ABILENE – One of the most star-studded classes in the history of the ACU Sports Hall of Fame will take its rightful place among the university's greats later Friday night when they are inducted into the hall during a ceremony in the McCaleb Conference Center of the Hunter Welcome Center on the ACU campus.
This year's inductees will be football standouts Billy Malone, Bernard Scott, Johnny Knox and Phil Martin, cross country and track and field superstar Nicodemus Naimadu, track and field standouts Savieri Ngidhi and Marlene Lewis, and volleyball All-American Dr. Michelle Bernhardt-Barry. J.W. Roberts will be inducted into the hall of fame as the 26th recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
In addition, Dr. David Wray – Bible Professor Emeritus and Director of ACU Summit – and Dr. David Wallace – former associate professor and chair of Bible, missions and ministry – will each be honored with the Jim Womack Award. The award which recognizes for ACU student-athletes who excelled not only on the field or court of play, but also in the classroom, and have gone on to excellence in their professional career. Womack is now a distinguished professor in the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology at Texas A&M University.
Wray was one of the great post players in ACU men's basketball history and was inducted into the ACU Sports Hall of Fame in the Class of 2002-03. Wallace was a four-year letterman in football from 1968-71, working as a running back, wide receiver and kick return specialist.
Malone, Scott and Knox formed the Wildcats' version of the "Triplets" in 2007 and 2008, helping the Wildcats become one of the top offensive teams in the country, outscoring their opponents by a combined 1,267-665 en route to posting a 21-4 overall record in those two seasons. Scott won the Harlon Hill Award as the top player in Division II football in 2008 and is ACU's all-time leading rusher, while Knox is ACU's all-time leader in touchdown receptions (30) and holds the single-game receiving yardage mark with 232 in a 2008 game against Angelo State.
In four seasons, Malone set ACU career records for completions, attempts, yards and touchdown passes. His records in the first three were eventually broken by the man who replaced him (
Mitchell Gale), but he still holds the record for career TD passes with 114.
Naimadu was the dominant NCAA Division II distance runner in the mid-2000s and one of the greatest winners in the history of ACU Athletics. He is still the only athlete in NCAA history – male or female – to win four straight individual cross country national championships, and in 2006 and 2007 he led the Wildcats to the team national championships as well. He was elected to the Division II Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2015.
Bernhardt-Barry was the first Wildcat volleyball player in program history to earn any sort of All-America honors as she earned honorable mention honors in 2004. A three-time All-LSC selection, she helped the Wildcats to a back-to-back LSC regular-season and postseason tournament championships and a program-record 31 consecutive wins in 2005. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Arkansas.
Ngidhi was 8 for 8 in in national championship races, winning the 800 meters and 1500 meters at both the NCAA Division II indoor and outdoor national championship meets in 1994 and 1995. His two wins at the 1994 indoor championship meet helped the Wildcats win the team national championship.
Lewis – who passed away in July 2017 – was the top female thrower in NCAA Division II track and field in the 1980s, winning four individual national championships. She helped the Wildcats win five NCAA Division II national championships (1985-88 outdoor and 1988 indoor). She was elected to the Division II Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1998.
Martin was a first team 1970s All-Decade selection. Martin was a two-time first team All-Southland Conference selection (1970 and 1971) when the Wildcats were a combined 14-7 overall, including 9-2 overall and 3-1 in conference play in 1970.
Roberts – the uncle of longtime ACU sports information director and fellow ACU Sports Hall of Fame member Garner Roberts – was instrumental in the founding of the Southland Conference, including his election to serve as chair of the new organization's meetings of faculty representatives in 1963. Roberts went on to develop the conference's first constitution and by-laws and was elected to a two-year term as the league's first president. He was selected to the Southland Conference Hall of Honor in 2017.
