Frohlich’s ‘roll of dice’ was winner

From the moment she graduated from UNLV in 2002, the clock has been ticking on Linda Frohlich's pending induction into the school's athletic hall of fame.

Frohlich, a 6-foot-2-inch forward who is the leading scorer in Lady Rebels basketball history with 2,355 points, had to wait 10 years to be eligible. Now, on Oct. 12, she will be part of a diverse class of inductees that includes men's basketball player Eddie Owens, football player Kevin Thomas, swimmers Jacint Simon and Lorena Diaconescu, softball pitcher Amie Stewart, former tennis coach and administrator Fred Albrecht, the 1984 California Bowl championship football team and illustrator Mike Miller, who created the image of "Hey Reb," the school's athletic mascot.

Also, former UNLV quarterback and current ESPN broadcaster Kenny Mayne will be honored with the Silver Rebel Award, which goes to a student-athlete who distinguishes himself or herself after leaving school.

"I'm retired from playing so it came at the right time," said Frohlich, 32, who runs a girls basketball academy in Claremont, Calif. "It's the perfect finishing mark."

Frohlich, who came to UNLV from Oldendorf, Germany, and was the national Freshman of the Year in 1999, averaged 21.2 points during her career. She also was an academic All-American and played four years in the WNBA.

"Everything I accomplished goes back to UNLV," said Frohlich, who met her husband, Andrew, on campus. "When I came over from Germany to attend UNLV, my parents told me, 'Linda, you're not going to be a basketball player forever. You need to have an education.' Now, that part kicks into my life, and I'm glad I listened to my parents."

Frohlich also was recruited by Duke, Michigan and Georgetown but decided to attend UNLV, where coach Regina Miller was going to run the offense through her and where she could expedite her growth as a player.

"It really was a roll of the dice," Frohlich said with a laugh, alluding to the gambling metaphor on her decision to attend college in Las Vegas. "But it turned out to be a great decision. Just being part of the growth of the program meant so much to me, and to be honored this way is very special."

Owens, who played from 1973 to 1977 and is still the leading scorer in men's basketball history with 2,221 points, was a member of UNLV's first Final Four team in 1977. As a senior that year, he averaged a team-best 21.8 points. In 2010, the Review-Journal listed Owens at No. 5 in its profiles of the 100 greatest UNLV basketball players of all time.

Thomas, who played cornerback for the Rebels from 1998 to 2001 and started in all 46 games he played, might be best remembered for returning a fumble 100 yards in the final seconds of UNLV's improbable 27-24 win over Baylor in 1999. He still has the school record for interceptions in a season with seven and most interceptions for touchdowns with three, both set in 2001.

The 1984 football team, coached by Harvey Hyde and led by quarterback Randall Cunningham, beat Toledo 30-13 in the California Bowl and finished 11-2. But the team forfeited the win, among others, after it was discovered that ineligible players had been used during the season.

Diaconescu, who competed from 1998 to 2002, won three straight conference swimmer of the year awards. She competed in two Olympics for her native Romania (1996, 2000) and is the second women's swimmer to go into the UNLV hall.

Simon, the second male swimmer to be inducted, was a three-time conference swimmer of the year (2000, 2001, 2002) and set six school records from 1998 to 2002. The native of Hungary represented his country in the 2000 Olympics.

Stewart, one of two softball pitchers at UNLV to earn All-America status, had a 73-33 record from 1992 to 1995. She also pitched two no-hitters, had 28 shutouts and struck out 492. She also was proficient at the plate, hitting nine home runs in her senior season.

Albrecht coached men's tennis from 1974 to 1983 and had a .742 winning percentage, the highest of any tennis coach in the program's history. He also served as an assistant basketball coach to John Bayer from 1971 to 1973 and was interim athletic director in 1995 and 2003.

Information on the location for the ceremony and tickets will be released in the coming weeks.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.