A half-century later, it was once again time for a pair of UA baseball legends to shine.

Robert Murray, a Wildcat catcher from 1947-50, and Richard Griesser, an Arizona outfielder from 1954-55 and again in 1958, were among seven athletes inducted into the UA Sports Hall of Fame in the Jim Click Hall of Champions Friday night.

The ceremony took place in front of a select group of about 100 family and friends, along with UA athletics director Jim Livengood and assistant director Rocky LaRose.

Murray, who attended Tucson High School, was named a first team All-American with the Wildcats in 1950 and went on to play professional baseball for the Los Angeles Angels and Chicago Cubs.

Murray played for the late Pop McKale in his first season as a Wildcat ÷ and noted the drastic changes to the UA's baseball environment since he last played for Arizona 53 years ago.

"Pop didn't have, in his time, the glorious fields out here," Murray said. "(The team) would all run out to the dirt field and put the bases down (after class) so that we could practice baseball."

Murray expressed pride in the evolution of UA sports since his time in Tucson.

"It's just wonderful what the sports programs have done at Arizona," he said. "It is absolutely second to none."

Griesser was a member of multiple College World Series teams with Arizona. He was forced to take time off from college to serve in the Korean War, when he became a member of the U.S. Army South Korea Military Command All-Star team. Griesser went on to play in the 1956 Summer Olympics while still in the military.

Griesser said he "was offered an opportunity to fulfill a dream" in playing baseball for Arizona. He described himself as "a farm boy on the skinny side, 18-years-old, (who) didn't have the foggiest idea what college life was all about," when he received a UA baseball scholarship.

Griesser, whose hero was Lou Gehrig, said he wanted to play professional baseball right out of high school, but his mother made him get a college degree first.

"She said, ÎIf you wanna play ball, then you do what Lou Gehrig did: Get your degree first, (and) then you can play all the cotton-pickin' ball you wanna play,'" Griesser said. "After 50-some years, I think her perspective was a lot sharper than mine."

Softball pitcher Nancy Evans and catcher Leah Braatz, who both graduated from the UA in 1998 following the Wildcats' 1997 softball national championship, were similarly honored Friday.

Evans, now a UA assistant coach, went 124-8 with the Wildcats, setting a new national record for winning percentage. She and Braatz, considered the most dominating catcher in the country in the mid-'90s, won back-to-back national championships in 1996 and '97.

"Looking back at my career, I couldn't have imagined when I was a 5-year-old with my first ball and glove that I would gain such a wonderful, fulfilling, rewarding career in softball," Evans said.

Both Braatz and Evans thanked head coach Mike Candrea, who is currently working with Team USA's 2004 Olympic softball team in Greece. Candrea sent both women a video message congratulating them on their inductions.

"I wish I could be there to give you (both) a big hug but I think you know how I feel about both of you," Candrea said on the tape.

Wildcat tennis great Vicky Maes, once the nation's top-ranked NCAA women's tennis player, was also among the inductees. Maes was selected to the first-team All-Pac-10 squad all four years at Arizona.

The Belgian-born Maes, who played for the UA from 1995-98, is now in her third season as head coach of the Wildcat women's tennis team.

Maes said she sought to go to school in a warm, sunny environment ö and Arizona was a perfect fit. She said her teachers, teammates and coaches made her feel accepted her first day as a student at the UA.

"This is one of the greatest days of my life," Maes said.

The only inductee absent from the ceremony was NFL cornerback Chris McAlister of the Baltimore Ravens, a Wildcat from 1996-98. McAlister was busy preparing for the Ravens' Sunday night football game against the St. Louis Rams.

The tenth overall pick in the 1999 NFL draft, McAlister was a unanimous All-American pick in his final season and was a finalist for the annual Jim Thorpe Award, given to the best NCAA defensive back in the nation. In 1998, he became the seventh-ever collegiate athlete to return an interception, punt and kickoff for a touchdown in the same season.

McAlister won a Super Bowl ring with Baltimore in 2001, and is responsible for the longest play in NFL history with a 107-yard touchdown off a missed field goal attempt against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football last year.

McAlister's parents accepted the honor in his absence. His mother read a speech written by her son, in which he thanked his former coaches, teammates and the athletics department for guiding him through his three seasons as a Wildcat.

Women's basketball standout Adia Barnes was the first honoree of the evening. Barnes played for Arizona from 1995-98. She led the UA to a 23-7 record ö best in school history ö and helped advance the Wildcats to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

Barnes, who left as the UA's second leading scorer in both men's and women's hoops, was drafted 32nd overall by the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs in 1998. She had brief stints with the Phoenix Mercury, Minnesota Lynx and Cleveland Rockers before playing for the Seattle Storm the past two seasons.

Barnes started 16 games for Seattle in 2003, averaging 5.5 points per game.