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Staff reports

Veteran NFL defensive back Morgan Burnett joins NCAA tennis champion Amanda McDowell, PGA Tour veteran Chesson Hadley and ACC championship football coach George O’Leary among the seven former student-athletes and staff who have been elected to the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame.

The Class of 2020 also includes the former Atlantic Coast Conference pitcher of the year Deck McGuire, All-America softball player Aileen Morales and three-time Olympic swimmer Gal Nevo.

Tech’s newest Hall of Fame members lifted their teams and departments to great heights during their time as Yellow Jackets.

Due to uncertainty of fall activities stemming from COVID-19, Georgia Tech will not hold an induction ceremony this fall. The Class of 2020 will be officially inducted next fall along with the Class of 2021, which will be elected early next year.

Burnett, who played from 2007-09, is one of the most decorated defensive backs in Georgia Tech history. He was named first-team All-American in 2008 by Pro Football Weekly, second-team by Rivals, Sports Illustrated and Sporting News and third-team by Phil Steele. He was twice named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference second team in 2008 and 2009.

Despite playing only three seasons at Georgia Tech, Burnett is tied for second in school history with 14 career interceptions. His seven interceptions in 2008 are tied for the fourth-most in single-season school history and tied for the most in the nation that season. The College Park native led the Yellow Jackets in tackles in 2008 with 93, and he led Tech in interceptions each of his three seasons (three in 2007, seven in 2008, four in 2009). The Jacket teams he played on won 27 games in three seasons, and he helped lead Tech to back-to-back ACC Coastal Division championships and ACC Championship Game appearances.

Selected in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers, Burnett has 770 tackles, 10 interceptions and 10 fumble recoveries and 9.5 sacks in 10 NFL seasons — eight with the Packers (2010-17), one with the Pittsburgh Steelers (2018) and one with the Cleveland Browns (2019). He won Super Bowl XLV as a member of the Packers.

Hadley was a first-team All-American by Golfweek, and a second-team choice by the Golf Coaches Association of America in 2008. He earned All-America honors in three of his four years at Tech, was named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference team in 2008 and 2010. He won the ACC individual championship as a senior in 2010. He turned pro following his senior year and has been a member of the PGA Tour since 2014.

McDowell is the third member of Georgia Tech’s 2007 NCAA Championship team to be elected to the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame. A two-time All-ACC in 2008 and 2009, McDowell captured 2008 NCAA singles championship as a sophomore to become the first Tech women’s tennis player to win an individual national title. She was named ITA National Player of the Year and earned ITA All-America recognition in singles that year after winning a school-record 45 singles matches. The Atlanta native and Marist School alumnus was a freshman when the Jackets won the 2007 NCAA title, and she also helped Tech win the Atlantic Coast Conference crown that year and teamed with former Yellow Jacket Irina Falconi to win 2008 ITA All-American doubles title.

McGuire, one of the top pitchers in the Atlantic Coast Conference in the late 2000s, was named the conference’s top pitcher in 2009, and became a first-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball magazine and a second-team choice by Baseball America. A two-time first-team All-ACC selection (2009, 2010), the Richmond, Va., native was named the ACC Pitcher of the Year in 2009 after going 11-2 in 16 starts for a 3.50 ERA, striking out 118 batters and walking just 41. One of just 10 first-round MLB Draft picks in Georgia Tech history, McGuire was selected 11th overall in 2010 by the Toronto Blue Jays. He pitched in 48 games over two major league seasons (2017, 2018) with Cincinnati, Toronto and the Los Angeles Angels and also played in the Korean Baseball Organization in 2019.

Morales, a three-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference performer, left Georgia Tech owning numerous school records. The Hardaway High grad was named ACC co-Freshman of the Year and earned second-team all-conference recognition. She went on to be a three-time all-ACC honoree as a middle infielder, earning first-team accolades as a junior and senior in 2007 and 2008, and was also a three-time all-region selection. She earned third-team all-America honors. Morales, who still holds numerous school records, was selected by the Chicago Bandits in the second round of the 2008 National Pro Fastpitch Draft. She played two seasons with the Bandits and helped lead the squad to the NPF championship as a rookie in 2008. Morales was hired as the head softball coach at Georgia Tech in 2017.

Nevo, the most decorated Georgia Tech swimmer in school history, has participated in three Olympic games (2008, 2012, 2016) for his native Israel. He was ACC Swimmer of the Year in 2009 and 2010 and finished as the NCAA runner-up in the 400 individual medley in 2009 and 2010. He won ACC championships five times, and he set school records in the 400 and 200 individual medley events, and still holds the Tech mark in the 400 IM. He holds three Israeli records in the 200 IM, 400 IM and 200 butterfly.

O’Leary was the Yellow Jackets head football coach (1994-2000) after serving as defensive coordinator (1987-91, 1993-94). He revived the fortunes of the Tech football program in his seven full seasons, beginning as interim head coach in 1994 through the 2001 campaign. His team won co-champion honors in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1998, and he led Tech teams to a streak of five consecutive bowl games, the best run at Tech since 1951-56 under Bobby Dodd when Tech played in six straight bowl games. He was named ACC Coach of the Year in both 1998 and 2000. O’Leary retired from coaching and administration at the University of Central Florida in 2015.

David Johnson/Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech