Michigan football star LaMarr Woodley, softball legend Sierra Romero make Michigan Sports Hall of Fame

Sierra Romero

Named the 2016 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, NFCA Division I Player of the Year and the Honda Award recipient for softball, Romero completed the 2016 campaign with a .451 batting average, 76 runs, 73 hits, 19 home runs and 79 runs batted in. She ranked third nationally with 1.29 runs per game and 1.32 RBI per game and sixth with a .577 on-base percentage and .883 slugging percentage. She boasted 18 multi-hit games and 21 multi-RBI games and tallied a career-best 18-game hitting streak through the early-season tournament slate.

Romero, a native of Murrieta, Calif., became the first four-time NFCA All-American in Michigan program history, earning first-team honors each of the last three seasons, and was twice a top-three finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year (2014, ’15) before winning the top honor in 2016. She was the inaugural winner of the espnW Softball Player of the Year in 2015 and a three-time Big Ten Player of the Year (2013, ’14, ’16) and four-time unanimous selection to the All-Big Ten first team.

Romero completed her collegiate career as the NCAA record holder in career runs (302) and grand slams (11). With her 300th run, scored in NCAA Super Regional play, she became the first player to ever record 300 runs, 300 hits and 300 RBI. She ranks fourth all-time in career RBI (305) and slugging percentage (.882) and eighth in home runs (82) and walks (225).

A two-year Michigan team captain, Romero contributed to a senior class that posted a 210-43 record, won four Big Ten titles and a Big Ten Tournament title and made three WCWS appearances over four seasons.

LaMarr Woodley

LaMarr Woodley left Michigan as one of the most decorated defensive players in school history. He appeared in 49 career contests and made 33 starts at defensive end, amassing 177 tackles, including 52.5 tackles for loss and 24 sacks. He lists second all-time in career TFLs and is third in sacks. Woodley holds U-M’s career record with 10 forced fumbles while contributing five recoveries. He was twice selected All-Big Ten first team and was voted as the Richard Katcher Award winner as the team’s top defensive lineman/outside linebacker on two occasions (2004, 2006).

As a senior in 2006, Woodley tied Michigan’s then season sack record with 12. He made nearly half of his stops in the opposition’s backfield, with 16.5 of his 36 tackles being tackles for loss. Woodley was voted co-captain and became the first-ever Wolverine to win both the Lombardi Award (top lineman) and Ted Hendricks Award (top defensive end). Woodley was a consensus first-team All-American and won the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year awards after being a unanimous all-conference first team selection.

A second-round NFL Draft selection by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Woodley played nine seasons in the NFL, seven with the Steelers and one each with the Oakland Raiders and Arizona Cardinals. Woodley earned All-Pro honors and was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2009. He played in two Super Bowls and won SB XLIII with the Steelers, securing the victory with a game-ending sack, and forced fumble.

A Saginaw, Mich., native, Woodley attended Saginaw High School. Extremely active in the community, he started the Woodley Leadership Academy, a tuition free K-8 charter school and revitalized the Community Center by turning it into a learning center for adults.