WEATHERFORD – On behalf of the SWOSU Athletic Hall of Fame Committee, Athletic Director Todd Helton has announced Hayden Priddy, Woody Roof, and Hailey Tucker have been selected for induction into the Class of 2024.
The 2024 Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, August 9, inside the Pioneer Event Center. The event is open to the public with tickets priced at $25 per person. The 18th Annual SWOSU Athletic Auction will commence one day later Saturday, August 10, where the inductees will be recognized again.
A limited number of tickets and tables for the Hall of Fame Banquet and Athletic Auction are still available for purchase and can be bought by contacting the SWOSU Office of Institutional Advancement at 580-774-3267 or e-mailing Mr. Joshua Cobb, SWOSU Advancement Coordinator for Athletics, at joshua.cobb@swosu.edu.
Hayden Priddy spent her entire four-year career at SWOSU, capped off by an All-American senior season that saw the Lady Bulldogs finish with a 35-2 record and an appearance in the Division II National Championship game. During her prolific final season, Priddy was selected to three different All-American teams and was named the NCAA Central Region and Great American Conference Player of the Year. She was at her best during that unforgettable 2019 postseason run – the longest in GAC history – when she earned a spot on the All-GAC Tournament Team before being named the Most Outstanding Player at the Central Regional Championships. Priddy also went on to be deemed the Jim Thorpe AAU Athlete of the Year, voted on annually by the executive committee of the Oklahoma District with past winners such as Sam Bradford, Baker Mayfield, and Jason White. Priddy continues to be SWOSU's all-time leader in assists (489) while ranking second in three-point makes (250) and third in both scoring (1,864 points) and free throws made (464). In her career, she was named a GAC Player of the Week four times, an All-GAC selection three times beginning as a sophomore, and an All-Region selection twice as a junior and senior. At SWOSU, she was a part of 101 wins, two GAC Regular Season Championships, one GAC Tournament Championship, one Central Region Championship, and had appearances at the NCAA Elite Eight and national championship game. Priddy was hired at SWOSU in the recruitment office following her days as a student-athlete, before transitioning to coaching. In 2023, she joined her former SWOSU coach Kelsi Musick at Oral Roberts University as an assistant women's basketball coach – a role she continues to hold to this current day.
Woody Roof, from Thomas, Oklahoma, returned close to home for his senior season in 1971 after spending three previous years playing for Oklahoma State. Roof's presence and impact on the Bulldog defense was immediate, as he went on to set an Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference (OCAC) single-season record with nine interceptions and helped lead the Dawgs to an 8-2 record and a conference championship. The Bulldogs captured the program's 11th title in '71 and Roof was named a District All-Conference selection for his efforts. He went on to obtain two degrees from SWOSU and began a successful 40-year career in coaching throughout Oklahoma in both college and high school. His coaching path circled back to SWOSU when he was the offensive coordinator and head track & field coach from 1979-82. During that four-year span, Roof and the Bulldogs won seven games three times and captured the 1980 Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference (OIC) Championship. With a laundry list of career coaching accolades in the high school ranks, Roof eventually retired from the profession for good in 2017 while at Weatherford High School. He is notably a five-time state champion, which includes two while at Weatherford in 1991 and 1992. Roof and his family continue to reside in the city of Weatherford to this day.
Hailey Tucker enters the Hall of Fame as the most decorated SWOSU women's basketball player of the NCAA era. Tucker was a Lady Bulldog alongside Priddy from 2015-19 and accrued matching team success previously mentioned. She began earning personal accolades immediately as the first freshman in conference history to be named a First Team All-GAC selection, while also being awarded the 2016 GAC Freshman of the Year distinction. From there she remained on the league's first team in every year she played and became the first player in conference history to earn first team status four times. Tucker was named the GAC Player of the Year in 2017 as a sophomore, and in 2018 as a junior, in line with the origination of her All-Region and All-American accolades. Tucker was also named the 2018 NCAA Central Region Player of the Year. She became an All-American in 2017 when the NCAA Division II Bulletin named her an honorable mention and subsequently went on to pick up six additional All-American honors from four separate outlets over the course of her junior and senior seasons – capped off by a First Team selection by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) in 2019. She was the 2019 GAC Women's Athlete of the Year, awarded to the top athlete of any sport throughout the conference. In four seasons she earned GAC Player of the Week recognition 14 times, was twice named the USBWA National Player of the Week and got placed on four GAC All-Tournament Teams. During SWOSU's run to the NCAA championship game, she also earned spots on the Central Region and Elite Eight All-Tournament Teams. She became the first player in the GAC to score 2,000 career points and remains the league's all-time leader in scoring with 2,360 points to her credit. Her 224 blocked shots and 276 three-point makes both continue to hold as career program records at SWOSU, while her points total ranks second. Aside from her athletic achievements, Tucker was twice named an Academic All-American (2018-19) as the only such accomplishment in the program's NCAA era. She eventually went on to become a 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year finalist for her academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service, and leadership. In 2023, she was named an NCAA Division II 50th Anniversary Gold Award Nominee as a student-athlete considered to have helped shape Division II over time. Following her playing career and graduation, Tucker became a Chief Investigative Reporter and News Anchor at KWCH 12 in Wichita, Kansas for five years and recently transitioned to Textron Aviation (KS) as a senior communications specialist.
