The Northern Arizona University Athletic Department announced on May 26 the 2026 Lumberjack Athletic Hall of Fame class, which will honor three student-athletes and a championship team for their achievements.
This year’s inductees include George Beamish, a distance runner who won both individual and team national championships; Case Cookus, the all-time leading passer in NAU football history; Amy Patton, the all-time leading scorer in NAU women’s basketball; and the 2013-14 NAU Swimming & Diving team that captured the program’s first Western Athletic Conference (WAC) championship. The induction ceremony is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 11 at NAU’s Student-Athlete High Performance Center in Flagstaff. Tickets are available for $20 each. The honorees will also be recognized during the football game against UIW on Saturday, Sept. 12.
“On behalf of Northern Arizona University, I want to congratulate the members of this year’s NAU Athletics Hall of Fame class,” said Northern Arizona University President José Luis Cruz Rivera. “This group of Hall of Famers had a profound impact on Lumberjack Athletics and helped put NAU on the map nationally. We look forward to welcoming them back home to Flagstaff in September,” the selection was made by an eight-member committee including six current members of the Hall of Fame.
George Beamish competed from 2016 to 2020 as part of ten Big Sky Championship teams across cross country and track & field events. He won an individual indoor mile title at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in 2019 and later set national records representing New Zealand internationally.
Case Cookus played quarterback from 2015 to 2019, earning All-American honors as both a freshman and senior while setting school records for passing yards (12,082), total offense (12,314), touchdown passes (105), among others. Amy Patton led women’s basketball from 2009 to 2013 with a record-setting scoring career and went on to play professionally overseas after graduation.
The honored swimming & diving team made history by winning its first WAC Championship during the 2013-14 season after multiple runner-up finishes in previous years—beginning what would become more than a decade-long streak of conference titles.
Northern Arizona Lumberjacks includes distinguished alumni inducted into conference halls of fame and has excelled particularly in cross country and track & field events with numerous championships among alumni, according to the official website. The university promotes student-athlete development through support services, features facilities such as Walkup Skydome and Lumberjack Stadium, competes as part of the Big Sky Conference, and has earned recognition for academic success through frequent placements on Big Sky Conference All-Academic Teams.
