LAS VEGAS — Perhaps none of the 10 inductees into the 2020 class of the West Coast Conference Hall of Honor enjoyed himself quite the way former University of San Francisco baseball star Tagg Bozied did during Saturday morning’s celebration at the Orleans Hotel.

After finishing his on-stage interview and receiving his plaque, Bozied, wearing a beautiful black cowboy hat, turned his back and took a selfie photo with the crowd of 250 as a backdrop behind him. 

It was an occasion worth framing for posterity.

The moment was a bit different for Ruth Montgomery, a former goalkeeper for the Saint Mary’s soccer team who now teaches kindergarten. “I’m kind of nervous,” she told the audience. “I’m used to speaking before 5- and 6-year olds.”

The ceremony honoring the 12th annual Hall of Honor class was a splendid affair for all involved. The rest of the class representing five sports from the 10 WCC schools: Wally Joyner (baseball) BYU; Heather Bowman (basketball) Gonzaga; Terrell Lowery (basketball) Loyola Marymount; Dell Demps (basketball) Pacific; Nina Matthies (volleyball) Pepperdine; David Kinsella (cross country/track and field) Portland; Hank Egan (basketball) San Diego; Aly Wagner (soccer) Santa Clara.

ESPN analyst Sean Farnham, a former basketball player at UCLA, served as emcee. Even he was a bit star-struck at being able to introduce Joyner, his boyhood baseball favorite. 

Farnham recalled trading a Pete Rose baseball card to a friend in exchange for a Wally Joyner rookie card. “Advantage me,” Farnham proclaimed. 

The honorees shared stories that often focused on those who helped them along the way: 

— Demps talked about his father, who always worked two jobs and became his hero. Inspired by that example, Demps worked a dishwashing job to help him afford to play summer-league ball. “I feel very lucky,” he said.

— Bozied, who won the WCC triple-crown for the USF baseball team in 1999, became emotional while talking about when he was 12 years old growing up in South Dakota. His uncle had video-taped for him a kid in Texas who could do 25 push-ups and how that inspired him to work harder.

— Egan told the story about how coaching legend Bobby Knight, without his knowledge, helped him land the head coaching job at San Diego. “I said how did that happen?  He said, `I have no idea,’ “ recalled Egan, who went on to mentor four players who became NBA coaches, then closed out his career by working as an NBA assistant.

— Montgomery was touched by the love she received at her school, Delta View Elementary in Pittsburg, Calif., where her principal organized a “Soccer Day” in her honor last Wednesday, and kids dressed in soccer jerseys. “It was so cute,” she said. “No one knew . . . I don’t go around telling everybody I played. It was years and years ago.”

— Lowery, a basketball and baseball star in college who went on to play professional baseball, grew in what he called “humble beginnings” in Oakland. “Loyola opened up my mind to what the world could be,” he said.

Lowery and the LMU basketball team were introduced to the world in 1990 when star player Hank Gathers collapsed and died on the court during the WCC tournament. The Lions subsequently made a compelling run into the NCAA’s Elite Eight round in Oakland, and 30 years later LMU honored Gathers with the unveiling of a statue in front of Gersten Pavilion.

“It’s been a long time, 30 years since that moment we all experienced,” Lowery said. “Loyola put on an excellent day and we were all grateful as teammates. The statue was phenomenal. It looked just like Hank.”

Joyner helped BYU become the nation’s top-ranked baseball team in 1983 and later inspired a “Wally World” promotion when he burst onto the major league scene as a rookie with the Angels.

Since retiring from a 16-year MLB career, Joyner has devoted himself to charity work because “it’s created an opportunity for me to say `thank you’ every day.”

Opportunity is what all 10 of the Hall of Honor inductees share, Joyner said. “To have the opportunity to compete, to play a game you love, to be blessed by doing that,” he said. “We’re the lucky ones.”