 1971. The 1970 team also won
the NAIA Region 5 Championship and advanced to the NAIA
World Series.
In
1974, Riesener was named head baseball coach at the
University of Montevallo. During his 30-year tenure with
the Falcons, he compiled a 937-671 record and led
Montevallo to four NAIA Southern States Conference
Championships, four District 27 titles and one NAIA
Southeast Independent Sectional title.
He
served for 10 years as the NAIA District Baseball Chair,
six years as NAIA Area Baseball Chair, and six years on
the NAIA BCA Executive Committee – one year as
president.
In
2003, Coach Riesener retired from Montevallo with a
career record of 1,045-704 making him the all-time
winningest collegiate baseball coach in the state of
Alabama. He was a 1990 inductee into the NAIA Baseball
Hall of Fame and University of Montevallo Athletic Hall
of Fame. He has been nominated to the 2007 Alabama
Sports Hall of Fame ballot.
Montgomery, a resident of Homewood, Alabama, is a former
track athlete for Livingston University, where he still
holds records in the high hurdles, 440 intermediate
hurdles, broad jump, high jump, triple jump and pole
vault.
Montgomery was the Alabama Collegiate Conference
champion from 1966-1970 in the broad jump, high hurdles,
and 440 intermediate hurdles and raced in the 1970 NAIA
championships in Kansas City, Missouri in the high
hurdles.
In
1972, Montgomery won numerous races where he holds many
state age group records. He participated in his first
Triathlon in 1983 where he came in first in his age
group and seventh overall. From 2000-2003, he was an
All-American Triathlete for Team USA, taking first place
in 2000 in Canada and fourth place in 2002 in Holland.
He is a finisher in over 200 triathlons from 1993 to
present, where he has won or placed in the top three in
his age group and has been ranked No. 1 seven times in
the Southeast Region.
Montgomery is an eight time competitor in the Hawai'i
Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawai'i and he is
the only Alabamian to compete in and finish the event.
Riesener and Montgomery will have their names inscribed
into UWA Athletic history, as they will join 48 other
UWA Hall-of-Famers displayed in the James P. Homer Field
House. Riesener and Montgomery will be recognized as
honorary captains for UWA’s Homecoming Game with Webber
International on Oct. 7 at Tiger Stadium. |
