The Butler Athletics Hall of Fame will welcome seven individuals and one team with its Class of 2023.

The Class of 2023 includes Lade Akande (women's basketball), Paul Romanowski (football), Ben Sippola (men's soccer), Gerald Strole (baseball, football and men's basketball), and the 1959-60 women's basketball team. Dr. Tom Fischer, Lou Jenkins and Jim Lill will be inducted as Special Service Award honorees for their long-standing work with Butler Athletics; Fischer and Lill were also football student-athletes at Butler.

This year's Hall of Fame class will be celebrated Saturday, Sept. 16 leading up to that evening's football game against Wabash. Information on purchasing tickets to the event will be available soon.

"We are proud to recognize this group of dedicated Bulldogs, who are strong representatives of the Butler Way," said Barry Collier, Butler Vice President/Director of Athletics. "Butler has produced decades of tremendous student-athletes and we look forward to celebrating these elite Bulldogs and their impact on our university in September as they join our Hall of Fame."

At the time of her graduation in 2009, Akande was in the Top 10 among Butler women's basketball student-athletes in 12 categories. Her 1,705 career points are second in Butler history. She is just the second player in school history to record more than 1,500 points, 700 rebounds and 100 blocks in her career. Akande was named to the All-Horizon League first team in 2007-08, while twice earning second-team accolades. She received the 2006 Pop Hedden Award as Butler's most outstanding freshman student-athlete.
 
Romanowski is a 1992 Butler graduate. The quarterback led the Bulldogs to a 9-2 record, a conference championship and an appearance in the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1991. He was the conference Player of the Year that season. His 2,214 passing yards during the 1991 season and his single-game high of 384 against Hillsdale that season remain among the top performances in Butler program history.
 
Sippola, a 2011 graduate, led the Bulldogs to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances during his time as a member of the men's soccer program. He finished his senior season by being named an NSCAA first-team All-American, a first-team Academic All-America selection, and as a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Award. Leading the Bulldogs to an undefeated regular season record, he was named both Horizon League Player of the Year and Horizon League Offensive Player of the Year. He was also selected as the MVP of the 2010 Horizon League Tournament. Voted as both a first-team All-Region and All-Horizon League honoree during the 2010 season, his nine assists during the campaign remain among Butler's Top 10 for a single season.
 
Strole was a three-sport star at Butler, graduating in 1926. During his time on campus, he was part of successful baseball, football and men's basketball programs. He combined to earn nine varsity letters in the three sports.
 
The 1959-60 women's basketball team posted an undefeated season that included wins over Purdue, Indiana State and Ball State. Coached by Barbara Drinkwater, the Bulldogs averaged 57.2 points per game while allowing on 36.0 to their opponents.
 
Dr. Fischer has served as a Butler Team Physician since 1987. His focus with Butler student-athletes is hand and upper extremity conditions. Dr. Fischer is the former department chairman of hand surgery at Ascension St. Vincent Hospital and Health Services. He has served Butler University as a member of the board of trustees since 2004. A 1975 graduate of Butler, Dr. Fischer was a football letterwinner during his undergraduate time on campus.
 
Lill is a 1970 Butler graduate who was an integral member of Coach Tony Hinkle's last few football teams. An executive in the insurance industry, he formed Mid American Group, Inc., in 1988 (which was later re-branded to Axion RMS, Ltd., in 2015). He was elected to the Butler Board of Trustees in 2008 and served until 2016 (being named emeritus in 2018). He is a member of Butler's Carillon Society and Cornerstone Society, and served as chairman (and chairman emeritus) for the Davey Program, which funds Butler's Risk Management and Insurance program.  
 
Jenkins has supported Butler Athletics in many ways over the years, including serving as the chairman of the annual Basketball Tip-Off Dinner Committee. He is the originator of the event, helping to create and grow the fundraiser that unofficially begins the men's and women's basketball seasons each year.

The Butler Hall of Fame was created in 1991 to provide a forum in which those who have brought honor and respect to Butler University and its athletic program could be acknowledged and permanently enshrined in Hinkle Fieldhouse. Inductees have made exceptional contributions to the prestige of the University in the field of athletics, and continued to demonstrate in their lives the values imparted by athletics.