The seeds for the athletic careers of Bobby Bernstein '85 and Hannah Johnson Bornstein '02 were planted at an early age.Bernstein, a distinguished tennis player, started hitting with his father, a professor at Brandeis, at the age of six. Bornstein, considered one of Brandeis' top divers, started at an even younger age. Her mother, a Ph.D. student at the University, swam while pregnant with Bornstein in the Brandeis pool.

"When I'm on the Brandeis campus, it really feels like coming home," Bernstein said.

Bernstein and Bornstein's athletic careers culminated with their induction into the Joseph M. Linsey Athletic Hall of Fame in a ceremony that took place at the Westin Hotel last Sunday.

Terrance Gargiulo '90, a fencer, Hubie LeBlanc '58, a men's basketball player and assistant coach for the men's basketball and baseball teams, Michael Lichtenstein '79, a soccer player, Fred Marden '65, a baseball pitcher, Myron Uhlberg '55, a football defensive back, and the 1983 NCAA champion men's cross country team were also inducted as part of Brandeis' 12th Hall of Fame class.

Players reminisced about their glory days on the field and expressed a sense of gratitude to the University.

"I threw my last pitch for Brandeis 43 years ago. I never expected that what I did on the playing field would bring me back here today," Marden said. "I'm truly humbled. I have a lot to be thankful for-not the least of which is what this institution gave to me. It took a youth from the suburbs . and helped mold [me] into an intelligent young man."

Marden lived out a "boyhood dream" when he was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the fourth round of Major League Baseball's amateur draft. At Brandeis, he remains the Judges' leader in single-game, single-season and career strikeouts.

Lichtenstein, a native of Israel and four-year starter on the men's soccer team, joked about his changed appearance. Lichtenstein, who scored three goals against Worcester Polytechnic Institute to send Brandeis to the final four of the 1976 NCAA tournament, sported a full beard and a bushy hairstyle during his playing days.

"Coach [Mike] Coven proudly told my daughters [at a reception last Saturday night] that I could pose for the GEICO caveman in commercials," a clean-shaven and kempt Lichtenstein said.

Uhlberg, a four-year defensive starter from 1951 to 1954, touched upon the camaraderie he still shares with his teammates, many of whom were in attendance. He helped organize an effort to have football coach Benny Friedman, a star National Football League quarterback in the 1920s and 1930s, enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and his "band of brothers" returned the favor by actively campaigning for Uhlberg's inclusion in the Brandeis Athletic Hall of Fame by writing countless praising letters to the selection committee.

"You're all looking at me kind of blindly. It always happens. Football at Brandeis?" Uhlberg said. "This is what it's all about for my 'band of brothers.' There was something formative about playing football under Benny Friedman that molded us and made us what we are for the rest of our lives."

Bernstein amassed a then-record 55 singles victories in his tennis career. He was the New England champion at singles in both his junior and senior campaigns, as well as the doubles champion in his senior year.

Borstein, the youngest inductee in the history of the Brandeis Athletic Hall of Fame, is a three-time All-America and still holds most of the school's diving records.

Gargiulo helped to make a name for Brandeis fencing at the national level, according to Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer, the master of the ceremonies. Gargiulo earned a bid to four consecutive NCAA fencing championships, earning All-America status with his fifth-place finish at foil in his junior season.

LeBlanc was the captain of the 1957 to 1958 men's basketball team, the first in the program's history to go to the NCAA tournament. He also was an assistant coach for both the men's basketball and baseball teams, and many former student athletes who were recruited and coached by LeBlanc were in attendance.

"[LeBlanc's] contributions to the athletic program first as a student-athlete and then as a coach is not equal and may never again be equaled by any one individual," said basketball teammate Rudy Finderson '58, who presented LeBlanc.

The 1983 men's cross country team became just the fourth team to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. They are one of two Brandeis teams to win a Division III championship, along with the 1976 men's soccer team. The squad included 25 members, including hall-of-famers Ed McCarthy '85 and Mark Beeman '85.

"The 1983 team was truly a team and not a group of individuals. Sure, we had our stars, but I'm sure and confident that they'd be the first to admit that their achievements were motivated by the dedication of everyone on the team," Aaron Finkel '85 said.

Brandeis last inducted members into its Hall of Fame in 2006.