ABILENE ? Rex Lamberti, one of the greatest quarterbacks in Abilene Christian University football history, and former national champion tennis player Michelle King lead a group of four ACU legends who will be inducted into the ACU Sports Hall of Fame this weekend.
Others set for induction are former track and field standout Jerry Dyes and former volleyball standout Linda (Evans) Halpayne.
The Class of 2008 will be officially inducted into the hall during the 24th annual Hall of Fame festivities Friday (Oct. 24) at 6:30 p.m. in the Teague Special Events Center. With the addition of the four members of this year's class, the ACU Sports Hall of Fame now includes 130 men and women.
Lamberti, a four-year letterman, put together one of the great careers in Wildcat football history, starting at quarterback in 1985 and 1986 before leaving the program for six seasons. He came back in 1993 for his final season and led the Wildcats to a 7-3 record, the program's first winning season since Lamberti had led the 1986 Wildcats to a 7-3 record.
When Lamberti finished his career after the 1993 season he was the Lone Star Conference's all-time leader in completions (595), touchdown passes (84) and yards passing (7,934). He was also the LSC and ACU single-season leader with 32 touchdown passes in 1986. He is third in ACU history in total offense (7,546 total yards) and third in program history in 300-yard passing games with 10.
As a sophomore in 1985, Lamberti became the first quarterback in LSC history to throw for more than 3,000 yards in a season (3,010), and as a junior in 1986 he led all collegiate quarterbacks in touchdown passes with 32. As a junior in 1986 he earned honorable mention all-America honors from the Associated Press and
Football News, was a candidate for NCAA Division II Player of the Year and led ACU to a 7-3 record and a final national ranking of No. 10 in the nation.
After sitting out six seasons, Lamberti gained national attention in 1993 when he returned as the starting quarterback as a 27-year-old senior. He threw for 2,052 yards and 28 touchdowns to lead the Wildcats to a 7-3 record, earning first team all-Lone Star Conference honors. One of eight national finalists for the Harlon Hill Award, Lamberti was third team all-America by CoSIDA and was honorable mention all-America by
USA Today and
Football Gazette.
King, a 1992 ACU graduate, won the 1992 NCAA Division II national championship in women's singles, the only ACU tennis player to win an individual national championship. In the fall of her senior year (1991), she teamed with then-junior Lara Mahaney to win the ITCA-Rolex NCAA Division II women's doubles national championship, making her a double national champion as a senior.
King, a national finalist for NCAA Woman of the Year honors in 1992, was a three-time Lone Star Conference champion at No. 1 singles and an academic all-conference performer. She earned NCAA Division II all-America honors each of her four years as a Wildcat and received the Paul Goad Award as the outstanding female student-athlete at ACU for the 1991-92 academic year.
She was also named to th 1992 Rolex collegiate all-star team and was recognized at the U.S. Open in New York. She was also a finalist for the 1991-92 Honda tennis award.
Her post-ACU playing career has been as impressive as her Wildcat career as she has represented the United States in several events around the world. In August 2008 she was selected to represent the USA in the Suzanne Lenglen Cup in Turkey in October.
King will be playing on the Lenglen Cup team for the third consecutive year. She was runner up in doubles at the National Clay Court Championships, won doubles at the National Indoor and Grass Court Championships, and was also runner up in singles at the National Grass Court Championships. She is currently ranked No. 4 in Women's 35 singles and No. 1 in Women's 35 doubles in the USA. She is an instructor at Lost Creek Country Club in Austin.
Dyes, a 1964 ACU graduate, recently retired from coaching after serving five seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Texas-San Antonio, completing a coaching career that covered more than 40 years on the prep and collegiate levels.
He burst onto the collegiate track and field scene as an Abilene Christian freshman in 1961 when he had the nation's second-best javelin throw as a freshman and the fourth-best long jump in the nation as a freshman. That same year he finished sixth in the javelin at the national Amateur Athletics Association (AAU) championship meet.
As a sophomore in 1962 he won javelin championships at the Kansas Relays and Penn Relays and was second at the NCAA national championship meet. He was also third in the javelin at the national AAU championship meet. As a junior in 1963 he won the javelin at both the Texas and Drake relays, and as a senior in 1964 he won the decathlon at the Kansas Relays. He was the high point performer at the first Southland Conference championship meet, and he was fifth in the javelin at the AAU national championship meet.
After a prep and collegiate career that saw him go from Corpus Christi to Louisiana Tech between 1965 and 1988, Dyes returned to his alma mater as the head men's track and field coach from 1988-92. He led the Wildcats to a runner-up finish at the 1992 NCAA Division II outdoor championship meet.
He returned to the prep ranks from 1992-2003 before joining the UTSA staff in 2003. He was an assistant coach under head coach James Blackwood, who was a teammate of Dyes' at Abilene Christian and also a 1964 graduate.
Dyes began his coaching and teaching career at Corpus Christi Ray High School where his 1965 cross country and track and field squads captured state titles. He was inducted into the Ray Athletics Hall of Fame in October 2004.
Dyes jumped to the college ranks as the head track and field coach and an instructor of physical education at Northwestern State from 1970-82. He tutored 14 all-Americans and led the Demons to a national runner-up finish at the 1976 NAIA Championships and an 11th-place finish at the 1981 NCAA Championships. His 1981 4x100-meter relay team, which included future pro football stars Joe Delaney and Mark Duper, won the NCAA title and set a then-Louisiana collegiate record time of 39.03 seconds. That relay team, along with Dyes, was inducted into the Northwestern State Graduate N Club Hall of Fame in 2005, the highest honor Northwestern affords its former athletes and coaches.
Dyes moved up the road to Louisiana Tech for a six-year stint as head coach and assistant professor of education from 1982- 88. He coached eight All-Americans, including 1985 NCAA shot put champion John Campbell, and led the Bulldogs to a sweep of the American South Conference Indoor and Outdoor Championships in 1988.
Halpayne was one of the Wildcats' best players in the early 1990s, helping ACU to four straight winning seasons, including a 29-win campaign in 1992. When her playing career ended, she was the Wildcats' all-time leader in kills (1,560) and blocks (676). Her 186 blocks in 1991 are the second-best single-season total in school history. Halpayne, in fact, owns four of the top six single-season block marks in school history.
A two-time first team all-Lone Star Conference performer, Halpayne was also the 1992 ACU Offensive MVP after collecting 484 kills, 220 digs and 176 blocks. As a sophomore in 1990 she was a second team all-LSC performer with 36 aces, and she ranked second in the LSC in blocks. She also lettered in basketball at ACU and was an all-state basketball player at Anderson-Shiro High School.
