General | 4/9/2015 5:48:00 PM
ABILENE – Five of the greatest track and field athletes in Abilene Christian University's rich history in that sport will be inducted into the ACU Sports Hall of Fame one night before the first track and field meet in the new on-campus stadium.
Inductees into the hall will be Waymond Griggs, Ann (Foster) Faulknor), Brian Amos, Ian Morris and Dennis Richardson. The Tradition Class of 2015 will be officially inducted into the Hall of Fame during festivities on Friday, April 10, at 6:30 p.m. in the Teague Special Events Center on the ACU campus.
With the addition of the five members of this spring's class, the ACU Sports Hall of Fame now includes 170 men and women. With the addition of Faulknor, the hall now has 24 former ACU female student-athletes among its membership, along with two other women as Lifetime Achievement Award recipients.
Here are bios for each of the inductees:
Brian AmosIn his brilliant career, Brian Amos was a two-time qualifier for the U.S. Olympic Trials, three-time NCAA Division II national champion in the 110-meter high hurdles, and male Athlete of the Year in NCAA Division II track and field for 1994. He was the top collegiate hurdler in the U.S. in 1994 with the all-time Division II record of 13.37. At the U.S. Olympic Trials, Amos advanced to the quarterfinals in 1992 in New Orleans and semifinals in 1996 in Atlanta.
He was a three-time Lone Star Conference champion, and twice he won the 110-meter high hurdles at the Texas Relays. On the U.S. collegiate list, Amos ranked third in 1992 as a sophomore at 13.61 and runner-up in 1993 as a junior at 13.43. Amos was also a two-time NCAA Division II indoor champion for the 55-meter hurdles to lead his team to back-to-back team championships for coach Wes Kittley.
Amos was academic all-conference and academic all-America, and in 1993-94 he won the Paul Goad award as outstanding student-athlete at Abilene Christian. He won a total of nine Lone Star Conference titles in the 110 hurdles, 100-meter dash, 400-meter relay and 1,600-meter relay, and he was named the league's top male runner in 1992 and 1994. Amos also competed in Europe, he was a member of the 1994 U.S. national men's track and field team, and he won the silver medal at the 1995 World University Games
Before coming to Abilene Christian, he was NJCAA champion in the 110 hurdles as a freshman at Odessa College, and in 1990 he was a double winner at the Texas Class AAA state meet in the 110 hurdles (14.1) and 300 hurdles (37.4) for Rice High School in Bryan.
Ann (Foster) FaulknorAnn Foster dominated the triple jump in NCAA Division II during her four-year collegiate career at Abilene Christian University. She was a four-time national champion – starting with a wind-aided leap of 40 feet, 10.75 inches, to win the event the first time it was contested at the Division II women's meet in 1984 in Cape Girardeau, Mo., as a freshman for first-year coach Wes Kittley. Foster repeated her championships with 41-9.5 as a sophomore in 1985, 42-0 as a junior in 1986, and 41-10.75 as a senior in 1987.
She was also a three-time Lone Star Conference champion, and three times she finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Division I national championships. Her best Division I finish was eighth in 1984 as a freshman with a leap of 39-10.5 at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. Foster was a member of four LSC championships teams and three NCAA Division II national championship teams for Kittley.
Foster set the ACU school record as a freshman with 40-11.5, and she improved the mark each year to 41-9.5 as a sophomore, 42-0 as a junior and 42-4.25 as a senior. She set the LSC meet record and ACU indoor and outdoor school records, and her collegiate best still ranks third on the ACU all-time outdoor list.
Foster was a Texas state qualifier in the triple jump at Marble Falls High School (with a best finish of sixth) and an all-district performer in basketball.
Waymond E. GriggsWaymond Griggs was a four-year letterman in track and field for the Wildcats and a member of relay teams that set three world records and won 16 titles at major collegiate relay meets (Texas, Drake, Penn, West Coast, Coliseum and California Relays). The Wildcats posted a remarkable record of 36-4 in the 440-yard and 880-yard relays during his collegiate career. With Griggs in the starting blocks, the Wildcats set world records in the 440-yard relay of 40.2 in Austin April 6, 1957, 39.9 in Fresno May 11, 1957, and 39.7 in Modesto May 31, 1958. Griggs' individual collegiate best times were 9.6 for 100 yards and 20.8 for 220 yards.
ACU Hall of Fame coach Oliver Jackson usually assigned Griggs to open each relay event because of his quick starting ability with anchor duties going to Bobby Morrow, triple gold medal winner at the 1956 Olympic Games. Griggs was a member of Wildcat teams that won the 1955 NAIA national championship and the 1956 Gulf Coast Conference title. He later was a successful Texas high school track and field coach at Kermit High School and Permian High School in Odessa, where he coached his team to the 1993 Texas Class 5A state championship in Austin.
Griggs competed in track and field and football at Camden (Arkansas) High School. He won the 100-yard dash as a senior at the 1954 Arkansas state meet, and he was a member of Panthers' state championship football team in 1952. His top high school sprint times were 9.8 for 100 yards, 22.6 for 220 yards and 50.6 for 440 yards. He was named to the Arkansas Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2010.
Ian MorrisIan Morris was one of the top quartermilers in the world during his career for Abilene Christian University and his native country of Trinidad and Tobago. Twice he was a finalist at the Olympic Games in 1988 and 1992, he was a silver medalist at the Pan American Games in 1991 in Havana, Cuba, he was a finalist in the 400 at both the IAAF indoor and outdoor world championships, and he led coach Don W. Hood's Wildcat team to a sweep of the 1988 Lone Star Conference and NCAA Division II indoor and outdoor national championships.
At the Olympic Games in 1992 in Barcelona, Morris narrowly missed a medal after finishing fourth in the 400 meters in 44.25 seconds behind the winning 43.50 by Quincy Watts and 44.21 by Steve Lewis of the United States and 44.24 by Samson Kitur of Kenya. He also anchored Trinidad and Tobago's 4x400 relay team to seventh place in Barcelona. Morris was seventh in the Olympic 400 final in 44.95 in 1988 in Seoul.
He was a six-time conference champion for the Wildcats with the 200 in 1986, 400 in 1986 and 1988, 4x100 relay in 1986, and 4x400 relay in 1986 and 1988. Morris also won six NCAA Division II titles in the 200, 400 and relays, and in 1988 he won ACU's latest NCAA Division I all-America honor by finishing fourth in the 400 meters in 45.40 at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. On the U.S. collegiate list for 400 meters he ranked fourth in 1986 in 45.02 and third in 1988 in 44.60. Morris is a native of St. James, Trinidad and Tobago.
Dennis RichardsonDennis Richardson was an outstanding sprinter for the Wildcats of Hall of Fame coach Oliver Jackson at Abilene Christian University. He tied the Abilene Christian record of 9.3 for 100 yards set by Olympic sprinter Bobby Morrow and Bill Woodhouse, he was a member of the Wildcat 880-yard relay team that established a world record in 1961, and he was 100-yard dash champion at the Texas Relays in 1961 and Penn Relays in 1962.
Richardson turned in one of the top performances in ACU track and field history at the Texas Relays in 1961 by winning the 100-yard dash and helping the Wildcats to a sweep of the 440, 880 (with a world record of 1:22.6) and mile relays in Austin. And they repeated their sweep of the three relay titles in 1962. Richardson was also a member of winning relay teams at the Drake and Penn Relays.
In another memorable day in ACU track and field history, March 27, 1963, on the day his daughter was born, Richardson returned to campus from the hospital and won the 100 (9.3) and 220 (20.9) dashes and ran on both winning relay teams as the Wildcats defeated University of Colorado, 91-54, in a dual meet.
In 1962 Richardson handed world-record-holder Adolph Plummer of University of New Mexico a rare defeat by upsetting Plummer and ACU teammate Earl Young in the 220 in Albuquerque in 20.9. In the dashes Richardson ran 9.6 and 20.8 as a freshman, 9.6 and 21.4 as a sophomore, 9.4 and 20.9 as a junior, and 9.3 and 20.9 as a senior. He was Texas Class AA state champion in the 100 in 1959, runner-up in the 220, all-district in football, and letterman in basketball at Nocona High School.
