General | 9/1/2015 3:57:00 PM
ABILENE – One of the most distinguished classes in the 30-year history of the ACU Sports Hall of Fame will take its place in ACU Athletics lore later this fall when they are inducted into the hall of fame during ceremonies at the Hunter Welcome Center.
The seven inductees are former director of athletics and men's basketball standout Jared Mosley, football great Danieal Manning, former volleyball head coach Brek Horn, former women's basketball star Teresa (Rubart) Grounds, men's track and field standout Calvin Cooley and national champion football player Mike Lively. Former director of athletics Don Drennan is the recipient of this year's Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Class of 2015-16 will be officially inducted into the hall of fame during festivities on Friday, Oct. 16, at 6 p.m. in the McCaleb Conference Center of the Hunter Welcome Center on the ACU campus. The cost of a ticket is $25 per person and they can be purchased by calling
Amy McAlister at 325-674-2323 or by emailing her at
amy.mcalister@acu.edu by Oct. 12.
With the addition of the seven members of this year's class, the ACU Sports Hall of Fame now includes 178 men and women. With the addition of Grounds and Horn, the hall now has 27 former ACU female student-athletes and coaches among its membership, along with three other women as Lifetime Achievement Award recipients.
Here are bios on each of the seven inductees:
Calvin Cooley (1962): Calvin Cooley was one of the top collegiate hurdlers in the nation during his four-year career for the Wildcats in 1958-61 and a member of a world record-setting relay team for legendary coach Oliver Jackson. He joined Jackson's team after winning two Class B state titles in the hurdles as a schoolboy for the Bearcats of nearby Hawley High School. Cooley and Wildcat teammates Dennis Richardson, Bud Clanton and Olympian Earl Young set a world record of 1:22.6 in the 880-yard relay April 7, 1961, at the Texas Relays. That season Abilene Christian also won the 440, mile and distance medley relays in Austin, added baton titles at the Penn Relays and California Relays, and three times set the collegiate record in the mile relay to earn recognition as the best all-around relay team in the nation by Track and Field News. A senior, Cooley was captain of the 1961 team. He was a teammate of Olympian Bobby Morrow as a freshman at Abilene Christian in 1958. Cooley lost only one hurdles race as a freshman and two as a sophomore in 1959, and he set the national freshman record of 22.6 in the 220-yard low hurdles. He was the Texas Relays champion in the 120-yard high hurdles in 1959 at 14.3, and twice he was ranked No. 2 in the nation in the 220 hurdles by Track and Field News. Cooley's top collegiate times were 14.0 in the 120 hurdles in 1959 and 22.2 in the 220 hurdles in 1960 – both Abilene Christian records. He was state champion in the 120-yard high hurdles and 180-yard low hurdles in 1957 as a senior at Hawley High School and also placed fifth in both the 100-yard dash and long jump at the state meet.
Don Drennan (1958): The 23rd recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, Don Drennan served as Abilene Christian's third director of athletics, following A.B. Morris and
Wally Bullington. He was named the director of athletics on Feb. 2, 1988, and served through his retirement in July 1990. Prior to serving as the director of athletics, Drennan was an associate professor in the Department of Accounting in the university's College of Business Administration. Earlier, he served seven years as the institutional representative from ACU to the NCAA and Lone Star Conference and as chairman of the ACU faculty athletics committee. During his tenure as the director of athletics, Drennan oversaw an improved academic performance among Wildcat student-athletes that exceeded that of the general ACU student body in his final three semesters on the job, as well as the revival of the ACU baseball program and oversight of construction plans on what would become Crutcher Scott Field. Drennan received his bachelor's (1958) and master's (1962) degrees in business administration from Abilene Christian. He was president of the ACU Students' Association during his senior year in 1957-58. He joined the ACU staff in 1960 as director of purchasing. He was named business manager and budget director in 1969 and assistant to the president in 1972. After a leave of absence during the 1981-82 school year, he returned to ACU as a full-time faculty member.
Teresa (Rubart) Grounds (1977): When women's basketball was still a fledgling sport in the AIAW before NCAA-sponsored women's intercollegiate athletics, the Wildcats found their first superstar on the floor in Teresa Rubart. She played 94 games for the Wildcats from 1973-77 and put together a career that has stood the test of time and is still considered one of the best in program history. The first great post player in ACU's long line of great women's post players, Rubart is still ACU's all-time leader in total rebounds (1,194), rebounds per game (12.7) and rebounds in a game (29), even though she played her last game in 1977. She was the first player in ACU women's basketball history to lead the team in both scoring and rebounding in all four of her seasons, a feat matched since then by only fellow hall of famer Claudia Schleyer (1982-86). She is one of only four Wildcats to lead the team in scoring all four years, but she was the first and has since been joined by fellow hall of famers Schleyer, Jennifer (Clarkson) Frazier (1992-96) and Melanie Carter (2000-04). She is fifth on ACU's all-time scoring list with 1,695 points in just 94 games (18.0 points per game), and she is fourth in program history in points per game. Her average of 22.3 ppg in 1975-76 is the eighth-best per-game average in a single season in ACU history. As dominant as Rubart was on the offensive end, she might have been more dominant on the defensive end of the floor. She is ACU's all-time leading rebounder by 50 total rebounds and by more than 3.0 rebounds per game. She averaged 12.7 rebounds per game, while Frazier is second at 9.6 rpg. Rubart has three of the top five rebounding seasons in program with 15.6 rpg in 1974-75 (first), 13.4 rpg in 1975-76 (third) and 11.4 rpg in 1976-77 (fifth). She set the still-standing ACU record for rebounds in a game with 29 during the 1974-75 season. On Feb. 27, 1976, in a game against McMurry, she set the ACU school record for points in a game with 43, a number that still ranks sixth on ACU's single-game scoring list. She also scored 36 points in a March 15, 1975, game against Howard College.
Brek Horn (Class of 2002, M.Ed.): Brek Horn is the most successful volleyball coach in ACU history, leading the program for seven seasons (1999-2005) and posting an eye-popping record of 173-69 for a .715 winning percentage. The next-best winning percentage for an ACU volleyball coach is the .600 posted by Wes Kittley (30-20) in 1987-88. During her final two seasons (2004, 2005), Horn led the Wildcats to a 59-12 record, the only two Lone Star Conference championships in program history, back-to-back regional tournament appearances, a regional tournament runner-up finish in 2005 and a 31-match winning streak in 2005. The Wildcats were a dominant 19-1 in the Lone Star Conference South Division during those two seasons. In 2005, Horn led the Wildcats to the greatest season in program history and one of the great seasons ever put together by any Wildcat athletic team. After starting the season 0-3, the Wildcats reeled off a school-record 31 straight victories before losing to No. 1-ranked and national runner-up Nebraska-Kearney in the regional tournament championship match. The 31-match winning streak of 2005 was the 14th-longest such streak in NCAA Division II history at the time of Horn's resignation. She also led the Wildcats to a 34-match home winning streak, which was the 12th-longest in NCAA Division II history at the time. Horn recruited and coached the first all-America players in ACU volleyball history in Amanda (Slate) Farrell, Lindsey (Martin) Campbell and Michelle Bernhardt. Those three were all named American Volleyball Coaches' Association all-America players in 2005. None of her seven ACU teams won less than 18 matches in a season and five won at least 23 matches. Aside from the three all-America athletes she coached, Horn coached four all-region performers, 15 all-conference players, two academic all-America selections, 13 academic all-conference players and the first conference MVP in program history in Slate, who won the award in 2004 and 2005.
MIke Lively (1978): One of the top defensive linemen in ACU football history, Lively is just the sixth player from ACU's 1977 NAIA Division I national championship team to earn induction into the ACU Sports Hall of Fame. He joins wide receiver Cleotha Montgomery, quarterback John Mayes, linebacker Ray Nunez, running back Kelly Kent and defensive back Chuck Sitton as hall of famers from that team. Lively was a four-year letterman who went on to earn honorable mention all-Lone Star Conference honors as a junior in 1976 and second steam all-LSC honors as a senior in 1977. As a junior in 1976, Lively recorded 13 tackles, one sack and one fumble recovery to help ACU to a 9-2 record and a victory over Harding in the Shrine Bowl in Pasadena, Texas. As a sophomore in 1975, Lively had 29 solo stops, 13 assists for 42 total tackles to go along with one fumble recovery and one sack. He was selected to ACU's all-Decade Team for the 1970s after his play in all four seasons. Lively signed with Abilene Christian out of Fort Worth Christian High School and was one of just nine freshmen who lettered in 1974. Lively, Montgomery, Nunez, defensive back Harold Nutall and Sitton were all freshmen lettermen in 1974, and they would go on to form the backbone of the 1977 national championship team. Lively's sons, Britt and Josh, went on to play football at ACU with Britt earning first team NCAA Division II all-America honors in 2003.
Danieal Manning (2007): Danieal Manning put together one of the great careers in ACU football history and is on the short list for consideration as the program's all-time best player. Manning was a three-year starter at ACU (2003-05) and became the second-highest draftee in school history (42nd pick by the Chicago Bears in 2006). Manning started all 30 games while at ACU and finished his career with 159 tackles, two sacks, 11 interceptions, 12 tackles for loss, six forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and four blocked kicks. Manning earned 12 NCAA Division II all-America citations during his career and was a three-time first team all-region and all-Lone Star Conference selection. In August 2005 he was the only then-active ACU player named to the university's all-Century Team. In his rookie season with the Bears (2006), Manning started 17 of the Bears' 19 games as they won the NFC championship before falling to Indianapolis in Super Bowl XLI, 29-17. After 56 starts with the Bears, Manning signed with the Houston Texas and started 40 games with the Texans after signing a free agent contract in July 2011. He appeared in all 16 games for the Texans in 2014, but announced his retirement in the spring of 2015 after nine seasons in the NFL. While in Houston, Manning helped the Texans win their first AFC South title (2012), post three winning records, make two playoff trips, and win the first two playoff games in franchise history. He finished his career by playing in 106 games (85 starts) and recorded 486 tackles (397 solo stops), 11 interceptions, nine forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries and two blocked field goals. He was also an excellent kick returner with a career average of 26.8 yards per return on 115 attempts, which is the fourth-highest kickoff return average since entering the league in 2006. In 2008, Manning was a first-team All-Pro thanks to his efforts on special teams. He led the NFL in kickoff return average with 29.7 yards on 36 attempts.
Jared Mosley (Class of 2000): Jared Mosley was named the seventh director of athletics in ACU history in June 2004 and under his leadership, the Wildcats won 10 NCAA Division II national championships, 20 Division II regional championships and 46 Lone Star Conference championships. Some of his most notable achievements, however, were dedicated to raising funds necessary for two on-campus stadiums, guiding the athletics program from NCAA Division II status to NCAA Division I affiliation and a return to the Southland Conference, and negotiating a three-year deal with Adidas for the sports apparel company to be the official outfitter of Wildcat athletics. He resigned in August 2014 to become the CEO and president of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. Prior to beginning work in the ACU Athletics' administration, Mosley put together one of the greatest careers in the history of ACU men's basketball. One of the most decorated basketball players to play for ACU, Mosley finished his career in 1999 as the 11th-leading scorer and eighth-leading rebounder in Wildcat history, and in his senior season (1998-99) he led his team to the Division II South Central Region championship game. He earned several honors during his senior season, including first team GTE academic all-America, first team NCAA all-South Central Region by the NABC, second team all-region by Daktronics-CoSIDA, LSC South Division MVP, and first team academic all-LSC. He also was awarded a $5,000 NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship.
