FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Four new members will be inducted this weekend into the NAU Athletics Hall of Fame: Men's basketball center Dan McClintock (1996-2000); women's basketball forward Alyssa Wall (2004-07); football linebacker Jake Crissup (1996-99) and longtime volleyball announcer Dug Tryon (1993-present).
DAN MCCLINTOCK
McClintock, who graduated in 2001 with a degree in criminal justice, ended his NAU career as the school's all-time leader in blocked shots (196) and field-goal percentage (.632). He was drafted by the Denver Nuggets with the 53rd pick in the 2000 NBA Draft, the highest draft position of an NAU player.
He was a lightly recruited player in Visalia, Calif., before catching the eye of Jamie Dixon, an assistant on Ben Howland's NAU staff at the time.
"Jamie Dixon saw me play a high school game on his way to see a player in Fresno," recalls McClintock. "There was fog in that arena and the highway was closed, so instead he looked for a local game to watch."
The rest was history.
"Flagstaff was a perfect fit for me," McClintock said. "I was from a small town, and I loved the mountains and the four seasons."
After a bit of a roller coaster redshirt season, McClintock helped NAU win Big Sky Conference regular season title his freshman and sophomore years (1997-98), going 21-7 and 21-8 in those seasons while qualifying for the NIT in 1997 and the NCAA Tournament in 1998.
He averaged 11.4 points as a junior and NAU matched its 21-8 record from the season before, but the program's success netted Howland a job at the University of Pittsburgh prior to McClintock's senior season. Assistant Mike Adras was promoted to the head coaching position.
"Our mindset was the same when Coach Adras took over, and we knew he would be there for us too," said McClintock. "He was a guy who trusted us and trusted our opinion, and his door was always open to us players. By that time we were a mature group of mostly upperclassmen who were used to winning, and he did a terrific job in that transition that led to our success."
The 2000 season was McClintock's best, as he set a school record with 70 blocked shots, earned first-team All-Big Sky honors and led the Lumberjacks to the Big Sky Tournament title and another berth in the NCAA Tournament.
In a 61-56 first-round loss to St. John's, McClintock was named the CBS/Chevrolet Player of the Game after notching 18 points, eight rebounds, and four assists.
After being drafted by the Nuggets, McClintock's NBA career consisted of six games during the 2000-01 season, but he speaks fondly of the short stint.
"I feel very fortunate to have had that opportunity to play with the Nuggets," McClintock said. "It was a great time, and I loved every minute of it, even if it was unloading the veterans' luggage off the plane in a Minnesota blizzard with a suit on. Those were the things that made it fun.
"What I'll remember most, though, is starting my first game against the Lakers and having my family in the stands."
McClintock continued to play professional basketball internationally. Since leaving the NBA, he has played in China, France, Italy, Latvia, Germany, and the Ukraine, where he currently competes for MBC Mykolaiv.
He has traveled the world outside of basketball as an advocate for orphaned children, relating his passion for sport to those kids everywhere he goes. He and his wife, Alisha, have been married for 10 years and recently adopted two sons, Zekariyas, 3, and Kebek, 4.
"It's great to see someone in the midst of a professional career give back to so many people," said Adras, who has kept in constant contact with McClintock since his Lumberjack days. "Dan has always had great perspective in relating to people, and I really admire that about him."
McClintock and his life live in Phoenix in the off-season and are active in real estate.
ALYSSA WAHL
Wahl is the all-time leading scorer and rebounder for the women's basketball program and was a leading force on the program's lone NCAA Tournament team in 2006.
"I was very excited to hear about my induction," Wahl said. "I didn't really think it would happen so soon since I've only been graduated for five years. But I'm really hoping that some day, my team from 2006 will be inducted, too, since we're the first team to make it to the NCAA Tournament."
Wahl, from Yuma, was Big Sky Freshman of the Year in 2004, averaging 12.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. She upper her scoring average to 14.8 as a sophomore, earning the first of three All-Big Sky first-team selections.
After steady improvement from the team in her first two years – 12 wins in 2004 to 19 wins in 2005 – Wahl played a huge role in taking the NAU women's basketball program to its first and only Big Sky Tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth in 2006. Wahl was named the Big Sky Tournament, helping the Lumberjacks become the first team in conference history to win three games to clinch the tournament championship.
The Lumberjacks lost to the defending NCAA champions, Baylor, by a 74-56 score in the first round of the tournament but finished with 22 victories, tying the all-time school record.
"Basketball is such a team sport, so making the NCAA Tournament and having such a great season my junior year was the biggest highlight of my career," Wahl said. "I know I wouldn't have been half the player I was though without the players I played with like Kim Winkfield, Sade Cunningham, Laura Dinkins and Megan (Rice) Porter."
Wahl helped the Lumberjacks to a second-consecutive 20-win season in 2007, averaging a career-best 17.0 points per game while becoming the program's all-time leading scorer (1,678 points) and rebounder (771). Her 3,601 career minutes played were the most until Cunningham broke that mark in 2009.
"The four years I was at NAU was the best four years of my life," Wahl said. "I miss playing basketball everyday, I miss being around my teammates and being part of a team. I could not have asked for a better college experience."
Wahl followed her college career by playing professionally for one season with the Visby Ladies in Sweden.
She graduated with a BS in speech pathology and later earned a master's degree in occupational therapy from Midwestern University in Glendale. She lives in Peoria and works for the Banner Boswell Medical Center in Sun City as an occupational therapist, working with the elderly.
"I really enjoy working with that age group because I think they have a lot to teach all of us," she said.
She also serves as assistant girls varsity basketball coach at Ironwood High School, where her husband, Justin McLellan, is the head coach.
JAKE CRISSUP
Crissup, a native of Tulsa, Okla., started for four seasons at
linebacker under head coaches Steve Axman and Jerome Souers and finished
his career with 327 tackles, which ranks fifth in school history.
He was the 2000 Golden Eagle Co-Male Athlete of the Year along with Hall of Fame member Ross Land, a three-time All-Big Sky selection and a two-time I-AA Athletic Directors Association Academic All-Star selection, three-time All-Big Sky selection and four-time Big Sky All-Academic selection. Even with all of this, being selected to the NAU Hall of Fame may be his most memorable experience as a Lumberjack.
"It's real special to me," Crissup said. "I remember when I was a player walking around the concourse (in the Skydome) and looking at all the plaques, I read the bios on the plaques at least a dozen times and it is very surreal to imagine that my name is going to be on one of those plaques. Being put in that place of honor is tremendously rewarding."
Crissup graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in environmental engineering in May 2000 and went on to receive a master's degree in engineering management from the University of Texas, paid for by the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.
Crissup lives in Tulsa with his wife of 11 years, Tamika, 6-year-old daughter, Magnolia, and 4-year old son, Jonah.
DUG TRYON
Tryon, the 2012 Athletics Contributor Award, has been on the NAU staff since 1983 and has served as public address announcer at more than 220 volleyball matches over the past 19 years.
“It’s quite humbling, while at the same time it’s quite an honor,” said Tryon. “I remember sitting at (2011 Athletics Contributor Award winner) Dave Brown’s table last year and thinking it was a neat thing to be recognized in that way. I would never imagine being inducted, and that was just a year ago so it’s quite an honor.”
Tryon was assistant athletic director for business from 1995 to 2000 and served as senior assistant to the university's vice president of finance/administration from 2005 through 2012.
“My involvement with athletics has been my whole life in one way or another,” he said. “It felt natural to me to be involved with athletics; I guess you could say it’s in my blood. Even though I didn’t participate as a student-athlete being involved with it just came naturally.”
