Banquet Registration

This is the second in a series of stories profiling this year's inductees for the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame, which will be posted every week at BaylorBears.com.
 
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
Deferring the start of her college journey or to January 2012, Samantha Schaefer suffered through the first two months of that spring semester at Baylor, waiting to become eligible and traveling back and forth to Florida to train and compete.
 
"There was a moment where basically, if I didn't get cleared within a certain time frame, I was going to be deemed permanently ineligible," she said. "I think the history of where and how I finished out my school years would have been a lot different."
 
Instead, Schaefer was cleared just two days before a meet at Texas A&M and began an equestrian collegiate career (2012-15) that ended with her being a three-time NCEA All-American in both flat and fences. Ten years later, she is part of the 2025 Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame class that will be honored Nov. 14
 
"Being on the team was huge," said Schaefer, the first equestrian athlete elected to the Hall of Fame. "I'll never forget when I got that call (about being eligible). I was supposed to leave for spring break to go back and compete in Florida with my own horses. They called me in and said, 'You're cleared! We're going to A&M in two days. Get ready.'
 
"The beginning was – I don't want to say rough – but it was a little bit hard to be there. I traveled to come here for a certain purpose, and it took a minute to work the kinks out. But once I started competing, it definitely felt like the right place for me."
 
Making an immediate impact, Sam scored a 90 on her opening ride to earn fences MOP honors in the Bears' 12-11 win over third-ranked A&M in College Station. Five weeks later, competing in the NCEA Championship at the Extraco Events Center, she had the deciding ride that clinched Baylor's points-tiebreaker win over the Aggies and the Hunt Seat national championship.
 
"That was really a neat moment," she said. "Maybe in the moment, it didn't seem like a huge deal for me. It was obviously great. But I think looking back on it, to see a great group of seniors on the team that year that had worked so hard, and to be able to put all that together in a short period of team, that was so special."
 
As a junior champion who won the Equitation Finals at the Washington International Horse Show in 2009 when she was 16, Schaefer said the nerves in a moment like that "is almost like a motivator for me."
 
"I feed off that energy," she said. "I remember, in the semifinals, I went against (Auburn's) Maggie McAlary, who was one of the top riders in the nation. Ironically, she rode at the same barn that I did and was someone I looked up to four years prior. For her to lose her last event as a senior riding for Auburn against Baylor, who wasn't a big name, especially at the time . . . I remember that probably way more than that last ride against A&M, just because I was more familiar with her and maybe intimidated."
 
With the success that Sam had in the junior circuit, she could have turned pro at 18. But going to college "was something my parents, and specifically my grandparents, kind of required."
 
"It was super important to them, which I'm glad it was," she said "because we have some friends that skipped that part. I'm forever thankful that they pushed me to pursue a college degree. The main reason I ended up at Baylor was thanks to David and Stacy Sanderson, who at the time were the director of operations and assistant hunt seat coach at Baylor."
 
On a recruiting trip over the Easter weekend, "I think us three were the only people left on campus. And I ended up signing that next Monday."
 
A three-time Big 12 Fences Rider of the Year, Schaefer said fences were "kind of my cushy spot." But she was a three-time All-Big 12 and NCEA All-American in equitation on the flat as well.
 
"One of the hardest things (in flat) was just remembering the pattern," she said. "Obviously, if somebody could read me the script, that would be a lot easier. In a weird way, it was a learning experience for me to work on the flat. I would say I spent way more time practicing the flat than I ever did the jumping. That was definitely my comfort zone."
 
After graduating from Baylor in December 2015 with a degree in communications, Sam returned to her family-owned Shadow Ridge Farm in Westminster, Md., and turned pro after another year riding as an amateur.
 
"My now co-worker, Kate Conover, was over in Europe trying horses and broke her leg," Schaefer said. "That was the moment where I was like, 'All right, it's now or never.' That was when I turned in my amateur card and started riding professionally. I think the biggest reward is to have the success, not only for myself but for our whole team."
 
Getting on a horse for the first time when she was 18 months old, "with a pacifier in my mouth," Schaefer now trains other riders.
 
"We have, I think, nine or 10 clients that probably all have somewhere between two to six horses with us," she said. "So, we train, we buy, we sell, we cover all aspects of the equestrian business. Our youngest student is maybe 8 or 9, and I think our oldest is in his 60s. It's definitely a broad group of riders."
 
Schaefer was also part of the inaugural class for the National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA) Hall of Fame that was inducted last year, along with longtime Baylor administrator Nancy Post.
 
"Nancy Post called me a few months ago and let me know (about the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame)," Sam said. "And I had no idea. I thought she was going to offer me a job. Instead, she called to tell me some exciting news. I'm looking forward to it."

Joining Schaefer in the 2025 Baylor Hall of Fame class are football's Bryce Petty, Cyril Richardson and Derek Turner, women's golfer Hannah Burke, baseball's Chris Durbin, LaceDarius Dunn from men's basketball and Taylor Ormond from women's tennis. Additionally, former football team manager Dusty Sanderson is being added to the Wall of Honor.
 
The 2025 Hall of Fame banquet is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14, in the Hurd Welcome Center Grand Ballroom on the Baylor University campus. Registration is available here.