July 14, 2016 WACO, Texas -- Spanning six decades and representing seven different sports, Baylor University's 57th Hall of Fame class adds eight outstanding former student-athletes, highlighted by Olympic gold medalist Darold Williamson (2002-05), two-time Ray Guy Award winner Daniel Sepulveda (2003-06) and two-time All-American Sophia Young-Malcolm (2002-06).

The 2016 class of inductees also includes Aundre Branch from men's basketball (1992-95), baseball's Jon Perlman (1976-79), softball's Cristin Vitek (2002-05), football player Bentley Jones (1946-48) and Jahnavi Parekh (1999-2001), who goes in as the first women's tennis player in the Hall of Fame.

Along with Wall of Honor recipients Jay Allison and Bill Glass Sr., the Hall of Fame inductees will participate in on-campus enshrinement activities during the Oct. 14-15 weekend. In addition to the Hall of Fame banquet, the 2016 class will be introduced during the Baylor-Kansas football game on Saturday, Oct. 15 (kickoff time TBA) and ride in the school's Homecoming parade prior to the game.

Tickets to the 2016 Baylor Athletic Hall of Fame banquet, which will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, in the Brazos Room at the Waco Convention Center, are $50 per person and may be purchased by contacting the "B" Association at 254-710-3045 or by email at tammy_hardin@baylor.edu. Table sponsorships (seating for 10) are also available for $750 (individual) or $1,000 (corporation).

Organized in 1960, the Baylor Athletic Hall of Fame 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.

Beginning with the inaugural 1960 class that included coach Floyd "Uncle Jim" Crow and baseball's Ted Lyons, 220 honorees have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame, while another 23 have been added to the Wall of Honor.

Branch, known as "Hot Shot" in eight years with the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters, came by the name naturally as one of the best pure shooters in Baylor basketball history. Averaging 16.3 points in his four-year career (1991-95), he still ranks seventh on Baylor's all-time scoring list with 1,666 points.

When he finished, Branch held school records for 3-pointers made in career (267), season (104, 1994-95) and game (eight, twice) -- marks that still rank in the top five. A two-time All-Southwest Conference pick (2nd team) at Baylor, he played pro basketball overseas for several years before joining the Globetrotters in 2001.

Originally awarded a dual scholarship in football and basketball in 1942, Jones returned to Baylor after serving three years in the U.S. Navy during World War II. A three-year football letterman, the 5-foot-9, 165-pound guard was a co-captain and unanimous All-SWC selection for the 1948 Baylor team that defeated Wake Forest in the Dixie Bowl in the program's first bowl appearance.

Jones, who will be honored posthumously, earned bachelor and master's degrees from Baylor and coached 36 years with stops in Temple, Killeen, Cleburne, Port Arthur, San Angelo and Waco. Inducted into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor in 1999, his list of pupils that he sent to Baylor included John and Mark Adickes, Gerald McNeil, Randy Behringer, Dwight Hood, Charles Wilson and Ronnie Stanley.

Baylor's first women's tennis All-American, Parekh (1999-2001) made an immediate impact as a first-semester sophomore transfer from a college in Mumbai, India. Playing almost exclusively at the Nos. 1 and 2 spots, she had a 21-5 record, earned All-Big 12 singles and doubles honors and helped the Lady Bears to the first of three straight NCAA Tournament bids.

The next year, she set a then school record with 39 singles victories, had a career-best No. 8 national ranking and earned singles All-America honors, advancing to the Round of 16. As a senior, she became the program's first three-time All-Big 12 pick and earned doubles All-America honors, advancing to the NCAA semifinals with Katja Kovac.

Parekh finished her career with an 88-28 singles record and 62-31 in doubles and helped Baylor advance to the Round of 16 for the first time in school history in 2001 with wins over UTA and Penn.

After making the baseball team as a walk-on in 1976, Perlman was part of back-to-back College World Series teams in 1977 and '78 and went on to win 19 career games. Breaking from his scorekeeping duties as a freshman, he came down from the Dutton Street Park press box to pitch the last inning three times and tossed a total of seven innings.

Perlman was 2-0 for the SWC Tournament and NCAA Regional championship team in 1977 and followed that up with a 5-3 record and 3.20 ERA the next year, picking up a save and win to earn all-tournament honors at the South Central Regional in Arlington, Texas.

Drafted in the fifth round by the Chicago Cubs in 1978, Perlman returned for his senior season and compiled a 12-3 record with a 2.76 ERA to earn first-team All-SWC and second-team All-America honors from The Sporting News. Baylor's first first-round draft pick, he was taken 12th overall by the Cubs and played 10 years of pro baseball, making big-league stints with the Cubs, San Francisco Giants and Cleveland Indians.

From meager beginnings as a walk-on linebacker out of Highland Park, Sepulveda turned into the football program's all-time best punter and only the second three-time All-American in school history. He also was the first-ever two-time Ray Guy Award winner as the best punter in college football and a two-time first-team Academic All-American.

After redshirting in 2002, he took over the punting duties the next year and finished with three of the top four season marks in program history, including an NCAA-leading and school-record 46.5-yard average in 2006. He won his first Ray Guy Award and first-team All-America honors from Pro Football Weekly with a 46.0-yard average in 2004, was a second-team All-American the next year and then a unanimous All-American and Ray Guy Award winner as a senior in '06.

A fourth-round draft pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers, he had a 43.7-yard career average in four seasons and missed two Super Bowl appearances with knee injuries before retiring after the 2011 season.

Vitek, a two-time all-state pitcher at Katy (Texas) Taylor High School, had a record-breaking career at Baylor that included the school, Big 12 and NCAA mark with 28 strikeouts in a 1-0, 16-inning shutout of North Carolina in the Lady Bears' first-ever NCAA regional game. That May 20, 2004 performance was featured on ESPN's SportsCenter and earned her CSTV National Student-Athlete of the Week honors.

As a freshman, Vitek was a second-team All-Big 12 and all-region pick, going 17-9 and setting single-season school records for ERA (0.89), opponent batting average (.170) and fewest hits per seven innings (4.11) that are still standing. At her best two years later when she was a finalist for USA Softball National Player of the Year and a first-team All-Big 12 pick, Vitek was 31-7 with a 0.92 ERA and 264 strikeouts as a junior in 2004.

For her career, Vitek had 74 wins and left with school records with a 1.41 ERA, 165 pitching appearances, 759 strikeouts, 4.79 hits and 1.11 walks per seven innings and a 6.49 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Eleven years later, she still holds several records and ranks among the top five in virtually every pitching category.

Enhancing Baylor track and field's reputation as "Quarter-miler U," Williamson (2002-05) was a 13-time All-American and four-time NCAA national champion, winning the outdoor 400-meter title in 2005 with a time of 44.51 seconds. His 13 All-American honors ranks third all-time in program history, trailing only Hall of Famers Tony Miller (15) and Deon Minor (14).

Pulling off a rare four-peat, the San Antonio, Texas, native won four consecutive individual 400-meter titles at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships and ran anchor leg on the 4x400 relay that won a combined seven conference titles, national indoor titles in 2002 and '04 and the 2004 NCAA outdoor championship.

Taking the handoff from Baylor teammate Jeremy Wariner, Williamson also ran anchor leg on the USA 4x400 relay team that won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, with a time of 2:55.91. Turning pro in the summer of 2005, Williamson finished second in the 400 at the USA Championships and seventh at the World Championships and added gold medals in the 4x400 relay at the 2005 and 2007 World Championships.

An under-the-radar prospect out of Shreveport (La.) Evangel Academy, Young-Malcolm led the Lady Bears to their first national championship in 2005 and is one of only four women in NCAA history to score 2,000 points, grab 1,000 rebounds, collect 300 steals and also dish out 300 assists.

The two-time All-American and three-time first-team All-Big 12 pick ranks fourth all-time in scoring (2,480) and steals (315), second in rebounds (1,316) and double-doubles (61) and sixth in blocks (131). In a phenomenal junior season, the 6-foot-1 forward averaged 18.4 points and 9.3 rebounds, led the Lady Bears to a 33-3 record and national championship and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Big 12 Tournament, NCAA Tempe Regional and Final Four.

A native of the West Indies, Young averaged 22.2 points and 10.0 rebounds as a senior in earning Big 12 Player of the Year and consensus All-America honors. Selected with the fourth pick overall in the 2006 WNBA Draft, Young was a three-time all-star with the San Antonio Silver Stars and scored 4,300 points in her nine-year career.

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.

Allison, a former football letterman (1975-77) who earned three degrees from Baylor (BBA '78, MS '80, JD '81), has served as chairman and CEO for Comstock Resources, Inc., since 1987. He and his wife, Jenny, have been generous benefactors, establishing three endowed scholarships, giving the lead gifts for the Jay and Jenny Allison Indoor Football Practice Facility and Basketball Hall of Honor and supporting the McLane Stadium construction project.

Jay has also served on the Baylor Board of Regents for 15 years, as a trustee at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, and Board of Directors Chairman for Legacy Christian Academy in Frisco, Texas, for 11 years. A deacon and Sunday school teacher at Legacy Drive Baptist Church in Plano, Jay and his wife have four children, Jency, Logan, Lucas and Aubrey.

Bill Glass Sr., was Baylor football's first unanimous All-American in 1956, playing offensive guard for a team that finished 9-2 and upset second-ranked Tennessee, 13-7, in the Sugar Bowl. A first-round draft pick and 12th pick overall, he played 11 seasons in the NFL with the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns and was a four-time Pro Bowl pick.

Inducted into the College Football, Texas Sports and Baylor Halls of Fame, Glass went to the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary during his NFL off-seasons and started his own ministry in 1969 that is now Bill Glass: Behind the Walls. Through his prison ministry, more than 1 million men, women and juvenile offenders have accepted Christ.

Bill and his wife, Mavis, make their home in the Dallas area and have three grown children -- Billy Jr., Bobby and Mindy -- along with eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.