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DENTON - The North Texas Athletic Department on Friday announced its 2016 Athletics Hall of Fame class, a group that comes from four decades and three sports. The six-person class is headlined by a pair of alumni currently playing in the NFL, Lance Dunbar and Craig Robertson. Dunbar, the leading rusher in North Texas history, is a running back with the Dallas Cowboys, while Robertson, the No. 2 tackler in school history, is a linebacker with the New Orleans Saints. This year's class also boasts: Susan Waters, one of the best hitters in Mean Green softball history; Calvin Watson, one of the stars of the Mean Green men's basketball run to the 2007 Sun Belt championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament; Andrew Smith, the quarterback who led North Texas to a New Orleans Bowl victory; and Ron Miller, former men's basketball point guard from 1965 to 1967. Lance Dunbar, football Dunbar is the school's all-time leading rusher, amassing 4,224 yards over his four-year career, which is also the third-best individual rushing performance in Sun Belt Conference history. He had 41 rushing touchdowns in his career, which is also a North Texas record and ranks second in Sun Belt Conference history. He is the only North Texas running back ever to rush for three-consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. Dunbar was a three-time all-conference selection and earned honorable mention All-America honors from Sports Illustrated in 2010. He is only the seventh player in NCAA history to have over 4,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving. In his junior year, he finished sixth in the NCAA with 1,552 rushing yards and 10th with 1,885 all-purpose yards. In his final game in a North Texas uniform, Dunbar rushed for a Sun Belt Conference and North Texas record 313 yards and a school-record four touchdowns in a 59-7 win over Middle Tennessee. Dunbar was an undrafted free-agent signee with the Dallas Cowboys in 2012 and is beginning his fifth season with the Cowboys. Susan Waters, softball Waters was on the Mean Green's first team when North Texas reintroduced softball in 2004. In the team's inaugural game on Feb. 4, 2004, Waters got the Mean Green's first hit, a home run that tied the game against nationally-ranked Texas A&M. She would go on to become the most prolific hitter in Mean Green softball history. Waters was a fixture at third base and the No. 4 slot in the batting order from 2004 to 2007. She was first-team All-Sun Belt her junior and senior seasons after being one of the nation's leaders in home runs per game. She is the author of the No. 1 and No. 2 records for most home runs in a season: 18 in 2006 and 17 in 2007. She also holds the career home run record at North Texas with 49. She is No. 1 all-time at North Texas in career RBI, multiple-RBI games and total bases, and is also in the top five in career hits, doubles, multiple-hit games, slugging percentage and walks. Waters holds the single-season records for RBI, home runs, multiple-RBI games, slugging percentage and total bases. Craig Robertson, football Robertson is the second-leading tackler all-time for North Texas, accumulating 381 during his four-year career from 2007-10. His career tackles rank third all-time among Sun Belt Conference schools. Robertson was a four-year starter and earned all-conference recognition in each of those years, including first team honors as a senior in 2010. His 133 total tackles in 2010 was the second-best ever by a Mean Green defender and is still the fifth-highest total ever in the Sun Belt Conference. He ranked seventh in the NCAA in tackles as a senior. Robertson twice earned the Joe Greene Award as the team's outstanding defensive player. He signed with the NFL's Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2012 and played four years in Cleveland before being signed by the New Orleans Saints in 2016. He has played in 58 games in four NFL seasons, starting 37. He was honored as the Browns NFL Man of the Year in 2014 for his work in the Cleveland community. Calvin Watson, men's basketball In 2007, Watson led North Texas to a Sun Belt Conference championship and its second NCAA Tournament appearance, scoring a team-leading 15.7 points per game. He was the MVP of the 2007 Sun Belt Tournament after hitting six 3-pointers in a 24-point performance in a tournament-final win over Arkansas State, and earned third-team all-Sun Belt honors that season. In that historic season, Watson shattered the school record for career 3-pointers (208) and 3-pointers in a season (90), and finished his career ranked 13th in school history with 1,253 career points. Watson scored 533 points in 2006-07, the 17th-highest season in program history. His career best was 28 points, against UT-Pan American in 2004-05 and against Troy in 2005-06. Watson is tied for sixth-best in North Texas history with a career 3-point percentage of 39.1. He played in 95 games for the Mean Green started 84 games during his career. Andrew Smith, football Smith started 16 games at quarterback for North Texas during the 2002 and 2003 seasons. Tragically, Smith died in an automobile accident while returning to campus to begin his junior season in 2004. Smith started the final 12 games in 2002, leading North Texas to eight wins, including a 24-19 win over Cincinnati in the New Orleans Bowl, the Mean Green's first bowl win since 1946. He was awarded the Ja'Quay Wilburn Award as the team's outstanding offensive back for 2002. Smith started four games in 2003, but played in seven. In his two seasons with North Texas, he played in 20 games, completed 104-of-231 passes for 1,393 yards and eight touchdowns. Since his death, his No. 12 jersey has never been issued to another North Texas player. Ron Miller, basketball Miller played for the North Texas men's basketball team from 1965 to 1967 on teams coached by Dan Spike that did battle in the Missouri Valley Conference. The 1966-67 team featured road wins over Texas A&M and Oklahoma. Miller was team captain, point guard and primary assist man during his days at NT. While assist statistics were not kept prior to 1974, Miller's assists are evidenced by the scoring of teammates Willie Davis, the No. 15 all-time leading scorer in school history, and Rubin Russell, the No. 22 scorer in program history. One of Miller's high points came in 1967, in a televised game against Drake. With the score tied at 77-77, Miller hit a shot at the buzzer for a 79-77 win. The 2016 class will be recognized at North Texas' homecoming game on Nov. 5 and will be inducted prior to the Green-White spring football game at Apogee Stadium in 2017. http://www.meangreensports.com/genrel/080516aac.html

Smith credits much of the football success he's enjoyed to his older brother. Andrew Smith Jr. started at quarterback at Bay City and threw for 2,281 yards and 23 touchdowns while leading the Blackcats to the 2000 Class 4A, Division I state championship as a senior. He went to North Texas where, as a redshirt freshman, he threw for 1,206 yards and led the Mean Green to a 24-19 win over Cincinnati in the 2002 New Orleans Bowl. He became the first quarterback in school history to go undefeated in conference, win a conference championship, and a bowl game in the same season. Smith died in a car wreck on his way back to North Texas for fall practice in August of 2004. "He was my older brother so of course he was my mentor," Smith said. "I'm very proud of my brother and try to be like him in everything I do. There are a lot of ways from my work ethic and my attitude. He told me to do your best, give your best and your best will come up. That had a lasting impact on me." Smith enjoys the chance to carry on his brother's legacy with campers and help out the Andrew Smith Jr. Foundation, which uses proceeds from the camp to fund scholarships. "I get to teach some valuable skills of football," he said. "I look forward to working with the older kids and teaching them things I learned on the college level. We go over every aspect of football. Not only mentally, but even physically." Mike Forman is a sports writer for the Victoria Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6588 or mforman@vicad.com, or comment on this column at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com. Read more: http://www.mywesttexas.com/sports/article_8bb5258b-26e0-50e8-bf1f-4ea3c3e8fd34.html