COMMERCE – Texas A&M University-Commerce has announced the four members and the one team in the 2016 Lion Athletic Hall of Fame class, the two Bobby Fox Award recipients, and the newest member of the Lion Hall of Honor, who will be inducted on September 24, 2016.
Former football players
Terry Bagsby, Cole Cayce, and
Fred Woods, and track runner
Sidney Garton will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, as will the
1995-96 Men's Basketball team.
Bobby Fox Award recipients for 2016 are
Clint Dolezel and
Ross Hodge. The Hall of Honor will welcome
Blake Cooper as its fourth inductee.
The luncheon will take place at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 24, in the Sam Rayburn Student Center on the A&M-Commerce campus.
The luncheon is open to the public with a cost of attendance of $30 per person or $50 for a couple.
Following the luncheon, there will be a question-and-answer session with TAMUC President Dr. Ray Keck and Director of Athletics
Tim McMurray (2-3 p.m.) in the Rayburn Student Center. Following a pre-game reception at the President's home at Heritage House (4:30 p.m.), there will be tailgating festivities prior to the Lions football game against Texas A&M-Kingsville at 7 p.m.. The group will also be recognized on the field at halftime of the contest.
To be eligible for the Lion Athletic Hall of Fame, a player must have competed at least two seasons, must be removed from exhausting eligibility for 10 years, and individuals should have athletic awards that display a high level of athletic ability and contribution to the team.
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Terry Bagsby – Football
In two seasons with the Lions, Bagsby was one of the most feared players at the linebacker position, making 187 tackles and 27 sacks. In his junior season of 1989, he was named first team all-Lone Star Conference and second team All-America by Don Hansen's Football Gazette. In 1990, he was once again named first team all-Lone Star Conference and earned first team All-America honors from the Associated Press, Eastman Kodak and Don Hansen's Football Gazette as the Lions made the NCAA Division II Playoffs. He was also named the Lone Star Conference's outstanding lineman of the year and was a two-time team MVP. He was drafted in the fifth round of the NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1991.
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Cole Cayce - Football
Cayce played quarterback for the Lions from 1992-96 and was a four-year letterman, three-year team captain, two-time Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Week award winner, Ernest Hawkins most valuable back award winner and first team all-conference selection. At the time of his graduation, Cayce held six school passing records and ranked seventh in school history in passing yardage and total offense. He went on to play for the Texas Terror of the Arena Football League before returning to A&M-Commerce as a graduate assistant quarterbacks coach from 1997-2000.
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Sidney Garton - Track
Sid "The Jet" Garton was dubbed the fastest human alive as one of the world's foremost sprinters in his time at East Texas State University. The New Boston native ran a 9.3 second 100-yard dash and a world-record wind-aided 19.3 second 220-yard dash for the Lions in 1959… On the same day! Garton and the Lions were noted for exemplary performances at the Kansas, Drake and Penn Relays He was honored as the collegiate freshman of the year and was the Dallas Morning News' collegiate freshman of the state. During Garton's time with the Lions, they won back-to-back Lone Star Conference Championships and were NAIA National runners-up both seasons. He was the LSC champion in the 110-yard and 220-yard dashes in 1959 and won the NAIA Championship in the 220-yard dash and the 880-yard relay. His contributions to amateur athletics continued as a key fundraiser for the Centennial Olympic Park and alternate torch bearer for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
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Fred Woods - Football
Woods won six All-American honors in his two years playing at East Texas State in 1992 and 1993. The hard hitter was a first team all-Lone Star Conference player and was named a first team All-American by Don Hansen's Football Gazette in his junior season of 1992 after leading the conference with 14 sacks and making 88 total tackles. In Woods' senior season he was named a first team All-American by the Associated Press, Don Hansen's Football Gazette, Eastman Kodak and C.M. Frank and was named a second team All-American by the Division II sports information directors. He led the Lone Star Conference, making 115 tackles in the regular season for the Lions and was selected to play in the inaugural Snow Bowl Division II All-Star game where he was selected as the team captain for the West team.
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1995-96 Men's Basketball Team
Led by four players who averaged in double digit scoring, the 1995-96 East Texas State men's basketball team won the Lone Star Conference regular season championship with a league record of 11-3 and made its first appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament with a final record of 20-8. 2014 Hall of Fame inductee and Jason Hall averaged 21.1 points per game as the Lions won eight consecutive games in the middle of the season. Hall was named a co-MVP of the Lone Star Conference and earned first team all-conference honors that year, setting a school record with 80 steals..
Charles Ward averaged a double-double with 11.5 points and 10 rebounds per game. Gregg Ward scored 14.1 points per game and Tim Cleveland averaged 11.5 points per game. The Lions clinched the conference championship at home with a 75-63 win over Tarleton State. They were eventually tripped up in the NCAA Tournament with an overtime loss to Central Missouri.
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The Bobby Fox Award
Established in 1994, the Outstanding Alumni Coach Award, given each year to deserving Lion alumni, is made possible by an endowment established by Peggy Bankhead Fox in memory of her late husband, former player and coach of Lion football and track & field.
Clint Dolezel (head coach, Arena Bowl Champions Philadelphia Soul) and
Ross Hodge (associate head coach, Arkansas State University men's basketball) are the 2016 Bobby Fox Award recipients.
Clint Dolezel – Bobby Fox Award
At East Texas State, Dolezel was a two-time all-Lone Star Conference honoree, earning second team all-conference honors in 1992 and 1993. In his two seasons with the Lions, he completed 249-of-483 passes with 23 touchdown passes and 22 interceptions. The Lions were 13-9 in Dolezel's time under center.
Following his time in Commerce, Dolezel plied his trade in arena football as quarterback for the Milwaukee Mustangs, Texas Terror, Houston Thunderbears, Grand Rapids Rampage, Las Vegas Gladiators, and the Dallas Desperados. In 13 seasons, he completed 66 percent of his passes for 44,559 yards with 931 touchdowns.
He was a three-time All-Arena selection (2001, 2006-2007) during his playing career and voted the No. 8 Greatest Player and No. 5 Greatest Quarterback in AFL History by the Silver Anniversary Committee in 2012.
In 2001, he guided the Grand Rapids Rampage to the XV ArenaBowl championship. Dolezel was inducted into the Arena Football League's Hall of Fame on April 12, 2013.
Dolezel entered the coaching ranks as the offensive coordinator of the Florida Firecats in 2009 and led the Dallas Vigilantes to an 11-7 record in 2011 in his first season as head coach.
He has been the head coach of the Philadelphia Soul since 2013 and has led the team to a 49-21 record in four seasons and in 2016, Dolezel led the Soul to the ArenaBowl XXIX Championship.
Ross Hodge – Bobby Fox Award
Hodge is a 2003 graduate of Texas A&M-Commerce and was a two-year basketball starter for the Lions. He was honored with the Terry Allen Award for leadership in his senior season. He then served the Lions as an assistant men's basketball coach from 2003 to 2005, helping the Lions to the 2004-05 Lone Star Conference championship and a run to the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen.
Hodge then went to Paris Junior College for four years, with the last three seasons as head coach, where he led the Dragons to a 83-17 record, two conference championships and two coach of the year awards, finishing eighth in the NJCAA tournament.
He then coached at Midland College for two seasons with a record of 63 wins and 7 losses – a 90 percent winning percentage. In 2009-10, Midland won 26 games to start the season and went 30-3 with a No. 1 national ranking.
Hodge then moved on to assistant coaching positions at Southern Mississippi and Colorado State, helping lead the Rams to the third round of March Madness.
In April, Hodge accepted a position as associate head coach at Arkansas State. He is ranked in the top 15 of recruiters outside of the high resource conferences by multiple publications, including a No. 6 rating by ESPN.com.
The Lions Hall of Honor is a special membership that is not limited to being a former Lion student-athletes, coaches and athletic administrators. The Hall of Honor was started in 2014. This membership recognizes people or groups that have made significant contributions in many different ways to Lion Athletics.
This year's inductee to the Hall of Honor is
Blake Cooper.
Blake Cooper– Hall of Honor
Blake Cooper was a two-time Captain and All-Lone Star Conference football player at East Texas State University and has returned to Commerce to make his mark on the community.
After earning his bachelor's and master's degrees from ETSU, Cooper was an instructor/coach at ETSU as well as school districts of Sheldon, Sulphur Springs, Garland and Winnsboro. He became head football coach at Edgewood High School which led into high school principal and then served as an assistant superintendent at Kaufman ISD.
He was named Superintendent of Commerce ISD in 2008 where he helped the district increase its enrollment, raise teacher salaries and improve the overall academic reputation in the region. Cooper also played a significant role in improving relations between the district and the university throughout his tenure. In recognition for his work, Cooper was named the Region 10 ESC Superintendent of the Year in 2015. Cooper left Commerce ISD earlier this year and now serves as the Executive Director of Friends of Texas Public Schools, a non-profit organization that advocates for public education throughout the state of Texas
Aside from work, he currently volunteers his time helping support Lion Athletics through the periodic e-newsletter called The Lions Lair to over 250 recipients around the world along with a monthly financial commitment to The Lions Champions Fund. Cooper is the founder of the Facebook Page, "Dallas Morning News, Please cover the Texas A&M Commerce Lion Athletics" that has almost 1,000 followers. He is a member of the TAMU-C Athletic Council and has served on several search committees for the university.
He is married to wife, Tammy, and their family includes Wesley, Kelsey and grandson Clark; Robert, Emily and grandson Luke, with twins due in December; and daughter Rebekah who is a senior at Texas A&M University-Commerce.
