BCC athletes named to NWAACC Hall of Fame

BELLEVUE, WASH. – The Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) has named former Bellevue Community College men’s basketball players Leon Edmonds, Robert Nellams and Kenny Lyles, as well as BCC’s 1992-93 championship men’s basketball team, to the NWAACC Hall of Fame.

The induction ceremony will take place at the NWAACC Hall of Fame Banquet in Bellevue May 31.

Edmonds, Nellams, Lyles and the 1992-93 Championship team were all coached by former BCC coach and NWAACC Hall of Fame member Ernie Woods.

Leon “Lee” Edmonds was a captain on BCC’s 1967-68 state champion basketball squad. He averaged 23.7 points and 11.6 rebounds per game and earned Most Valuable Player honors at the 1968 Washington Community College State Basketball Tournament. Edmonds went on to play at Portland State University, where he broke numerous scoring records.

Robert Nellams and Kenny Lyles were teammates on BCC’s 1977-78 team, leading the squad to a fourth-place finish at the Northwest Community College Championships. Lyles and Nellams were named to the All-Region First Team that year and led BCC to its fifth regional championship and a 25-4 overall record.

Lyles still holds BCC’s single-game rebounding record with 29 boards, which he collected against Tacoma Community College on February 17, 1978.

The legendary 1992-93 men’s basketball team is considered by some to have been the greatest ever to play at Bellevue. With a 32-1 overall mark, the team finished the year with a 23-game winning streak and the NWAACC Championship.

Team-members Kevin Baker, Dan Hallgrimson, Jason Griffith, Keith Higgins, Leon Johnson, Brett Lundeen, Ralph Metzger, Garry Muir, Mark Odsather, Willie Thomas, and Roman Wickers, along with coaches Ernie Woods, Wil DeCuire, and Bob Fronk, put together one of the greatest seasons in the history of the NWAACC that year. The team was simply dominant, beating their opponents by an average margin of 24.7 points (still a school record), and going undefeated (12-0) in NWAACC Northern Division play.

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