AMARILLO – Former ACU track and field star
Nick Jones has been named the winner of this year's Dick Risenhoover Award by the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame and will be honored at a ceremony Sunday in Amarillo.
Jones will be honored along with other award winners and this year's hall of fame inductees in ceremonies beginning at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 10, at Ordway Auditorium on the Amarillo College campus.
This year's Hall of Fame inductees are former West Texas A&M basketball star and Panhandle coaching legend Dale Blaut, former Texas Tech offensive line standout Jimmy Williams, and former Hereford volleyball coach Brenda Kitten.
The Dick Risenhoover Award is given annually to a Panhandle native who brings acclaim to the region. Risenhoover – who passed away in 1978 after a short battle with liver cancer – was a native of Childress where he later coached baseball and basketball. He went on to a broadcasting career and was the Texas Rangers' play-by-play voice from 1974-77 after serving as the broadcast's color commentator from 1972-73.
Last year as a senior, Jones became the 24th athlete in NCAA history (regardless of division or gender) to win four national outdoor championships in a single event when he won the discus title at the outdoor meet at Colorado State-Pueblo. Jones joined four former ACU greats, who were already on the list: Freddie Williams (men's 800 meters, 1984-87); Ann Foster (women's triple jump 1984-87); Yolanda Henry (women's high jump (1984-87); and Delloreen Ennis-London (women's 100 meter hurdles, 1996-99).
The discus victory also made him only the second athlete in NCAA history (regardless of division or gender) to win four national titles in the discus joining former UCLA women's great Seilala Sua, who won titles for the Bruins from 1997-2000.
He won the discus title as a freshman in 2008 and again as a sophomore in 2009 before red-shirting in 2010. He returned in 2011 and won his third title in record-setting fashion as his winning mark of 199-4 set a new meet record.
Jones was the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association Male Field Athlete of the Year in both 2011 and 2012 and was a unanimous choice in 2012 as the Lone Star Conference Male Field Athlete of the Year. He was also honored by the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame as its top Track and Field Athlete in 2009 and 2012.
Other athletes with ACU ties to have been honored by the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame over the years are former NCAA Division II national champion Michelle King of Canyon (1990 women's tennis), Stephen Moore of Borger (1999 men's track and field), former West Texas A&M volleyball standout and former ACU assistant volleyball coach Sarah (Butler) Carthel of Amarillo (1994, 1995, 1998, 1999 women's volleyball), former ACU football player Steven Riddley of Plainview (1994 football), former ACU backup quarterback and assistant coach Brock Sherwood of Panhandle (2003 football), and soccer standout Andrea Carpenter of Amarillo (2010 and 2011 women' soccer).
