Clemson University Athletics has named its 2026 Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame inductees, with Laura Cottrell among the three former Tigers set for recognition. The class also includes Dr. Larry Bowman and Andy D'Alessio, giving Clemson a group that spans football, women’s basketball and baseball.
The announcement is the kind of news Clemson fans search for now because it puts a fresh class on the record before the 2026 celebration takes shape. Cottrell is the person who gives the class its clearest human center: she became the 15th Tiger to reach 1,000 career points on Feb. 1, 1997, against Texas, finished with 1,108 points and 808 rebounds, and helped Clemson women’s basketball through three NCAA Tournament seasons.
Cottrell’s place in Clemson history was already secure before the Hall of Fame call. She was a First-Team All-ACC selection in 1996 and 1997, won MVP honors at the 1996 ACC Tournament, which brought Clemson its first ACC basketball title, and was the MVP of the 1996-97 Boise State Tournament. Her career also included two NCAA Tournament teams that reached the second round, a résumé that explains why her name remains tied to one of the program’s most productive stretches.
Bowman’s selection adds a different kind of weight to the class. He served as team orthopedist for all Clemson sports and spent 34 years, from 1988 to 2022, with Clemson football, a span that helped bridge two national championships, six College Football Playoff appearances, 10 ACC championships and 10 top-10 seasons. The recognition is for that long record of service, not an active role, and that distinction matters because it shows how Clemson’s Hall of Fame is meant to honor work already done, not a current title.
D'Alessio brings the baseball piece. From 2004 through 2007, he hit 59 career home runs to tie Jeff Baker for first on Clemson’s list, drove in 217 runs and finished fourth in school history in RBIs. His 2006 season was his peak, with 23 homers and 85 RBIs, a First-Team All-American nod from the NCBWA and a semifinalist finish for the Dick Howser Award. He also was part of Clemson’s 2006 College World Series team and served as co-captain in 2007.
The remaining question is not who made the class. It is when Clemson will bring the 2026 inductees together and where the school will formally stage the ceremony. The announcement settles the names and the record behind them, but the next piece readers still need is the setting that turns an honors list into a public moment.
For now, Clemson has done the most important part: it has drawn a line from past performance to future recognition, and it has done so with a class built around one basketball star, one longtime team physician and one power hitter whose numbers still sit near the top of the record book.
