For much of the 2010s, the names Russ and Jacob Huesman were nearly inseparable from Chattanooga football.
Now they’ll enter the school’s Hall of Fame together.
Russ Huesman, who helped revive the Mocs as head coach, and his son Jacob, the most decorated quarterback in program history, headline the six-member 2026 class announced last week by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
They’ll be joined by men’s basketball player Gary Davis, football standout Willie Greenway, volleyball player Kari Krouse Swafford and wrestler Larry Meierotto.
The class stretches from the early 1960s to the middle of the last decade and includes some of the most accomplished athletes and coaches in UTC history.
The inductees will be recognized Saturday, Oct. 10, during halftime of Chattanooga’s 1 p.m. football game against Southern Conference rival Samford at Finley Stadium.
The Huesmans’ simultaneous induction provides a centerpiece for a class spanning generations.
Russ Huesman played football for Chattanooga from 1978-81 before returning nearly three decades later to take over a program that had endured years of struggles.
During eight seasons as head coach (2009-16), he won 59 games – the most by a Chattanooga coach during the Southern Conference era and second in program history only to College Football Hall of Famer A.C. “Scrappy” Moore.
Huesman was named SoCon Coach of the Year three times and led Chattanooga to conference championships in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The Mocs also made three consecutive appearances in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
His quarterback during those championship seasons was his son.
Jacob Huesman finished his Chattanooga career with school records for passing yards, rushing yards, passing touchdowns, rushing touchdowns, touchdowns responsible for and total offense.
He was a three-time SoCon Offensive Player of the Year, a two-time All-American and twice a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, given annually to the top offensive player in the FCS.
A class spanning generations
With Huesman at quarterback, Chattanooga reached the FCS quarterfinals in 2014, the program’s deepest playoff run.
The new class also reaches back to a milestone figure in Mocs basketball history.
Davis, who played from 1962-65, became the first player in school history to score 1,000 career points. After earning an education degree, he remained in the Chattanooga area and spent 46 years coaching basketball, football, volleyball, fast-pitch softball and track.
Greenway was one of Chattanooga football’s defensive standouts of the 1980s. Playing from 1985-88, he twice earned Associated Press All-America honors and was named the Mocs’ most valuable player in 1986.
He remains one of only four Chattanooga players to record at least 150 tackles in a season and one of nine to surpass 300 career tackles, reaching the latter mark despite playing only three seasons.
Greenway was part of a Chattanooga team that opened the 1987 season by beating two nationally ranked opponents, shutting out No. 3 Eastern Kentucky 10-0 and winning 16-14 at No. 18 Furman.
Krouse Swafford, meanwhile, left a mark on both Chattanooga and Southern Conference volleyball record books.
Playing from 2000-03, she amassed 290 service aces, still the career record for both UTC and the SoCon, while her 1,625 kills rank second in school history. She led Chattanooga in aces in each of her four seasons and remains the only player in program history with at least 1,400 career kills and 1,400 digs.
Krouse Swafford earned All-SoCon honors in all four seasons, including three first-team selections, and was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-South Region team in 2003. She was later selected for the SoCon’s 100th Anniversary Team.
Meierotto adds another chapter from Chattanooga wrestling’s long history of conference success.
Competing from 1980-83, he won three Southern Conference championships – at 167 pounds in 1980 and 1982 and at 177 pounds in 1981 – and qualified for the NCAA championships in each of his four seasons.
He was named the outstanding wrestler at the SoCon championships during each of his first two title-winning tournaments and also captured a 177-pound title at the 1982 Southeastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships.
Honors beyond the Hall of Fame
In addition to the six Hall of Fame inductees, UTC announced four recipients of awards recognizing contributions on and off the field.
Diane Wolford will receive the Gordon L. Davenport Award for outstanding commitment to Chattanooga athletics. Wolford, a former UTC majorette, and her late husband, former Mocs football player Bucky Wolford, have maintained long-standing ties to the university. Their family name is carried by the Wolford Center addition to McKenzie Arena and the Wolford Family Strength & Conditioning Center on Vine Street.
Former Mocs running back David Williams will receive the Joe Morrison Award, presented to a former UTC athlete or coach for notable accomplishments and life experience.
Williams, a team captain and leading rusher during the mid-1980s, has since become an author and served with civic and community organizations including the United Way, Salvation Army and Gadsden Area Chamber of Commerce.
Beach volleyball standout McKenna Faychak will receive the A.C. “Scrappy” Moore Award, given to the student-athlete who best represents the athletic department’s vision of achieving excellence.
Faychak finished her career as the winningest player in Chattanooga beach volleyball history with 82 victories and helped the Mocs win three consecutive Ohio Valley Conference championships from 2024-26. She was named the conference’s Player of the Year in 2026 and is now a physical therapy student at the University of Pittsburgh.
Ron Hall, the longtime “Voice of Finley Stadium,” will receive the Harold Wilkes Award for exemplary leadership in furthering Chattanooga athletics.
Hall spent 20 seasons as the public-address announcer for Mocs football and also worked women’s basketball, wrestling, soccer and softball. The U.S. Navy veteran additionally served as the Chattanooga Lookouts’ public-address announcer before retiring this summer.
A legacy of Mocs athletics
The UTC Athletics Hall of Fame was created to recognize people who have made significant contributions to the university’s intercollegiate athletics tradition. The Hall of Fame has inducted 257 individuals since its establishment.
This year’s additions bring together athletes whose Chattanooga careers began more than half a century apart. In the case of the Huesmans, they also bring together two generations responsible for one of the most successful stretches in Mocs football history.