Elon Athletics Announces Hall of Fame Class of 2020

ELON, N.C. – Elon University Athletics announced its 50th Sports Hall of Fame Class on Tuesday, July 21, with Veronica Day ’11 (track and field), Aaron Mellette ’13 (football) and Chris Thomas ’12 (men’s soccer) being the latest group chosen for induction.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Class of 2020 honorees will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in a ceremony during the 2020-21 basketball season. Further details will be announced at a later date.

Veronica Day, Women’s Track and Field, 2007-11
Day spent four years as a member of the women’s track and field program where she was a three-time Southern Conference champion and was a nine-time All-SoCon selection in the triple jump and long jump. The Vienna, Va., native still holds the school-record in both the indoor and outdoor long and triple jumps and was named the 2010 SoCon Athlete of the Year for outdoor track and field. She also became the second track and field female to also receive the Elon Female Basnight award while also qualifying for the NCAA East Regional as a senior in 2011.

Day helped Elon to back-to-back third-place outdoor finishes in 2010 and 2011 at the SoCon Championships. She won her first SoCon title in the indoor long jump in 2010 with a leap of 18’ 9.25” and set a school-record in the triple jump at the indoor meet with a mark of 39’ 01”. She was also an outdoor all-conference honoree in the long jump and as a member of the 4×400-meter relay. As a senior, she repeated as the SoCon indoor long jump champion in 2011 and took the league’s outdoor title in the outdoor triple jump. Since graduating from Elon, Day has competed as a member of the United States skeleton team.

Aaron Mellette, Football, 2009-12
Mellette concluded his highly-decorated career ranking in the top-three of the SoCon in career yards (4,254), career receptions (304), career receiving touchdowns (44) while holding the league’s record in the most consecutive games with 100 or more receiving yards at seven. The Sanford, N.C., native also ranks third all-time in the SoCon with the most passes caught in a game with 18 in 2010 and has the third-most receptions all-time in a SoCon single season with 113 in 2011.

Mellette helped the Phoenix earned its first-ever FCS playoff berth in 2009 while leading Elon to a ninth-place ranking at the end of the season. Individually, Mellette was a three-time All-American and finished fifth overall for the Walter Payton Award in 2011 and eighth in 2012. Mellette was also named to the SoCon first team three times in his career. He also received the National Player of the Week accolades from the Sports Network, the College Sports Journal and the College Football Awards. He was named the Elon Male Basnight winner in 2011 and was later selected in the 2013 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens.

Chris Thomas, Men’s Soccer, 2009-12
The first-ever member of the program to be inducted into Elon Sports Hall of Fame, Thomas ended his career as the Phoenix’s all-time leading scorer in career goals (53) and career points (116). He also helped the maroon and gold to back-to-back SoCon tournament titles in 2011 and 2012 while the Phoenix clinched its first-ever trips to the NCAA Tournament.

As a freshman, Thomas was named the SoCon Freshman of the Year in 2009 and was recognized as the league’s Player of the Year in 2010 and 2012. He also earned first-team All-SoCon honors twice and was selected to the conference’s All-Tournament team in 2012. During his senior season in 2012, Thomas led the NCAA in goals scored with 23 while setting the school record with the most points in a single-season at 51. He was later named a third-team All-American by the NSCAA that season and was a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy. Thomas was later selected by the New England Revolution in the 2013 Major League Soccer Supplemental Draft.