Powell High School graduate West Hernandez was inducted into the University of Montana Western’s athletic Hall of Fame during a ceremony on Saturday.

Hernandez, a 1998 PHS grad, said he was honored to be included in the Homecoming weekend ceremony, which brought him back to the Dillon, Montana, campus for the first time in a long time.

“It was a really cool event. Something I’ll remember for a long time,” Hernandez said Wednesday morning. “I’m really thankful for UM Western for putting it on and making me and my family part of it.”

The 2015 HOF class was announced during last year’s induction ceremony, and the good news was broken to Hernandez by his former basketball and golf coach, Mark Durham.

“(I) didn’t really think about it, didn’t really expect it,” Hernandez said. “I guess I would say I had a pretty good career up there, but it’s not something you expect.”

The modest Hernandez was a member of the All-Frontier First Team for men’s golf multiple years, Academic All-Conference Men’s Basketball, and received the Vanderzanden Award for men’s basketball, all while making the Dean’s List throughout his sports career at Montana Western.

Hernandez was inducted as a golfer, though he was initially recruited by Durham to play basketball. Hernandez didn’t become a two-sport athlete until Durham realized he could use golf to lure Hernandez into his basketball program.

“When coach Durham did a home visit at our house here as I was finishing at Northwest College (where he played basketball, but doesn’t have a golf program) ... he was talking basketball the whole time, and I said I’d really like to play golf,” Hernandez said.

Durham humored Hernandez and said of course he could join UMW’s brand new golf program. Durham didn’t need to know Hernarndez’s handicap or the details of his high school career, he just wanted to keep a potential basketball player happy.

Then they hit the course.

On Hernandez’s first day in Dillon, Durham invited him to play a round. Hernandez promptly shot a 4-under. Durham was floored.

“Man, you can really play!” Hernandez remembers Durham telling him.

He could play, and he could study.

Hernandez said earning his bachelor’s in business and communications wasn’t too much of a challenge despite his full fall slate.

“The hardest thing was when seasons overlapped,” Hernandez said. “I had about a month that was tough but it was good to have two years of schooling under my belt, so I knew what the academic side was like. It wasn’t too bad.”

Hernandez and the rest of the class was introduced during halftime of Western’s 10-9 loss to Carroll College Saturday afternoon.

Hernandez is the admissions manager at Northwest College, where he’s also assisted with the men’s basketball team.

West and his wife, Katie, have three children, Landon, Emery and Paxton.