Beaver Falls, PA– Sports movies often depict the monumental moment when athletes realize that their jerseys represent not just individual careers, but also the legacy of entire athletic programs. On Saturday, November 15, Geneva College makes this ‘movie moment’ a reality for the football and men’s and women’s basketball programs during GT Legacy Day.
The college will retire the jerseys of six Golden Tornado players for GT Legacy Day. Throughout this Saturday, the football team hosts all-time rival Westminster at 1 p.m., and the men’s and women’s basketball programs hold season opening games at home versus Hilbert College— the women’s team at 5:30 p.m. and the men’s team at 7:30 p.m.
For GT Legacy Day, Geneva will retire the jerseys of football players Melvin Cobbs (#32), Willie Murray (#32) and Gerard Muschette (#22), men’s basketball player Troy Nesmith (#20), and women’s basketball players Nancy Paxton (#45) and Jen Rawding (#13). These will be the first women’s basketball jerseys retired by Geneva.
Murray, a New Brighton graduate, enjoyed great success with the Golden Tornadoes. After transferring to Geneva following his freshman year, he finished his three-year Geneva career with 3,622 rushing yards and 234 points, which were Geneva football records at the time of his graduation. He is currently ranked third on the all-time rushing list and fourth on the all-time scoring list. He also helped lead the Golden Tornadoes to a pair of conference titles and two trips to the NAIA national tournament.
Just a few years after Murray graduated, another running back wearing #32 arrived. Cobbs, from Woodland Hills, compiled 3,809 rushing yards and 254 career points in three seasons from 1997-99. Both marks became Geneva records, and Cobbs currently sits at second on the all-time rushing list and third on the all-time scoring list. He also helped lead Geneva to a conference title in 1997 and a pair of NCCAA Victory Bowl titles in 1998 and 1999. Currently Cobbs holds the single-season record for his 1,759 rushing yards in 1999, averaging over six yards a carry.
Less than a decade later, Calvert, MD, graduate Muschette made his mark on the record book. Playing from 2007-10, he finished his career as the all-time leading rusher, still sitting at the top of the list with 3,891 rushing yards. He averaged 5.9 yards per carry for his career, and is second on the all-time scoring list with 274 points. Muschette ended his career by breaking the all-time rushing mark and scoring a game winning touchdown in a triple-overtime victory against Westminster.
Nesmith, a Beaver Falls graduate, played only two seasons of men’s basketball for the Golden Tornadoes from 1994-96, but made quite an impression. Nesmith holds the Geneva scoring record for freshman, and ranks 15th on Geneva’s all-time scoring list with 1,402 points. He finished his career as Pennsylvania’s highest leading scorer for all colleges with a combined total of 2,688 career points. Nesmith received NAIA all-American status during both seasons and finished as a four-year all-American, including being twice named a first-team selection. During the 1994-95 season he scored 709 points, placing him sixth on Geneva’s single-season scoring list. Following graduation Nesmith went on to a professional basketball career, playing for several different teams in France over a 10-year year period.
Paxton, an Atlantic City graduate, has been referred to as the first great female athlete to grace Metheny Fieldhouse. She played basketball for the Golden Tornadoes from 1984-88, helping lead the Golden Tornadoes to the NCCAA national tournament. She finished as Geneva’s all-time leading scorer at the time and is currently second on the all-time scoring list, with 1,816 points and an average of nearly 19 points per game. In the 1986-87 season, she averaged close to 21 points per game. Additionally, she is the career all-time rebound leader with 1,180. Paxton also ranks first in career steals and third in blocked shots.
Blackhawk graduate Rawding played from 2002-06. She helped her team advance to the post-season in each of those years, with four consecutive winning seasons. At the end of her career, she sat atop the all-time scoring list with 1,830 points. Rawding also ranks in the top 10 in rebounds with 650 for her career. In 2003-04, she scored 550 points, which ranks third on the single-season scoring list.
Geneva College is proud to have these former student-athletes as part of its rich history and invites the community to celebrate their athletic careers.
GT Legacy Day Itinerary:
| 1 p.m. | Geneva Football vs. Westminster College |
| Halftime | Football and Basketball Retired Jersey Ceremony |
| 5:30 p.m. | Geneva Women’s Basketball vs. Hilbert College |
| 7 p.m. | Retired Basketball Jerseys Ceremony |
| 7:30 p.m. | Geneva Men’s Basketball vs. Hilbert College |
Geneva College invites students to step forward and leap ahead with an academically excellent, Christ-centered and affordable education. Offering nearly 40 undergraduate majors, Adult Degree Programs with fully online and campus-based options, and high-demand advanced graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top 10 Best Value with one of the Top 100 engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the inerrancy of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God’s word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today’s world.
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