Fourteen-Time Paralympic Gold Medalist Erin Popovich Inducted Into Colorado Sports Hall Of Fame

Erin Popovich holds her award as she is inducted into the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame on Nov. 1, 2019 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Already a member of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame, swimmer Erin Popovich received another honor Wednesday when she was formally inducted with the 2020-21 class of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. Also honored in the six-person class were U.S. Olympians Alonzo Babers and Lindsey Vonn.
Though born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and raised in Montana, Popovich began her association with the Centennial State when she started attending Colorado State University in Fort Collins in 2003. Already a six-time Paralympic medalist, Popovich credited her time at CSU and work with coaches John Mattos and Chris Woodard as a main reason why she was able to go on and win seven more gold medals at the Paralympic Games Athens 2004.
“My training at CSU translated into a huge improvement for me,” Popovich said in an interview for the Hall of Fame website. “If I had not come to CSU, I would have been top-five, maybe top-three in some of those events (in Athens). But because of my training I was able to win them all.”
Popovich now lives and works in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she is the associate director for U.S. Paralympics Swimming.
Joining Popovich in the class of 2020-21 — a class that was first selected back in October 2019 only to have its induction ceremony cancelled in 2020 — were two-time Olympic track gold medalist Alonzo Babers and Olympic alpine skiing gold medalist Lindsey Vonn. Babers, a native of Alabama, came to Colorado to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1979 while Vonn, from Minnesota, moved to Colorado to pursue her skiing career in the 1990s.
The rest of the honorees were former Colorado Rockies GM Bob Gebhard, former University of Denver hockey coach George Gwozdecky and former NFL running back Terry Miller. The Colorado Sports Hall of Fame was established in 1964 and inducted its first class the following year. The Hall established a museum at the home of the Denver Broncos when it opened in 2001.