North Texas Announces 2016 Hall Of Fame Class

Harry · August 5, 2016

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

DeepGreen · August 5, 2016

Ron Miller was a fine player. Glad to see him recognized.

Green P1 · August 5, 2016

I mean... I get it... I just don't...

golfingomez · August 5, 2016

do we still have some big names that aren't in there?

Brett Vito · August 5, 2016

MGB: Remembering Andrew Smith

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2016/08/unt-hall-of-fame-class-includes-andrew-smith.html/

UNTLifer · August 5, 2016

1 hour ago, Green P1 said:

I mean... I get it... I just don't...

???

FirefightnRick · August 5, 2016

I'd like to see more of the bigs up front who blocked for Smith, Hall and Cobbs to make it into the HOF.

Brewster is already in.

Up next:

Nick Zuniga, Matt Turney, J.R. Randal, Jeff Muechow, Randy Gardner and Jonah Bense.

These men laid the foundation for our offensive success and deserve recognition.

Rick

MeanGreenTexan · August 5, 2016

56 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

???

Thinking he means Andrew Smith's inclusion. I'm perplexed as well. Bowl game winner, sure! His stats for just over 1 season was nothing to write home about though:
2002 (the year he took over for an injured Scott Hall and took us to a NOBowl win):
GP COMP ATT PCT YDS YDS/G TD INT QBR
13 91 196 46.4 1206 92.8 7 9 100.7

Honestly, it reeks of Hank Dickenson "leaving his mark". He had probably been lobbying for Smith's inclusion for some time, but RV told him no.

The Hall of Fame is not a place for a memorial for a player deceased while on the roster though. Put a statue up, or name something after him. His numbers just don't make sense for inclusion in the HOF.

Edited August 5, 2016 by MeanGreenTexan

Green P1 · August 6, 2016

5 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Thinking he means Andrew Smith's inclusion. I'm perplexed as well. Bowl game winner, sure! His stats for just over 1 season was nothing to write home about though:
2002 (the year he took over for an injured Scott Hall and took us to a NOBowl win):
GP COMP ATT PCT YDS YDS/G TD INT QBR
13 91 196 46.4 1206 92.8 7 9 100.7

Honestly, it reeks of Hank Dickenson "leaving his mark". He had probably been lobbying for Smith's inclusion for some time, but RV told him no.

The Hall of Fame is not a place for a memorial for a player deceased while on the roster though. Put a statue up, or name something after him. His numbers just don't make sense for inclusion in the HOF.

This

GrandGreen · August 6, 2016

After decades of HOF selection and the selection of obvious historical greats, it gets to a point that it becomes less and less of an honor. Add that to NT's relative futility in sports and there are many picks IMO that are far from meriting this honor. These numbers indicate that NT is producing over 3 athletes a year that are worthy of the HOF.

I'm not going to get into individual specifics, but frankly there are a lot of athletes in the HOF that I wonder how they got selected. Good players that make substantially contributions but "Hall of Fame." You can't and shouldn't even try to have stated requirements, however I think a deserving athlete should be outstanding compared not only to his team but the competition he or she played against.

ntsumck · August 6, 2016

I am a second generation lettermen. Our HOF is a joke! I am the first to agree that pre 2000 it was a good ole boy network (change was needed). Since then RV tried to make it accountable, but he and his group failed miserably. They have made it a Hall of Good. To there credit, they tried to make it all inclusive. But in doing this they have passed over many athletes in most sports that are more deserving.

I am a firm believer that our HOF should be more on what you did at NT than as a Pro. We have many great athletes that have excelled as collegiate athletes and have not so great professional careers. However, we should still honor them for what they did as a NT athlete.

I should never be considered for the HOF, but I have better statistics in my sport than 3 of 5 of this years inductees. I can name 25 athletes from 1960 to today that are more deserving.

Until we have strict parameters on how we elect HOF candidates nothing will change. I hope the new AD department will honor those that have made NT great for all these years.

If we do this, you might be amazed how much more support your would get from Lettermen.

GrandGreen · August 6, 2016

14 minutes ago, ntsumck said:

I am a second generation lettermen. Our HOF is a joke! I am the first to agree that pre 2000 it was a good ole boy network (change was needed). Since then RV tried to make it accountable, but he and his group failed miserably. They have made it a Hall of Good. To there credit, they tried to make it all inclusive. But in doing this they have passed over many athletes in most sports that are more deserving.

I am a firm believer that our HOF should be more on what you did at NT than as a Pro. We have many great athletes that have excelled as collegiate athletes and have not so great professional careers. However, we should still honor them for what they did as a NT athlete.

I should never be considered for the HOF, but I have better statistics in my sport than 3 of 5 of this years inductees. I can name 25 athletes from 1960 to today that are more deserving.

Until we have strict parameters on how we elect HOF candidates nothing will change. I hope the new AD department will honor those that have made NT great for all these years.

If we do this, you might be amazed how much more support your would get from Lettermen.

Great point, there are several HOF players there purely because of their pro careers. Brian Waters is a prime example, a great pro player; but someone that would never have been considered based on his college career.

Hopefully they will wise up and cut down the number of inductees and curtail some of the politics and try to only reward only those that were truly exceptional. Not every QB on a winning team deserves HOF honors nor should picks be made on careers outside of NT or other factors not related to extraordinary play while at NT.

Numbers of inductees should significantly be reduced, elevating the honor. Induction doesn't have to occur every year and having one or two at a time would enhance the honor. As an aside I would set a time limit before someone would be a candidate for inclusion. That takes some of the emotion out of the selection and I believe would mean more to the honorees.

FirefightnRick · August 6, 2016

Keith Chapmen, one of the two greatest kickers in our history should be in the HOF.

And our greatest men's basketball player of all time,... Kenny Lyons should have his jersey number retired and hanging with Jalie's in the Super Pit.

Here is the list of college basketball's 2,000 point/1,000 rebound club.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NCAA_Division_I_men's_basketball_players_with_2,000_points_and_1,000_rebounds

It contains the greatest names in college basketball history. And our own Kenny Lyons is right there among them all. Yet his jersey has yet to be retired after 33 years by his own program.

Its past time to get this done.

Rick

Edited August 6, 2016 by FirefightnRick

greenb.o.g. · August 6, 2016

Love how they couldn't even get Dan Spika's name correct in the press release ...

GrandGreen · August 6, 2016

9 hours ago, FirefightnRick said:

Keith Chapmen, one of the two greatest kickers in our history should be in the HOF.

And our greatest men's basketball player of all time,... Kenny Lyons should have his jersey number retired and hanging with Jalie's in the Super Pit.

Here is the list of college basketball's 2,000 point/1,000 rebound club.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NCAA_Division_I_men's_basketball_players_with_2,000_points_and_1,000_rebounds

It contains the greatest names in college basketball history. And our own Kenny Lyons is right there among them all. Yet his jersey has yet to be retired after 33 years by his own program.

Its past time to get this done.

Rick

You are absolutely right, hanging two woman's jerseys almost before their eligibility was up was purely political. No doubt, Mitchell deserves the honor, but this was done in the manner that reeked of political correctness. No way, Rosalyn Reades should be so honored before literally scores of men basketball players and a few women players such as Clara Campbell. I think her inclusion in the HOF is appropriate but she is not close to be deserving of representing half of the jerseys retired in the Super Pit.

It is actually an insult to Lyons, not to be honored as well as men's basketball which has existed over 50 years longer than NT WBB.

If I was making the decision, based on players I have watched there would be three: Kenneth Lyons, Joe Hamilton, and Jalee Mitchell. There are others before my time that should probably join that list such as Bill Menifee, Rubin Russell, John Savage and Jim Mudd.

Hopefully the new AD will review this situation at some point, and right the wrong that currently exist.