GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- University of North Dakota Director of Athletics Bill Chaves and UND Letterwinners Association President Adam Stratton announced today the UND Letterwinners Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2021. The group of three individuals will join the previously-announced Class of 2020 to be honored Oct. 1, 2021 during the annual Hall of Fame Banquet.

Jon Casey (hockey, 1980-84), Casie Hanson (softball, hockey 2005-10) and Mike Mooney (football, 1991-94) all join the prestigious list of all-time Hall of Famers at the University of North Dakota.

With no event last season due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the 46th annual Athletics Hall of Fame event will take place with a dinner and induction ceremony on Friday, Oct. 1. The Classes of 2020 and 2021 will both be recognized the following day during halftime of UND football's big rivalry game against North Dakota State at the Alerus Center.

"As President of the Letterwinners Association, what an honor it was to call these individuals to let them know they are being inducted into the 2021 Hall of Fame class," said Stratton, a former UND football letterwinner from 2000-03 and key player of the 2001 national championship football team and 2003 football team that advanced to the national championship game. "The Hall of Fame honorees have earned the highest athletic honor for their achievements as student-athletes at the University of North Dakota. On behalf of the entire UND Letterwinners Association, we congratulate the inductees on their amazing athletic careers and accomplishments."

This year's three inductees bring the total number of individuals in UND's Letterwinners Athletics Hall of Fame to 269, with the team total at 43.

"Congratulations to another group of amazing individuals who we look forward to honoring in the Fall," Chaves said. "The ability for us to honor two classes in October is very exciting especially given the past year that we all have endured.  A special thank you to our Letterwinners Committee, who I have the privilege to work with, and am able to watch them first-hand to take on this tremendous responsibility of electing Hall of Famers and do an exemplary job."

UND Hall of Fame Class of 2021
Jon Casey, Hockey
1980-84
Casey was part of an NCAA title team (1982) at UND, then enjoyed a 12-year NHL career with the Minnesota North Stars, Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues. His teams also won WCHA titles in 1981 and 1982. He currently sits fifth all-time at UND in winning percentage at .711, eighth in save percentage and saves.

The Grand Rapids, Minn., native won 25 games in 1984 alone, fifth-most in a single season at UND. His 1,160 saves that season are the most on record at the school in a single year. He earned First Team All-America honors that season and was a Hobey Baker Award finalist. Casey was a three-time All-WCHA member. (1st in 1982 and 1984, 2nd in 1983).

His NHL career saw him play 425 games, registering a 170-157-55 mark over those 12 seasons. With Casey in net, the North Stars blazed their way to an improbable run to the 1990-91 Stanley Cup finals, eventually falling to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Minnesota defeated the Presidents' Trophy-winning Chicago Blackhawks in the first round, the second-place overall St. Louis Blues in round two, and the defending Cup champion Edmonton Oilers, 4–1, to win the Campbell Conference and advance to the Finals.

Casey would make it to the NHL playoffs in seven different seasons, four as a member of the North Stars, two with the Blues and another with the Bruins. He'd finish with a career playoff record of 32-31.

Casie Hanson, Softball/Hockey
2005-10
Casie Hanson was a two-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association First Team All-America selection and still leads UND in a host of offensive statistical categories. The 2008 North Central Region Player of the Year, Hanson led North Dakota into the NCAA Division I transition, winning three CoSIDA Academic All-District nods, two in Division II and a third in her senior season (2010) in UND's D1 era.

The St. Peter, Minn., native was the Great West Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Player of the Year and Tournament Most Valuable Player as a senior. That season marked her fourth as an all-conference player as she led UND to its first and only conference championship.

Her career .455 batting average is 62 points better than the field at UND. She owns three of the top four season batting averages, paced by her .534 campaign in 2008. Her 183 career runs scored is 55 better than the runner-up at North Dakota and her 278 hits outpace the competition by 68. Hanson stakes claim to the top three-single season hit totals in program history, led by her 86 in 2007.

She also leads the school in career homers (32), is second in runs batted in (104) and stolen bases (60).

On the ice, Hanson was a three-time Western Collegiate Hockey Association scholar-athlete and all-academic team selection. As a senior she was named an ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District honoree. In 2007 she was named the WCHA Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year.
 
Mike Mooney, Football
1991-95
Mooney is best known for his forced fumble and return for a touchdown that helped North Dakota end a 12-game losing streak to North Dakota State, thus beginning the shifting of balance of power in NCAA Division II and the North Central Conference. With the lead and the ball, NDSU seemed primed to make it 13 straight wins in that 1993 game at Memorial Stadium until Mooney's fourth-quarter touchdown put UND in the lead for good and the goalposts came down on one of the most memorable games in the rivalry' history. Known as "the Mooney Game", that win would be the first of a stretch that saw UND win 11 of the final 13 meetings with NDSU in their Division II rivalry.

Mooney was a two-time All-NCC (1993, 1994) selection and a co-captain of the 1994 squad. He was a Third Team Football Gazette All-America honoree as a junior and added All-America honors from three different organizations as a senior (1994).

His 137 total tackles currently ranks third in the UND record books for single-season stops. He totaled 172 assisted tackles for his career, which ranks seventh in the UND annals. He owns the fifth-most postseason tackles for a North Dakota player (48), tallying 30 of those in the 1994 postseason alone, tied for third-most in a single postseason.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony, proudly sponsored by the UND Letterwinners Association, will be held on Oct. 1 in the Alerus Center ballroom. For ticket information, please contact Val Sussex at 701.777.2611 or at vals@undfoundation.org.