Steak Dinner Sells Hughes On Baylor
11/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 1, 2006
Baylor's Athletic Hall of Fame, organized in 1960, recognizes and honors individuals whose participation and contributions enriched and strengthened the university's athletics program. Athletes are required to wait 10 years after completing their eligibility before being eligible to be considered for this honor. Since coach Floyd "Uncle Jim" Crow and baseball's Teddy Lyons comprised the hall's first class in 1960 through this year's class, 156 former Baylor student-athletes have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame. The Wall of Honor, established in 2000, boasts nine total honorees.
Six individuals, including football standouts Mike Hughes, Loyie "Buddy" Humphrey and J.J. Joe, track's Deon Minor, women's basketball star Carol Reeves-Brandenburg and baseball's Steve Smith comprise the Baylor University Athletic Hall of Fame's Class of 2006 and were inducted during on-campus enshrinement activities, Oct. 27-28. In addition, football and track standout Weldon Bigony joined the Hall of Fame's Wall of Honor.
Over the course of the next week, baylorbears.com will profile each member of Baylor's 2006 Hall of Fame class.
By MAXEY PARRISH
Insider Staff Writer
When Mike Hughes began to gain recognition as one of the state's top offensive line recruits in early '70s, people from his home church in Denton told him about Baylor. But given the Bears' lack of recent success, the stellar prospect had never given the Baptist school on the Brazos much thought.
But a very special steak dinner changed all of that.
"When I grew up in the '60s and '70s, I really didn't know much about Baylor," Hughes said. "I didn't even know if I could play football in college. But when I started to be recruited, church people told me about it. Then I heard about this new coach named Grant Teaff and the dream he had."
Hughes, then and now active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, looked at Baylor for the Christian education it offered.
He eventually narrowed his choices to Arkansas, a nationally prominent program that regularly competed for Southwest Conference titles, and Baylor, a downtrodden team that had been one of the country's worst. The contrast in schools was underscored by the coaches recruiting Hughes. Arkansas sent assistant coach Raymond Berry, a Hall of Famer and one of the greatest receivers to ever play the game at any level, while the Bears dispatched Bill Yung, who came from an unknown staff mostly built from small college and high school ranks.
"Coach Yung was always so excited and animated," Hughes recalled. "And back then things were very different in the recruiting process. There weren't nearly as many restrictions as there are today. Coaches could visit players and take them to lunch and dinner. So when he came to recruit me he asked me if I wanted to go out for a steak dinner. I'd never heard much about Baylor, but I couldn't turn that offer down."
Hughes recalled the pivotal moment in 1972 as if it happened last week: "We were eating steak and he was telling me about Baylor. I'm beginning to think Baylor must be a pretty good place. And after I'd finished eating he asked me, `Do you want another steak?' I said sure, so he ordered another steak and kept telling me about Baylor. I kept eating and he kept talking.
"Well, after three steaks, Baylor looked pretty good! Then I went down and visited the campus, and coach Bill Hicks took me to a Johnny Cash concert at the Heart O' Texas Coliseum. By then Baylor looked really good."
Finally Teaff, always the master recruiter, sealed the deal. "He flew up to Denton in a small plane to see me. He was flying all over the state meeting recruits. We visited and he sold me on a dream he had for Baylor. Then I had to call Raymond Berry and tell him I'd chosen Baylor.
"I came here because coach Teaff said he wanted me to come in and help build a foundation. We surprised everybody by winning the Southwest Conference three years later."
Surprise indeed. Before Hughes stepped on campus, the Bears had won three games in three years. Some experts sincerely suggested that Baylor should drop out of the SWC and try to compete at a lower level. But with Hughes helping pave the way from his right tackle spot, all that changed as Teaff's men made one of the biggest turnarounds in college football history.
As BU fans everywhere know, Baylor won the 1974 Southwest Conference championship and played Joe Paterno's Penn State Nittany Lions on the Cotton Bowl. They called it "The Miracle on the Brazos," so stunning a transformation Baylor fashioned.
Hughes and his line mates paved the way for the school's first two 1,000-yard rushers ever in running backs Steve Beaird (1,104 yards in 1974) and Cleveland Franklin (1,112 in 1975). As a senior in 1975, Hughes earned All-America honors and played in both the Coaches All-America and Blue-Gray All-Star games. He was also named to Baylor's All-Decade Team of the `70s, the Baylor Quarter Century Team for 1975-2000 and the All-Half Century team for 1950-2000.
Hughes was drafted by the NFL's Washington Redskins in the fifth round of the 1976 NFL draft. He concluded his career with the New York Jets. For the past 25 years he has lived in the Houston area where works in real estate business and continues to be active in the FCA.
"I'm grateful to the coaching staff who developed me. The FCA also meant a lot to me. Baylor, the game of football and the FCA gave me a platform to share with kids all over the state.
"I love Baylor. I got a great education and played a game I love here. I met friends I love here. I'm blessed."
