Hall of Fame Spotlight: Heidi Anderson
October 21, 2015 | Women's Gymnastics
Gymnast Heidi Anderson did not spend her full career at Oregon State.
However, she made the most of her two competitive seasons in Corvallis by winning an NCAA individual title and two All-American citations in 1984 and 1985.
A key component of OSU's rise to national prominence in the sport, Anderson will be inducted into the Oregon State Athletics Hall of Fame during Homecoming weekend, Oct. 23-24.
A native of Furlong, Pa., Anderson was the 1981 AIAW national champion in the floor exercise in 1981, and a three-time 1982 NCAA All-American at Penn State before transferring to OSU in Sept., 1982. After sitting out the 1982-83 seasons under NCAA transfer rules, she made an immediate impact as a junior and senior.
The 5-foot-1 dynamo was the national champion on beam in 1984, when the NCAAs were held at UCLA. She finished third in that event in 1985, when the finals were held at Salt Lake City.
She also placed ninth in the all-around in 1985 and helped lead the Beavers to a sixth-place team finish at NCAAs. The Beavers also won the old NorPac Conference championship, the Corvallis Regional championship, and finished with a 25-4-1 record.
Anderson also exceled in the classroom. A business major, she garnered CoSIDA Academic All-American honors in 1984.
Anderson and the other inductees – faculty member, track and field coach and athletics administrator Pat Ingram, former football standout Ken Simonton, former basketball student-athlete and coach Jimmy Anderson, former baseball coach Jack Riley, and the 2005 College World Series baseball team – will also be honored during the Oct. 24 football game against Colorado.
The OSU Athletics Hall of Fame was established to honor and preserve the memory of those student-athletes, teams, coaches, and members of the athletic staff who have contributed in an outstanding and positive way to the promotion of OSU's athletic and academic programs.
