Segrest set to join Texas legends
2/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | General
Segrest set to join Texas legends
Former track standout to become fifth ex-Wildcat in Texas sports hall
WACO -- Former Abilene Christian track and field star James Segrest will be inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame on Wednesday, Feb. 15, becoming the fifth former Wildcat to become a member of the state's most prestigious sports hall of fame.
Segrest will be joined in the Class of 2005 by former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith; former Notre Dame Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown; University of Texas head baseball coach Augie Garrido; former Texas A&M football coach R.C. Slocum; former Wimbledon champion Zina Garrison; legendary gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi, and his wife, Martha; and former Fort Worth Cats baseball player Bobby Bragan.
Tickets to the 7 p.m. banquet at Baylor University's Ferrell Center are $75 per person and can be ordered by calling 1-800-567-9561.
Segrest, who was inducted into the ACU Sports Hall of Fame in February 1992, was a member of the Wildcats' 440 and 800-yard relay teams which set five world records from 1956-58. He was a member of the NAIA national championship team in 1955, and he finished sixth in the NCAA Division I 200 meters in 1956.
Segrest was a member of the U.S. national team which competed against the Soviet Union in Lenin Stadium in Moscow in 1958. During his four years the Wildcats had a record of 52-9 in the 440 and 880 relays, and Segrest ran in all 61 races. His personal best times were 9.7 for the 100 yards, 20.7 for the 220 yards and 47.7 for the 440 yards.
He coached Monahans to the Texas high school state championship in 1966. His teams at Odessa College won a total of 11 NJCAA national championships in indoor and outdoor track, and in 1979 he was the head coach for the U.S. team at the World University Games in Mexico City.
Segrest became a Texas high school legend at the 1954 Class A track and field state championship meet when he scored 34 points to win the state championship for Bangs, earning the nickname, "The One-Man Gang from Bangs." he graduated from Abilene Christian High School and received a BSEd degree in physical education from ACU in 1959.
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Bobby Morrow was the first Wildcat to be inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, earning the honor in 1960. He was followed by Oliver Jackson -- who coached both Segrest and Morrow -- in 1978. Former head football coach and commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, A.M. "Tonto" Coleman, was inducted in 1983; and legendary high school football coach Eck Curtis was inducted in 1985.
