Lehigh Announces 2025 Hall of Fame Election Class

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh Athletics has announced the newest members elected to the Roger S. Penske/Lehigh Athletics Hall of Fame. The newest electees, who will comprise the Hall of Fame Class of 2025, include athletics standouts Jenny Bender '03 (softball), Evan Bruno '03 (men's soccer) and Cathy Engelbert '86 (women's basketball and women's lacrosse), plus student-athlete, longtime administrator and former Dean of Athletics Joe Sterrett '76, and alumnus, friend and benefactor John Harmon '59.

Lehigh will host its annual Hall of Fame Induction Dinner on Friday, September 5. Joining members of the Class of 2025 that are able to attend for induction will be men's soccer standout Andrew Mittendorf '99, who was originally elected in the spring of 2023.

John Harmon
A 1959 Lehigh graduate and lifelong fan of Lehigh sports, Harmon attended hundreds of football games, wrestling matches and other events over his lifetime, with his loyalty, love of Lehigh and generosity in supporting the university proving to be exemplary and distinctive. Commitments by Harmon and his family included the wrestling scholarship program, Grace Hall and Caruso Complex facility projects, an endowment fund to support wrestling's assistant coaches, the press box and Skybox in Goodman Stadium and more. Harmon spent many years providing voluntary support to the sport of wrestling, serving as information director for the EIWA and serving as editor of the EIWA Newsletter and the National Mat News. Harmon passed away in 2017.

Joe Sterrett
Sterrett initially came to Lehigh as a first-year football student-athlete in 1972 and retired in 2024, concluding a 52-year association with the University. He was a student-athlete, then a coach and an administrator who spent 35 years as Lehigh's Athletic Director, becoming the first Murray H. Goodman Dean of Athletics in 2004. Through his experiences at Lehigh, Sterrett helped to develop the Lehigh athletics department into a group of highly skilled and caring educators whose common vision and exemplary work ethic aspired to make every student-athlete's experience a positive and developmental one. In his time as Athletic Director, he worked with nearly 6,000 student-athletes and saw Lehigh programs win 120 conference championships. Under Sterrett's leadership, Lehigh was a founding member of the Patriot League and added three women's varsity sports. Sterrett also helped establish the Lehigh Athletics Hall of Fame, the Athletics Partnership and Flight 45 Leadership Development Program among other initiatives.

Cathy Engelbert
A two-sport standout, Cathy Engelbert captained both the women's basketball and women's lacrosse teams. On the basketball court, Engelbert played for Hall of Fame coach Muffet McGraw and helped lead Lehigh to an East Coast Conference championship in 1986. A two-time All-ECC honoree in basketball, Engelbert scored 861 points while shooting nearly 50 percent from the field for her career. Engelbert played defense for the women's lacrosse team and earned a pair of All-ECC honors while adding IWLCA All-Region recognition in her senior season. After graduation, Engelbert went on to work for Deloitte and in 2015 became the first woman to be named CEO of a "Big Four" accounting firm. Since 2019, Engelbert has served as commissioner of the WNBA.

Jenny Bender
A productive and versatile player, Jenny Bender was one of the leaders for Lehigh softball in the early 2000s. Bender was the first Lehigh softball player to earn first-team laurels on four occasions, doing so as the designated player from 2000 through 2003. She added a pair of second team honors as a pitcher in her final two seasons. Bender's .394 batting average and 248 hits rank fourth in school history, while her 145 career runs batted in rank fifth. Bender was a two-time first-team NFCA All-Region honoree as a utility player and earned All-ECAC recognition on three occasions. A third team Academic All-American in 2003, Bender was also named MVP of the 2001 Patriot League Tournament which eventually led to Lehigh making its first NCAA Regional appearance.

Evan Bruno
An offensive force for a Lehigh men's soccer program that qualified for the NCAA Tournament in two of his final three seasons, Evan Bruno ranks third in program history with 40 career goals and 101 career points. Bruno collected three consecutive first team All-Patriot League honors and three consecutive first team All-Region plaudits from 2000-2002. He scored 18 goals in 2000, a mark that ranks second in school history, helping Lehigh to its first league title and NCAA Tournament appearance. Bruno captured third team All-America honors as a junior in 2001 and was a two-time Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year, winning the award in 2000 and 2002. As a senior Bruno led Lehigh to the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League Tournament and an at-large NCAA berth.

Andrew Mittendorf
The most prolific scorer in Lehigh men's soccer history, Mittendorf owns Lehigh single season and career records for goals and points that have stood for more than a quarter of a century. A two-time Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year, Mittendorf scored 24 goals and tallied 49 points as a senior in 1998. He finished his career with 43 goals and 106 points. Mittendorf was a two-time All-Region honoree and a three-time All-Patriot League selection. A member of the Patriot League All-Decade Team and the league's 25th Anniversary Team, Mittendorf was drafted by the Colorado Rapids in the first round of the 1999 Major League Soccer Draft and played professionally in Sweden and the United States.

The Roger S. Penske/Lehigh Athletics Hall of Fame currently includes 121 members across 26 sports and more than 140 years of intercollegiate athletics competition.

Lehigh University Athletics

Lehigh Announces 2025 Hall of Fame Election Class

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