Sept. 18, 2014 
WACO, Texas -- Six former Baylor standout student-athletes - Yulanda Nelson (track & field, 1996-99), Adrian Robinson (football, 1992-95), Richard Stevens (football, 1967-69), Jon Topolski (baseball, 1996-99), Ted Uhlaender (baseball, 1959-61) and Jeremy Wariner (track & field, 2003-04), comprise Baylor University's 55th Athletic Hall of Fame class and will participate in 2014 on-campus enshrinement activities during Homecoming weekend, Oct. 31-Nov. 1. In addition, former Baylor lettermen Mike Bourland (football) has been selected to join the Hall of Fame's Wall of Honor.
Tickets to the 2014 Baylor Athletic Hall of Fame banquet, which will be held on Friday, Oct. 31, at 7 p.m. in the Ferrell Center, are $50 each. Tickets may be purchased by contacting the "B" Association's Tammy Hardin at 254.710.3045 or e-mail at tammy_hardin@baylor.edu. Table sponsorships (seating for 10) are also available for $750 each and corporate sponsorships are available for $1,000.
In addition to being honored at the Hall of Fame banquet, the Hall's 2014 class will be introduced during the Baylor-Kansas football game on Saturday, Nov. 1 (kickoff TBA) and ride in the school's annual Homecoming parade prior to the game. Baylor's Athletic Hall of Fame, organized in 1960, recognizes and honors individuals whose participation and contributions have enriched and strengthened the university's athletics program. Student-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, 204 former Baylor student-athletes have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame. The Wall of Honor, established in 2000, boasts 20 total honorees.
A nine-time All-American, Nelson ran on Baylor's 1998 NCAA Indoor national championship 4x400-meter relay team and won three Big 12 Conference titles, two as a member of the Bears' 1998 Big 12 indoor and outdoor championship 4x400-meter relay squads, and the 1999 Big 12 Conference indoor 400 meters crown. Her nine All-America certificates, three individual and six relay awards, were a school-record and still rank tied for second among all Baylor women's track & field performers.
Nelson still owns the Baylor school-record in the 400 meters, both indoors (52.39 at 1999 NCAA Indoor Championships) and outdoors (51.42 at the 1999 Drake Relays), and was a member of a pair of Baylor relay teams whose marks still stand as school records (4x200- and 4x400-meter relay teams). She earned her first individual All-America award with a second-place finish in the 400 meters at the 1998 NCAA Outdoor Championships, then came back as a senior in 1999 to finish second in the event at the NCAA Indoor Championships and fifth at the NCAA Outdoor meet. Nelson ran on three All-America 4x400-meter relay teams (1997-98-99) at the NCAA Indoor Championships, and was a member of a pair of outdoor All-America 4x400-meter relay teams (1998 and 1999) as well as BU's 1999 4x100-meter relay squad which also earned All-America recognition.
Robinson earned All-Southwest Conference honors as defensive back/safety in 1994 (consensus) and 1995, and capped his senior season by earning All-America honors from the American Football Coaches Association. A member of Baylor's 1990-99 All-Decade team, he helped the Bears to a pair of bowl appearances, the 1992 John Hancock Bowl and 1994 Builder's Square Alamo Bowl , as well as a share of the 1994 Southwest Conference title. Robinson earned the Alamo Bowl's Sportsmanship Award and in 1995 received Baylor's Mike Singletary Award.
After playing in both the 1995 Blue-Gray and Senior Bowl All-Star games, Robinson was selected in the seventh round of the 1996 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts, however, a neck injury derailed his professional career. Robinson ranks ninth on Baylor's career interception list with 11 picks, returning three for touchdowns. He registered a team-high four thefts in 1995 and ranks sixth in career interception return yards (177). Robinson still holds Baylor's single-season record for yards per interception return (43.0 ypr in 1994) and stands tied for sixth on the Bears' single-season interception return yardage list with 129 yards that same season. While a student-athlete at Baylor, he co-founded the Bears Who Care Program to encourage student-athlete leaders to travel throughout Waco and speak to children about staying in school, avoiding drugs and leadership.
A three-year letterwinner for the Bears as an offensive lineman in the late 1960s, Stevens earned All-Southwest Conference honors as a junior tackle in 1968 and a 1969 preseason Associated Press All-American selection. He was also named to Baylor's 1960-69 All-Decade team.
Following his senior campaign, Stevens played in the Lions American Bowl and the Hula Bowl, becoming Baylor's first lineman to earn a Hula Bowl invite. A 13th-round selection in the 1970 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, he played five seasons (1970-74) with the franchise, where one of his teammates was former Bears head coach Guy Morriss.
Topolski was a third-team All-American selection by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association as a senior in 1999 and his name remains prominent in the Bears' record book. A three-time All-Big 12 selection (first-team in 1998 and 1999), he also earned honorable mention freshman All-America honors in 1996, was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America selection in his final two Baylor seasons and a three-time Academic All-Big 12 first-team honoree.
A two-time ABCA All-Region pick who was also a member of the 1998 USA Baseball National Team, Topolski still holds Baylor's career records for runs scored (285), hits (333), multi-hit games (103), triples (25), home runs (50), total bases (574) and walks (185), while ranking second in at bats (969), multi-RBI games (tied, 49), extra-base hits (116), on-base percentage (.454), third in games played (239), RBI (187) and stolen bases (74), fifth in slugging percentage (.592) and eighth in batting average (.344). He also still owns BU's single-season records for triples (11, 1998) and single-game school marks for triples (two, twice), home runs (three, twice), extra base hits (five vs. Hardin Simmons, 1998), total bases (16 vs. Hardin Simmons, 1998) while registering a hit streak (21 games) that equals the fourth-longest in school history. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 1999 Major League Draft by the Houston Astros.
Uhlaender was a three-year starter for the Bears from 1959-61, playing left field as a sophomore and junior, before being moved to catcher for his senior season. He helped Baylor to back-to-back second-place Southwest Conference finishes in 1960 and 1961, with the 1961 squad finishing with the highest winning percentage in program history (.804) and an 18-4-1 record. The Bears' 1961 team finished one-half game behind Texas in the league standings, the result of a 9-9 tie the teams played in Waco on the final day of the regular season which was called because of darkness. As a junior in 1960, he recorded a league-high-tying 23 hits in SWC play.
After graduating from Baylor in 1961, Uhlaender signed a professional contract with the Minnesota Twins, and after four seasons in the minor leagues, reached the Major Leagues with the Twins in 1965. All-told, he spent eight seasons in the Majors with the Twins (1965-69), Cleveland (1970-71) and Cincinnati (1972), playing in 898 career games with a .263 lifetime batting average, 36 home runs and 285 RBI. He appeared in two World Series as a player with the Twins in 1965 and the 1972 Cincinnati Reds. After retiring as a player, he remained in professional baseball as a coach, scout and computer analyst for the New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks, Indiana and San Francisco Giants, earning five World Series rings. In 2002, the high school baseball field in McAllen, Texas, his hometown, was named in his honor, and in 1991 he was inducted into the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame.
Following in the footsteps of Michael Johnson, another Olympic champion from Baylor, Wariner burst on the scene on track's biggest stage in 2004. Capping off an incredible year that saw him sweep the NCAA 400-meter indoor and outdoor titles as a sophomore, Wariner won the 400 meters at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, with a school- and Big 12-record time of 44.00.
Wariner also was part of the USA's gold medal 4x400-meter relay teams at the Olympics in 2004 and '08 and was the silver medalist in the 400 at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. Still training in Waco under the tutelage of Clyde Hart, Wariner has also won five gold medals and one silver at the World Championships and swept the six Golden League events as a pro in 2006, earning him $250,000.
A state champion in the 200 and 400 at Arlington (Texas) Lamar High School, Wariner followed up an injury-plagued freshman season at Baylor with arguably one of the best in collegiate track history. Not only did he sweep the individual 400-meter titles, Wariner also was part of the NCAA indoor and outdoor 4x400 relay champs, winning the indoor title with an NCAA-record time of 3:03.96.
Baylor's Wall of Honor annually recognizes Baylor letterwinners and graduates whose meritorious accomplishments in public or private life following graduation have brought positive public recognition, credit and honor to Baylor and its athletic department.
A three-year letterman for the Bears (1963-65), Bourland earned consensus All-Southwest Conference honors as on offensive guard as a senior in 1965. He started all 31 games along the Baylor offensive line during his career, including the Bears' 1963 Bluebonnet Bowl victory over LSU. Bourland received his undergraduate degree from Baylor in 1966 and his Juris Doctor Degree from Baylor Law in 1969. Bourland, who received his undergraduate degree from Baylor in 1966 and his Juris Doctor Degree from Baylor Law School in 1969, is the founding shareholder of Bourland, Wall & Wenzel, P.C., a Fort Worth-based firm that was founded in 1983. He also served as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) Captain in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War.
An adjunct professor of law at Baylor who has taught at prestigious institutions around the country, Bourland also speaks to churches and church leaders on operating tax wise charitable giving programs and church foundations.
