Oct. 4, 2007
Six individuals, including football standouts Melvin Bonner and Randy Grimes, women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey, volleyball's Cory Sivertson, men's basketball star David Wesley and men's tennis player Ed White, comprise the Baylor University Athletic Hall of Fame's Class of 2007 and will participate in on-campus enshrinement activities Oct. 19-20. In addition, former Baylor baseball players Don Riddle and Dutch Schroeder will join the Hall of Fame's Wall of Honor.
Tickets to the 2007 Hall of Fame banquet, which will be held on Friday, Oct. 19, in the Waco Convention Center's McLennan Hall starting at 7 p.m., are $40 each ($30 for Baylor letterwinners). Tickets may be purchased by contacting the "B" Association's Tammy Hardin by phone at 254.710.3045 or e-mail at tammy_hardin@baylor.edu. Table sponsorships (seating for 8) are available for $350 each and corporate sponsorships are available for $400. In addition to the banquet, the eight honorees will be recognized prior to the Oct. 20 Baylor-Texas football game.
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, 162 former Baylor student-athletes have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame. The Wall of Honor, established in 2000, boasts 11 total honorees.
A native of Van Vleck, Texas, Bonner ended his four-year career (1989-92) as one of Baylor's finest receivers ever. His 19 career touchdown receptions tie College Football Hall of Famer Lawrence Elkins for the top spot on the Bears' all-time list and his 21.57-yard per catch average also ranks as the best in school history for players who caught a minimum of 50 career passes. He stands No. 3 in career 100-yard receiving games (9), No. 4 in career receiving yards (1,984) and No. 8 in receptions (92). At the end of his career, he was third in both receiving yards and receptions.
Bonner, a two-time consensus All-SWC performer (1991 and 1992), was selected as the Sun Bowl's 1992 Most Valuable Player. He caught five passes for 166 yards and a pair of touchdown passes in the Bears' 20-15 victory over Arizona, which marked the final game for Hall of Fame coach Grant Teaff along the Baylor sideline. Bonner was selected in the sixth round of the 1993 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos and spent two seasons (1993 and 1994) with the organization.
Grimes, was a three-year letterwinner for the Bears from 1980 through 1982, who started at center for Teaff's 1981 and 1982 squads. The Tyler, Texas, native earned All-SWC honors as a senior in 1982. Following his senior season, in which he captained the Bears, he played in two all-star games--the Japan Bowl and the Blue-Gray game.
Drafted in the second round of the 1983 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Grimes went on to play 10 seasons with the Buccaneers. He currently resides in Houston with his wife Lydia.
In just seven years at Baylor, the former All-American and Olympic Gold medalist Mulkey has guided the Lady Bear basketball program to the pinnacle of women's basketball, the 2005 NCAA national championship, six NCAA Tournament appearances and seven 20-win seasons. She has garnered amazing results since taking over the reins of the Lady Bear program on April 4, 2000, averaging 26.1 wins a season. In her seven years at the program's helm, Mulkey has posted an impressive 183-53 (.775) record which ranks her No. 7 nationally in winning percentage. In addition, under her guidance, the Lady Bears rank as the nation's 11th-winningest program over the last five seasons.
Mulkey, a 2000 inductee into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, came to Baylor from Louisiana Tech where she spent 19 years as either a player or coach in the legendary Lady Techster program. During her tenure in Ruston, Mulkey was associated with 11 Final Four squads and three national championship teams. She has either played or coached in the national championship game on eight occasions. In her 15-year stint as an assistant and associate head coach at her alma mater, Louisiana Tech posted a 430-68 record and advanced to seven Final Fours.
Mulkey has two children, Makenzie and Kramer, who like their mom are active and love sports. Mulkey is very involved in the Waco community and is a frequently requested motivational speaker, both locally and nationally. Her new autobiography, "Won't Back Down," with Peter May, senior sportswriter at the Boston Globe, will be in bookstores on November 1, 2007.
Sivertson, the first Baylor volleyball player to be inducted into the Baylor Hall of Fame, enjoyed an outstanding volleyball career as a setter at Baylor from 1991 through 1994. She earned 1991 SWC Freshman of the Year honors and went on to earn three All-SWC awards (a first-team selection in 1992 followed by second-team recognition in 1993 and 1994). The three-time AVCA All-South Region pick earned first-team Academic All-SWC honors as a senior when she served as a team co-captain.
A member of Baylor's 25th Anniversary Volleyball Team in 2002, Sivertson still ranks among the program's all-time leaders in several categories--matches played (No. 3, 145), games played (No. 1, 527), attack percentage (No. 1, .338), assists (No. 2, 4,846), service aces (No. 1, 195), digs (No. 1, 1,575) and blocks (No. 4, 523). She led the SWC in hitting percentage during junior and senior seasons while registering the only two quadruple-doubles in school history.
One of six players in school history to have 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs, Sivertson also produced 19 triple-doubles in her standout four-year career. Now the head volleyball coach at Lake Highlands High School in Dallas, Sivertson and her husband, Jason Williams, have two children.
Selected to Baylor's 17-man All-Centennial Basketball Team in 2006, Wesley turned his three-year career as a Bear (1990-92) into a 14-year National Basketball Association career, the longest NBA career ever for a Baylor Bear. The Longview, Texas, native ranks among Baylor's all-time leaders in 30-point games (No. 2, 8), assists (No. 3, 316), steals per game (No. 3, 2.01 spg), assists per game (No. 4, 4.39 apg), steals (No. 4, 145) free throws made (No. 5, 365), attempted (No. 8, 441) and percentage (.No. 2, 828), scoring average (No. 7, 17.0 ppg), 20-point games (No. 8, 26), 3-point field goals made (No. 8, 123) and attempted (No. 8, 326), as well as 3-point percentage (No. 7, .377) and points scored (No. 9, 1,224).
Wesley, who still holds Baylor's single-game record for free throws made (20) and attempted (25), registered the first triple-double in school history with an 11-point, 13-rebound, 13-assist performance in the Bears' 80-66 victory over North Texas, Dec. 30, 1991. A two-time All-SWC performer, Wesley was named the 1992 SWC Player of the Year as a senior in 1992.
He went on to play 14 seasons in the NBA with Boston, Charlotte, New Orleans, Houston and Cleveland. Wesley became just the second undrafted player in league history, joining Hall of Famer Moses Malone, to score 11,000 career points (Wesley finished his career with 11,842 points). He resides in Pearland, Texas, with his wife, Shannon, and their four children.
The first tennis player to be inducted into the Baylor Athletic Hall of Fame, White entered Baylor in 1953 and went undefeated as a freshman. Included in his many successes throughout his collegiate career was a victory over the No. 1 player in the United States, Texas' Gardner Mulloy. The match was played at the one of the nation's most prestigious tournaments, the River Oaks Invitational in Houston, Texas.
White played at No. 1 position for the Bears as a sophomore, going 3-2 in singles against Texas A&M, Rice, Southern Methodist and TCU. During his junior season in 1956, he went 14-1 and 5-0 in Southwest Conference play, advancing to the semi-finals of the SWC Tournament. That same year, White demonstrated his dominance on the court by defeating three of the conference's top players; UT team captain and No. 2 player Dave Snyder in three straight sets, University of Houston's No. 1 player and Texas Tech's No. 1 player David Kent. Now a retired dentist, White lives in the Austin area.
An Abilene, Texas, native, Riddle enrolled at Baylor in 1955 and went on to earn three letters in baseball for the Bears from 1957 through 1959. He was Baylor's starting second baseman as a junior in 1958, then captained the Bears as a third baseman in 1959. After receiving his undergraduate degree in journalism from Baylor in 1960 and working at the newspaper in Big Spring, Riddle joined the United States Marine Corps in 1960 for a tour of duty which included boot camp and infantry training as well as 5.5 years as in the reserves. He was selected as the Platoon Honor Award winner out of 77 recruits in his boot camp platoon.
After a stint as the Physical Director at the Midland (Texas) YMCA, Riddle enrolled in the University of Houston Law School, graduating with honors and ranking ninth in his 100-member class. Following graduation, he went to work for the prestigious law firm of Brown, Kronzer, Abraham, Watkins and Steely.
Riddle left the firm in 1975 to start his own practice and has gone on to become one of the top trial lawyers in the U.S. In 1988, Forbes Magazine published a listing of the nation's top 50 trial lawyers and Riddle was ranked in the top 20. He and his wife Jenny have two children.
Arguably one of the most-recognized figures in the athletic department, Schroeder's association with Baylor athletics spans nearly six decades. He enrolled at Baylor in 1948 and went on to letter for the baseball Bears in 1948 and 1949. In 1948, he played third base and left field for a Baylor team that went to the Final Eight in the NCAA Tournament finishing second in the west bracket to eventual national champion Southern Cal. He helped the Bears to a second-place SWC finish in 1949 behind eventual national champion Texas.
Schroeder received his Baylor degree in 1949 and worked in the Temple and Austin school districts before returning to Baylor as assistant baseball coach in 1957. At Austin's William B. Travis High School, his baseball team won the Texas state title. He became Baylor's Head Baseball Coach in the fall of 1961 and coached the varsity through 1973. During that time, Baylor was ranked No. 18 nationally in the percentage of victories won in the 1960-1965 time period by Collegiate Baseball Magazine (in the south, only UT was ranked higher at #12); and, Baylor tied for the 1966 SWC championship. In the fall of 1973, he turned the baseball program over to Mickey Sullivan and became a full-time teacher in Baylor's PE Department where he retired in 1999.
In 1969, the Baylor "B" Association developed a plan to create a special room for former letter winners. Schroeder became the lead fund raiser with a goal of $300,000. After raising $60,000, Dr. Herbert Reynolds was so impressed with the effort that he offered the "B" Association its current space to reduce the expected costs for the facility. The total original cost was $130,000; and, Schroeder again hit the road and raised the remaining $70,000. Construction began in 1971 and was completed in the spring of 1972.
Schroeder's first role was as the "B" Room host on game days and he has since held a number of "B" Association titles including Secretary, President, Executive VP, and today, Executive VP Baylor "B" Association Emeritus. All-told, he has provided the "B" Association with 38 years of dedicated volunteer service. A World War II veteran, Dutch and his wife Betty Lou have been married 59 years.
The Hall of Fame selection committee is comprised of members of the Baylor "B" Association, Baylor Alumni Association and Baylor Chamber as well as Athletics Director Ian McCaw. Per Hall of Fame bylaws, only selection committee members are eligible to nominate individuals for the Hall of Fame and all nominees stay in the selection pool for three years.
For further information on the Hall of Fame, contact the "B" Association at 254.710.8150.
