Big Country Sports Hall of Fame adds four more with ACU ties

ABILENE -- Three athletes and one coach with ties to Abilene Christian University -- including former national champion pole vaulter Brad Pursley -- have been selected for induction into the Big Country Sports Hall of Fame.

The 2014 induction ceremony is set for May 5 at 6:30 p.m. at the Abilene Civic Center. Tickets will go on sale Feb. 1 online at www.bigcountryhalloffame.org. For ticket or sponsorship information, call (325) 668-3685 or e-mail carolepickett@sbcglobal.net. The Big Country Athletic Hall of Fame board of directors will also present a number of scholarships to graduating student-athletes from the 19-country area that makes up the Big Country. The Hall of Fame museum is located in the Abilene ISD administration building at 241 Pine and is open free to the public.

Pursley, former quarterback Eck Curtis, former assistant football coach Bill Anderson and current women's basketball assistant coach Kendra (Anderson) Hassell are part of the 13-member class, which was announced Tuesday.

A native of Merkel, Pursley was a state champion and NAIA and NCAA national champion in the pole vault. He competed internationally and qualified for the U.S. Olympic trials three times. Pursley was ranked as high as No. 3 in the world and was ranked among the top five U.S. pole vaulters from 1981 to 1987. He is a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame and the ACU Sports Halål of Fame.

Curtis, who played quarterback at ACU, was an outstanding coach at Anson, Ranger and Breckenridge before winning a state football championship at Highland Park in 1945. He later became the backfield coach at the University of Texas where he introduced the T-formation and one year had his entire backfield picked to the all-Southwest Conference team. He is a member of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, Texas High School Football Hall of Fame and ACU Sports Hall of Fame. Curtis and Snyder hurdler Fred Wolcott will be honored at the banquet as the first recipients of the Legend Award, which honors coaches or athletes who competed prior to 1950.

Anderson, who was born in Erath County, had a coaching career that spanned more than 50 years, including stops at Stamford, Rising Star, South Taylor, Graham, Palestine, Riviera, Hereford, Abilene Christian, West Texas State, Cisco Junior College, Howard Payne and Tarleton State. The football stadium in Stamford was recently dedicated and renamed Bill Anderson Stadium. He is also a member of the Texas High School Coaches Hall of Honor.

Hassell graduated from Colorado City in 1999 and then went to Hardin-Simmons where she became the most decorated basketball player in school history. She led the Cowgirls to four straight American Southwest Conference championships and four NCAA Division III tournament appearances. In 2003, Anderson was named the NCAA Division III women's basketball player of the year and the ASC Female Athlete of the Year. She was a two-time Kodak All-American and three-time conference player of the year. She was also selected to the Division III all-decade team in 2007. Anderson has coached at Forney, Fort Worth Paschal, Oklahoma State, Texas Woman's University, Charleston Southern, Carroll University and is now an assistant basketball coach at ACU.

Others who will be inducted in the Class of 2014 are former Amarillo High head football coach Larry Dippell (Stamford native), former Cisco track and field star JimAnne (Baker) Hejny, former Abilene High football star Jim Millerman, former Cooper High School star running back Terry Orr, former Cooper women's tennis player Ann Schroeder and Bob, Doug and Perry Young of Brownwood, who are the winners of the Legacy Award.

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Big Country Sports Hall of Fame adds four more with ACU ties

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