ABILENE – Delloreen Ennis-London and Tracey Barnes, perhaps the two greatest athletes in Abilene Christian women's track and field history, lead a group of former ACU greats who will be inducted into the ACU Sports Hall of Fame next month.
Others set for induction are former football standout Jim Reese, former golf coach Vince Jarrett and former athletics trainer Wes Speights. Also being inducted into the Hall of Fame will be Dr. Jerry Strader, who will be the 17th recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Former men's basketball letterman Sam Maroney will be honored as the third recipient of the Womack Award. Former softball standout Samantha Borgeson (2007) and former basketball standout Alex Guiton (2008) were the first two winners of the award, which recognizes outstanding achievement both on the floor and in the classroom.
The Class of 2009 will be officially inducted into the hall during the 25th annual Hall of Fame festivities Friday, Oct. 16, at 6:30 p.m. in the McCaleb Conference Center in the Hunter Welcome Center. Tickets to the dinner are $20 per person and can be purchased by calling the ACU athletics office at 325-674-2353.
With the induction of Ennis-London and Barnes, ACU will also be hosting a 10-year reunion of the 1999 men's and women's track and field teams, which won four national championships that season. Reunions for lettermen in all sports will begin at approximately 8 p.m. in the Hunter Welcome Center, and there is no admission charge for those who wish to attend the reunions.
Everyone in attendance a the Hall of Fame dinner or the reunions is invited to stay and enjoy the fireworks show at 10 p.m. on the east side of the Hunter Welcome Center. The show is being sponsored by the ACU Alumni Association in conjunction with ACU's Homecoming celebration.
With the addition of the six members of this year's class, the ACU Sports Hall of Fame now includes 136 men and women. This year's class marks just the third time that two women have been inducted in the same year.
Ennis-London, a three-time Olympian for her native Jamaica, is the only female athlete in NCAA?history to win eight hurdles national championships in her career. Ennis-London won the national title at 55 meters indoors and the national title at 100 meters outdoors from 1996-99. She also ran on the Wildcats' national championship 4x100 relay teams in 1998 and 1999 to give her 10 career national championships.
In her post-ACU career, Ennis-London has been one of the top hurdlers in the world, making three Olympic teams and three times earning medals at the IAAF World Championships. She finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles final at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, before failing to make the final at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. She competed in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing where she finished fifth. In 2005 she finished second in the 100-meter hurdles final at the world championships before finishing third in the final in 2007 and third again in 2009.
In 2006, Ennis-London was named to the NCAA Division II women's track and field Silver Anniversary Team as selected by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association. She still holds the NCAA?Division II?all-time best in the 100 hurdles with her time of 12.71 seconds.
Barnes is the greatest collegiate champion in ACU track and field history, regardless of gender. She won 14 individual national championships in her career, more than any of the other great athletes in ACU's long and legendary history. Barnes – also a member of the NCAA Division II women's track and field Silver Anniversary Team – played a key role in Abilene Christian's 1998 and 1999 team championships, winning the 200 and 400 each year. She won two additional titles as a member of Abilene Christian's 4x400 relay in 1996 and 1998.
She won the 400 meters indoors in both 1998 and 1999 and anchored the Wildcats' national championship 4x400 relay teams at the 1998 and 1999 indoor championship meets.
Barnes won 10 national championships outdoors, taking the 200 meters in 1998 and 1999 and the 400 meters in 1996, 1998 and 1999. She was also he anchor on ACU's 4x100 relay teams in 1996, 1998 and 1999, and she also anchored ACU's 4x400 relay teams to national championships in 1996 and 1998. Barnes still holds the NCAA Division II best-ever mark in the 400 metes with her time of 50.67 in 1998.
Reese joins his father, Leon, in the Hall of Fame as they become the second father-son combination in the ACU Sports Hall of Fame following Ted and Chuck Sitton. Leon Reese was inducted into the Hall of Fame in the Class of 1995-96 after a standout basketball career.
Jim Reese – currently an assistant baseball and football coach at Abilene High School – is one of the great quarterbacks in ACU football history, ranking seventh in ACU history in career passing yards (5,946) and seventh in total offense (5,954) from 1973-76. Reese still holds the ACU record for passing yards in a game with 564 against Angelo State in 1976. That season he led the Wildcats to a 9-2 record and a Shrine Bowl victory over Harding.
Reese, a 1974 ACU graduate, was a standout athlete at Abilene High School before moving on to ACU where he was a freshman on the 1973 NAIA Division I national championship team. He took over starting QB duties from Clint Longley in 1974, and in his three years as a starter he led the Wildcats to a 23-8-1 record and earned honorable mention all-America honors as a senior in 1976. He threw for 5,946 yards and 37 touchdowns during his career, and led the LSC in passing in both 1975 and 1976.
Jarrett is one of the most successful coaches in ACU athletics history, having led ACU to seven Lone Star Conference men's golf championships (1986-89, 1991, 1993 and 1995) and the 1993 NCAA?Division II national championship. That 1993 team was led by current professional golfer Jeev Singh, who was named the NCAA Division II Player of the Year in 1993.
In addition to the seven LSC championships, the Wildcats finished as the runner-up at the conference tournament in 1990, 1992, 1996, 2001 and 2003. During an 11-year span from 1986-1996, Jarrett's ACU teams finished first or second at the LSC Tournament in all but one season.
Jarrett also was named LSC Coach of the Year three more times in 1989, 1991 and 1993. He also was the NCAA District VI Coach of the Year in 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995 and 1997. Under his tutelage, 27 Wildcat players earned 40 All-America awards, and 14 of his student-athletes were named to Academic All-America teams.
During each of his last three seasons at ACU, at least one of Jarrett's players qualified to compete at the NCAA Championships. Pierre Goethels qualified in 2003 after winning the South Central Regional Championships, while Brian O'Leary qualified in 2002 and was a member of the Lone Star Conference's 2003 All-Academic Team.
Jarrett – a member of the Golf Coaches' Association of America Hall of Fame – returned to his alma mater at the University of Houston in 2003 to become the Cougars' head coach, and he served in that capacity through the 2008-09 season.
Speights became the first full-time professional athletic trainer in ACU athletics history in 1976, and he served in that capacity through the 1985 athletics year before he left to enter private business in Abilene. He returned to ACU in 1989 as the athletics trainer and served on the staff until July 1993 when he resigned to re-enter private business in Houston.
In 1988, Speights was the assistant trainer for the NBA pre-draft rookie camp in Chicago, and he also served as the assistant trainer for the San Antonio Spurs' annual “Midwest Revue” tryout camp from 1988-92.
He was a lecturer at the Abilene Sports Medicine Seminar from 1987-93, and he served as the trainer for the Humana-Abilene Pro Indoor Tennis Tournament as well as several Lone Star Conference, NAIA and NCAA national championships.
Dr. Strader is a longtime supporter of ACU athletics and is a 1952 graduate of Abilene Christian. A member of ACU's Board of Trustees and president of the Alumni Association from 1984-88, he received ACU's Alumni Citation Award in 1982 and in February 1991 he was named the university's Outstanding Alumnus of the Year.
Dr. Strader served as deputy assistant surgeon general for dental services / Offices of the Surgeon General in the Army Dental Corps, giving more than 40 years of service to his country. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1988, attaining the highest possible rank for an Army reservist in the Army Dental Corps.
His son, Dr. Bob Strader, played football for the Wildcats and later served as both an assistant coach and head coach for the ACU football program.
