SALEM, W.Va. — Former Salem University Director of Athletics/water polo coach Dr. Keith Bullion is among four individuals slated for induction to the Salem University Athletics Hall of Fame. He joins former cheerleading standout Staci E. (Garrett) Nutter, three-sport athlete Ronald Whitt and men’s basketball standout Daryl Pearson. Bullion, Nutter and Whitt were slated to go into the Hall of Fame in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed their induction, while Pearson was selected as a 2019 inductee.
The induction ceremony will take place on Friday, October 8 at 2:00 p.m. in the University’s dining room located on the second floor of the Randolph Campus Center. A reception will take place immediately following the induction ceremony in the Alumni Honors Hall.
For fans unable to make the ceremony, Salem is providing live-streaming coverage available by CLICKING HERE.
Dr. Keith Bullion served in numerous capacities at Salem (then Salem International), ranging from professor to coach to athletics director.
Bullion is the Tigers’ men’s water polo all-time wins leader among coaches with 61 wins and is the founding father of the institution’s women’s water polo team.
One season after leading the Tigers to a program record 25 victories in 2003, Dr. Bullion was named Southern Division Coach of the Year and Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division II Coach of the Year in 2004.
Salem won the 2004 CWPA Division II Championship and posted a 12-6 win over Division I Bucknell University in the third-place game of the Southern Division Championship to give the Tigers their first-ever berth to the Eastern Championship.
Bullion also coached the Tiger men’s swimming team to two West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) titles and was the 2004 WVIAC Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year.
He moved on to serve as Salem’s Director of Athletics and then Vice President of Campus Operations.
Bullion, who coached the men’s water polo team for six years, was also a science professor and an annual scholarship is named in his honor.
The Dr. Keith Bullion Memorial Scholarship is awarded to a junior biology major with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.50.
Bullion coached two men’s water polo student-athletes who have been inducted into the Salem University Athletics Hall of Fame.
Alex MacKinnon is a member of the Hall of Fame Class of 2017 and Goran Bakovic is a part of the Hall of Fame Class of 2019.
Information courtesy Salem University Athletics Communications
