SPOKANE, Wash. – Two outstanding student-athletes, an all-time coach and a legendary team comprise the class of 2026 to the Whitworth Heritage Gallery Hall of Fame.
Madi Perez, Ali Seyedali, Helen Higgs and the 1908 football team will be inducted as the 36th class of the Heritage Gallery. The ceremony takes place on October 17th in the Hixon Union Building at 9:00 am. The ceremony includes a breakfast and reservations can be made by emailing Myranda Semlacher (msemlacher@whitworth.edu). The cost is $20 per person.
Madi Perez graduated in 2017 after helping lead the Whitworth softball team to three consecutive Northwest Conference titles and two straight NCAA Division III tournament appearances. One of the best pitchers in conference history, she posted a career record of 64-29 with a 2.19 ERA. She set Pirate career records for wins and shutouts (22). As a senior, Perez went 26-6 with a 1.90 ERA. She set school records for wins, shutouts (10), complete games (21) and innings-pitched (198.0). She was selected as the NWC Pitcher of the Year, first team All-Region and was a first team Academic All-American. Whitworth finished 37-11 and reached the championship game of the 2017 NCAA Division III regional in Marshall, Texas. She had also earned All-Northwest Conference in her first year and was a second team honoree as a sophomore.
Ali Seyedali finished his Whitworth soccer career as a two-time All-American and one of the best all-around players on one of the most successful teams in school history. Over the course of his four seasons, Seyedali scored 13 goals and recorded 31 assists, at the time the second-highest assist total at Whitworth. He was a three-time All-Northwest Conference selection from his sophomore through senior seasons. In 2005 he was a second team All-American and in 2006 he was a third team All-American. The 2005 squad went 19-2-1 and advanced to the NCAA Division III Final Four. During that season he led the NWC in assists (13) and game-winning goals (5). Over Seyedali's four seasons, the Pirates went 57-15-6.
Helen Higgs coached women's basketball at Whitworth for 24 seasons, from 1994-95 through 2017-18. She retired as the winningest and longest-serving women's basketball in school history. She posted a record of 361-253, at the time the most wins of any coach ever in the Northwest Conference. Higgs led the Pirate women to the NAIA Division II national tournament in 1995, her first season as head coach. She guided the Bucs to three appearances in the NCAA Division III tournament: 1999, 2013 and 2014. Whitworth won two regular season NWC titles under Higgs (1995 and 2003) and three NWC tournaments (1995, 2013 and 2014). She is a three-time NWC Coach of the Year (1995, 2002, 2003). Higgs put together the two best stretches of records in school history. Whitworth went 124-53 (.700) in the seven seasons from 1999-2005 and the Pirates were 78-31 (.715) over four years from 2013-2016. For much of her time, Higgs also served the Whitworth Athletics Department as Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance.
The 1908 football team finished 6-1 and put Whitworth on the athletics map in the Pacific Northwest. The Pirates defeated the University of Oregon in Eugene 16-10, the school's only victory over a major university. Whitworth also defeated local Tacoma-area rival Puget Sound twice, including a 45-0 runaway. The Pirates conquered Willamette 18-0 and Whitman 17-11, when both were considered the primary powers in Pacific Northwest small-college football. The only loss came at the University of Washington as the Huskies were in the midst of a 64-game winning streak under Hall of Fame coach Gil Dobie that stretched from 1907-1917.
The class of 2026 will join a group of 120 individuals and eight teams already enshrined in the Heritage Gallery. The current class, along with all previously-inducted Heritage Gallery members in attendance, will be recognized at halftime of the Whitworth-Linfield football game that afternoon.
The Whitworth Heritage Gallery Hall of Fame was created in 1989 by the (then-named) Whitworth Crimson Club and inducted its first class in the fall of 1990.
