What do former Olympic hero Bruce Jenner, former NFL quarterback and U.S. senator Jack Kemp, and former NBA star Willis Reed have in common with University of Mobile golf coach Terry Hopper?

They are in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame.

The NAIA announced this week that the 64-year-old Hopper has been selected for the organization's Hall of Fame and he will be officially inducted in May at the NAIA Men's Championships in Olathe, Kansas.

"It's a great honor for me," Hopper said Wednesday as he packed the Rams for the trip to their fall opener Friday and Saturday at Malone College in Canton, Ohio.

"I very much appreciate it. I've been very fortunate to be around a lot of good people who have helped me and led me in this direction. I've been lucky to be around some good golfers and good teams. I'm very honored and pleased to be presented with this award."

Hopper is in his 21st year of coaching Mobile's men's golf program and relinquished the women's golf program this season after coaching the Lady Rams since that program started in 1994.

In fact, Hopper was the first coach hired when the University of Mobile -- then, known as Mobile College -- started it's athletic program from scratch.

"I was the first one because I was here," said Hopper, who has been a physical education professor at the school since 1970.

Hopper was hired as the college's golf coach in 1984, fielding the school's first athletic program in the fall of 1985.

The Rams have advanced to the NAIA national championship tournament each year and the Lady Rams have also qualified for the national finals each year of that program's existence.

"Terry Hopper has achieved remarkable success," said Mobile athletics director Craig Bogar. "He is incredibly dedicated and devoted to his student-athletes and his sport, and is an outstanding role model for young people."

Hopper holds the distinction of winning NAIA national champions with both the men's and the women's teams.

The Rams won the NAIA national title in 1997 and the Lady Rams followed it up with a national title in 1998.

"I'm trying to keep it going," said Hopper. "I'm slowing down a little bit. I don't have the girls this year, but we should have a couple of good teams again."

Part of Hopper's success can be attributed to tapping into the area talent pool to find players.

"This year we have three from Thomasville, one from Leroy, one from Grand Bay, one from Fairhope, a couple from Mobile," he said. "There is a lot of good junior golf in this area. I'm not going to get the big ones, but there are still a lot of good players out there and I've been fortunate to get some of them."

Maggie Blaylock will coach the women's team this season.