By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA - Fans helped USF head coach Ken Eriksen become a forever remembered part of U.S. Olympic history.
The 2004 U.S. Olympic Softball Team became official members of the 2012 U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame class on Thursday at an induction celebration at the Harris Theater in Chicago. The class was partially determined by fan voting and more than 100,000 participated on TeamUSA.org during the selection process.
Eriksen, USF's head softball coach, was an assistant coach on the 2004 U.S. team that went 9-0 with eight straight shutouts at the Olympic Games. The squad outscored opponents, 51-1, in Athens and didn't surrender a run until the sixth inning of the gold medal game against Australia.
Eriksen recently helped USF make program history by leading the Bulls to their first-ever Women's College World Series. He wasn't in attendance at the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame induction ceremony because the second-year U.S. Women's National Team head coach is with the squad that's participating in the ISF Women's World FP Championship that takes place in Canada from Friday to July 22.
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