Former student-athletes Matt O'Neal and Lee Ann Spivey to be honored as USF Male and Female Student-Athletes of the Year
TAMPA, MARCH 29, 2017 – Former USF baseball coach and current associate athletic director Lelo Prado will be inducted into the Sports Club of Tampa Bay Hall of Fame on Wednesday, March 29 in Tampa.
Prado, who logged 849 wins in 26 years as a collegiate baseball coach, will be joined by former USF student-athletes Matthew O'Neal and Lee Ann Spivey, recognized for their outstanding performances during the 2015-16 season, in being honored at the induction banquet at the T. Pepin's Hospitality Centre Wednesday night.
The Sports Club of Tampa Bay banquet, which will honor a number of Bay Area standouts, will be held from 6-8:30 p.m. on March 29. Proceeds from the event help support Boys and Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay and youth sports throughout the region.
Prado, who grew up in Tampa, led the USF baseball program for eight seasons (2007-14), compiling five 30-win seasons, six BIG EAST Tournament appearances and a 251-214 record. He was named the 2009 Big East Coach of the Year, as the Bulls went 34-25-1 and 18-9 in the BIG EAST. In 2013, he led USF to a No. 20 national ranking. Prado was also instrumental in the construction of the USF Baseball Stadium, one of the finest collegiate baseball facilities in the nation.
Prado won five conference coach of the year honors during the course of a head coaching career that began in 1989. He led the University of Tampa baseball program for seven seasons, winning back-to-back NCAA Division II National Championships in 1992 and 1993. He went on to lead the University of Louisville baseball program for 11 years, posting a 320-301-1 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance, before returning to the Bay Area to lead USF's program.
O'Neal and Spivey will be honored as USF Student-Athletes of the Year.
O'Neal is one of the most successful student-athletes in the history of USF Athletics. The native of Jackson, Miss., became the first six-time All-American at USF in 2016 with his finishes at both the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships. He was the runner-up in the triple jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships and finished third in the event at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. O'Neal also became a six-time conference champion, winning both American Athletic Conference indoor and outdoor triple jump titles in 2016, and finishing runner-up in the long jump. He went on to finish fifth in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials. O'Neal holds both the indoor and outdoor triple jump records at USF, posting marks of 54'-8” indoors and 55'-9.75” outdoors. His outdoor mark posted in 2016 ranked as the eighth-best leap in the world.
Spivey was a four-year starter and the everyday catcher for the Bulls' softball team during a career that saw her set the program's all-time career home runs record. Spivey hit 15 home runs in her senior season in 2016 to finish her career with 39. She will be one of the most remembered names in USF softball history, as she earned her way into the top 10 in multiple categories in the USF career record books, including putouts, fielding percentage, sacrifice flies, runs batted in, slugging percentage and total bases while also posting the second-most home runs ever in a season. Spivey was a three-time all-conference selection, earning first team honors for the second time in 2016, as well as a three-time all-region honoree. She finished her career second all-time at USF with 1,383 putouts, 162 career RBI and a career slugging percentage of .582.
