ABILENE - Two ACU track and field stars headline a class of four former athletes and administrators who will be inducted into the Abilene Christian University Sports Hall of Fame in October.
The Class of 2006-07 is headlined by former track and field greats Yolande (Straughn) Chillers and James Browne, and they are joined byformer football great Bernard Erickson and former sports information director Dr. Charles Marler.
The group of four will be officially inducted into the hall during the 21st annual Hall of Fame festivities, Oct. 13, 2006, at 7 p.m. in the Teague Special Events Center. With the addition of the four members of the Class of 2006-07, the ACU Sports Hall of Fame now includes 121 men and women. Tickets to the dinner are $20 and can be obtained by calling 325-674-2353.
In addition to the induction of four new Hall of Fame members, ACU will also retire the jersey of former football standout Jim Lindsey, who died of a heart attack on Sept. 9, 1998. Lindsey's family will be presented a replica jersey bearing his No. 10on the front, and an exact copy of the jersey will hang in the football offices of the Teague Center. Lindsey's jersey is only the third in school history to be retired, joining theNo. 28 worn by football standout Wilbert Montgomery, and the No. 25
worn by former women's basketball standout Jennifer (Clarkson) Frazier. Senior wide receiver John Brock currently wears No. 10, but once the season ends the jersey will be retired and no other Wildcat football player will ever wear it again.
Chillers was one of the most decorated athletes in the history of women's track and field at ACU. She won a total of 17 conference and national championships in individual events and relays, and she was a member of four straight Lone Star Conference championship teams and a total of six national championship teams in indoor and outdoor track and field. She helped ACU win national titles at the indoor meet in 1988, 1990 and 1991 and at the outdoor meet in 1986, 1987 and 1988. She was inducted into the NCAA Division II Track and Field Hall of Fame in May 2005.
A five-time NCAA Division II national champion, Browne was an Olympian and one of only two three-time triple jump champions at the Division II outdoor championships. Browne's Division II national titles for the Wildcats came in the triple jump at the national indoor meet in 1988 and 1990 and the national outdoor meet in 1988, 1989 and 1990. He was inducted into the NCAA Division II Track and Field Hall of Fame in May 2005.
Erickson was a ferocious middle linebacker for the Wildcats in the mid-to-late 1960s, earning the nickname "Beast" as well as a spot as a first team linebacker on ACU's all-Century Team. Erickson was named all-Southland Conference as a senior in 1966 and was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the 1967 AFL-NFL Draft. He played three years in the AFL and NFL (Chargers in 1967 and 1968 and Cincinnati Bengals in 1969) before going on to dental school.
Marler is the 17th recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, given to a deserving person who has contributed to the success of ACU athletics and its student-athletes. Marler, widely regarded as the father of the current Journalism and Mass Communication Department at ACU, began working at ACU in 1955, joining the staff the day after his graduation as the school's first full-time sports information director. He served in several other capacities on campus before becoming the chairman of the JMC department in 1987. He retired from full-time duty in 2003, but is still a faithful Wildcat athletics fan.
Here's a brief bio on each of each of this year's inductees, as well as :
YOLANDE (STRAUGHN) CHILLERS (Women's Track and Field): Yolande (Straughn) Chillers was one of the most decorated athletes in the history of ACU women's track and field. She won a total of 17 conference and national championships in individual events and relays, and she was a member of four straight Lone Star Conference championship teams and a total of six national championship teams in indoor and outdoor track and field. She helped the Wildcats win
national titles at the indoor meet in 1988, 1990 and 1991 and at the outdoor meet in 1986, 1987 and 1988. She won NCAA Division II national titles in the 55 and 400 dashes and 1600 relay indoors and the 100 and 200 dashes and 1600 relay outdoors. As a senior in 1990 she was a double winner at the NCAA Division II national meet in Hampton in the 100 and 200 and ranked among the top 10 women's collegiate sprinters in the U.S. in both events with times of 11.47 and 23.40. Straughn was Lone Star Conference champion in the 200 and 400 and both relays and all-America all four years of her Wildcat career. She twice won ACU's award to the outstanding performer in running events on the women's track and field team. She was an Olympian in the 200 for her native Barbados in 1988 in Seoul, and in 1987 at the Pan American Games in Indianapolis she was a finalist in the 200 with an eighth place finish in 24.16. Only three of the 21 members of the women's Hall of Fame won more individual titles than Straughn. She was inducted into the NCAA Division II Track and Field Hall of Fame in May 2005 and was named to ACU's all-Century Women's Track and Field team in January 2006.
JAMES BROWNE (Men's Track and Field): A five-time NCAA Division II national champion, James Browne was an Olympian and one of only two three-time triple jump champions at the Division II outdoor championships. Browne finished 17th in the long jump at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul as a representative of Antigua, where he grew up as a soccer player. He was one of the last Division II athletes to advance for competition at the Division I championships. He placed 11th in the Division I outdoor triple jump in 1990 in Durham, N.C., as a senior. Browne's Division II national titles for the Wildcats came in the triple jump at the national indoor meet in 1988 and 1990 and the national outdoor meet in 1988, 1989 and 1990. He still holds the ACU school record in the triple jump at 54 feet, 3.75 inches set in 1990 as a senior when he received his third Kirk Goodwin Memorial Award as ACU's outstanding field event athlete. He was a member of coach Don Hood's 1988 team that won both NCAA Division II men's indoor and outdoor national championships. That year the Wildcats became the first school ever to sweep all four men's and women's indoor and outdoor titles in one year. Browne was also a Kansas and Drake Relays champion and five-time Lone Star Conference champion. He still ranks seventh on the Division II all-time performer list in the triple jump. He was inducted into the NCAA Division II Track and Field Hall of Fame in May 2005 and was named to ACU's all-Century Men's Track and Field team in January 2006.
BERNARD ERICKSON (Football): Nicknamed the "Beast" for his ferocious style at middle linebacker for the Wildcats in the mid-to-late 1960s. He was named all-Southland Conference and all-Texas College as a senior in 1966 and was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the 1967 AFL-NFL Draft. Erickson graduated from Abilene Christian in 1967 with a Bachelor of Science degree in science education. After playing for the Chargers from 1967-68 and the Cincinnati Bengals in 1969, he continued his education at the University of Tennessee Dental School, where he graduated in 1971. He then entered private practice for 20 years as a dentist in Burleson. In August 2005 he was named a first team performer at linebacker on ACU's all-Century Team.
DR. CHARLES MARLER (Lifetime Achievement Award): Dr. Charles H. "Charlie" Marler came to ACU as a student in 1951. During his years as a student, Marler served as vice president of Frater Sodalis men's social club and editor of both the Optimist and Prickly Pear, the first student to edit both publications. He earned a B.A. in English and a M.A. in history from ACU and a Ph.D. in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Marler began work at ACU in 1955, the day after his graduation, and was the first full-time director of sports information. He later served as director of public information, editor of Horizons magazine, adviser of the Optimist and professor in the areas of writing, design and communication law and became chairman of the department in 1987. He retired from full-time duty in 2003, but is still a
faithful fan of ACUathletics and was on the selection committee determining ACU's top 100 sports moments for the book "The ACU Century."
JIM LINDSEY (Football): Record-setting quarterback Jim Lindsey made a name for himself in high school, college and professional football. After graduating from Sweeny High School, he turned in brilliant performances for Abilene Christian College and the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. Lindsey led the Wildcats to a 21-9-1 record in three years as a starting quarterback. When he closed his career after the 1970 season he owned five NCAA career records and had thrown for more yards (8,521) than any other quarterback in the history of collegiate football. He was also selected to play in the North-South all-star game, named all-America by the Associated Press and American Football Coaches' Association and received a post-graduate scholarship from the NCAA. He led the nation in passing in 1968 and in total offense in 1970, and Lindsey was also an academic all-America. In his pro rookie season in 1981 he helped the Stampeders win the CFL Grey Cup, and in 1972 he sparked his team to victory in the CFL all-star game. More than 35 years after his Abilene Christian playing career ended, he is still the school's all-time leader in career passing yards, attempts (1,237), completions (642) and total offense (8,359). Even more impressive, even though ACU hasn't been a member of the Southland Conference since the end of the 1972-73 athletic year, Lindsey still ranks No. 1 in SLC history in attempts and completions, No. 2 in yards, No. 3 in touchdown passes (61) and No. 5 in total offense. Lindsey - who died of a heart attack on Sept. 9, 1998 - is only the third former ACU athlete to have a jersey number retired in their honor, joining
former football standout Wilbert Montgomery (No. 28) and former women's basketball star Jennifer Clarkson-Frazier (No. 25).
