One talk made Erick Fedde a full-time pitcher. Tonight it makes him a UNLV Hall of Famer.

Erick Fedde erstwhile wanted to play assemblage soccer.

Long earlier helium became an accomplished large league pitcher, Fedde was a two-sport jock astatine Las Vegas High School, and shot was much than an offseason hobby. He loved the crippled and hoped to support playing it successful college.

One speech changed that and acceptable him connected the way that leads to tonight, erstwhile he’ll beryllium 1 of 4 inductees into the UNLV Athletics Hall of Fame successful a ceremonial connected campus.

His travel began successful precocious schoolhouse with a summertime shot tourney connected the UNLV campus. Fedde impressed, and offers from hometown UNLV and rival UNR followed. He chose the Rebels due to the fact that he’s a local, and due to the fact that manager Tim Chambers had a mode of explaining things.

Fedde, who hoped to play some shot and shot astatine UNLV, recalled a gathering with Chambers earlier helium joined the program.

“He told maine this mightiness beryllium a bully clip to absorption solely connected baseball,” Fedde recalled.

So helium did.

And helium became great.

As a freshman successful 2012, Fedde led the Rebels successful wins (six), starts (15), innings (90.1) and strikeouts (66), earning Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America and second-team All-Mountain West honors.

As a sophomore, helium went 7-3 and struck retired 83 batters, the astir connected the squad and fourth-most successful the Mountain West. 

That summer, helium went 3-1 with a 2.34 ERA successful 5 starts for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod League and was named Midseason Outstanding Pitcher. 

He near the Cape to articulation the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, becoming the 4th Rebel to play for USA Baseball portion inactive successful school. Two of the others — Matt Williams and Ryan Ludwick — are besides portion of the UNLV hall.

Fedde’s inferior play was his best. 

He went 8-2 with a team-best 1.76 ERA, struck retired 82 batters successful 76.2 innings and held opponents to a .209 average. He allowed conscionable 22 runs, the fewest successful schoolhouse past by a pitcher with astatine slightest 60 innings. 

He was named Mountain West Pitcher of the Year and earned second-team All-America honors from Louisville Slugger. He did each of it contempt an wounded that chopped his play abbreviated with 3 weeks remaining.

Fedde near UNLV with a 21-10 record, a 3.18 ERA (fourth-lowest successful schoolhouse history) and 231 strikeouts successful 263.1 innings. The Washington Nationals selected him 18th wide successful the 2014 draft, making him conscionable the 3rd Rebel ever taken successful the archetypal round.

Fedde arrived astatine UNLV weighing conscionable 155 pounds, but helium blossomed successful the team’s spot and conditioning program, Chambers said successful a 2014 interview. With the added spot came much velocity connected his fastball.

“His enactment ethic is disconnected the charts. We don’t person to archer him what to do,” Chambers, who died successful 2019, said astatine the time.

Fedde was the Rebels’ Friday nighttime starter, the team’s ace, for his full UNLV career. In the 2014 play opener against Central Michigan, with scouts crowding the stands, helium pitched into the eighth inning successful a one-hit, 11-strikeout performance.

That outing solidified his draught stock, adjacent aft helium underwent Tommy John country precocious successful the season.

“Growing up, I wasn’t adjacent definite I would beryllium a Division I player. I was a smaller jock who trained hard and had amusive playing,” helium said.

Fedde has appeared successful much than 180 games with the Nationals, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers. Along the way, helium spent a play successful South Korea and, successful 2023, helium won the KBO’s pitching triple crown, earning the league’s equivalent of some the Cy Young Award and the MVP trophy.

When the assemblage reached retired with quality of his induction, Fedde said the grant was “something I ne'er thought about.” A fewer minutes later, it sank in. 

Then came the excitement, and helium called his parents.

The hallway is simply a who’s who of UNLV greats, and nary section needs a refresher. Sharing that abstraction with basketball’s Jerry Tarkanian and Larry Johnson oregon football’s Randall Cunningham is special.

“The champion portion is sharing this with the radical who helped you get there,” Fedde said.

That includes Las Vegas High manager Sam Thomas, who Fedde says “really got america into playing the crippled the close mode and trusted the process.”

“He kept america successful check,” Fedde added. “He ne'er made it casual connected you, ne'er fto you instrumentality a time off. When I got to assemblage ball, I was already acquainted with immoderate of the drills.”

Tonight's different inductees are golfer Charley Hoffman, a subordinate of the 1998 nationalist title squad and an honorable notation All-American; football’s Jason Thomas, who quarterbacked UNLV’s 2000 Las Vegas Bowl team; head Terry Cottle, who spent 3 decades mostly with Rebel football; and Bill Paulos, a gaming enforcement who has been 1 of the department’s astir influential donors for 5 decades and astir precocious spearheaded UNLV Athletics’ NIL efforts.

Editor’s note: Ray Brewer is portion of the hallway of fame’s enactment committee.