Track Coach Bryan, Seven Sports Greats
Make Up 2013 Athletics Hall of Fame Class
John Bryan, who coached Dobie High's boys cross country and track teams to state championships three decades ago, and Gawain Guy, the running machine behind those Longhorn titles, have been selected for induction in the Pasadena ISD Athletics Hall of Fame along with six other former athletes from football, basketball and baseball.
The high-school careers of the eight inductees blanket a half-century -- from Pasadena High football star Mickey Spencer, a 1947 graduate, to Amanda Buffalo, a Pasadena High cross country and track standout who graduated in 1985.
Three other football greats were selected: Randall Kerbow, quarterback of the Pasadena High team that reached the 1958 state championship game; Bob Allen, an all-state halfback for South Houston High in 1964; and Jimmy Johnson, a 1976 Sam Rayburn High graduate who went on to play in the same backfield with Earl Campbell at the University of Texas.
Fritz Connally, who played baseball with Johnson on the 1973 Pasadena All-Star team that won the Colt World Series title, was also picked for induction. A 1976 Pasadena High graduate, Connally excelled in both baseball and basketball in high school. He went on to shatter several hitting records at Baylor before ascending to the major leagues with the Chicago Cubs and Baltimore Orioles.
Connally is one of two new inductees to play professional sports. Kerbow, after quarterbacking the Rice Owls in two bowl games, went on to play for the Houston Oilers and then the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.
Half of the eight inductees earned football letters with four different Southwest Conference teams. In addition to Kerbow at Rice and Johnson at Texas, Spencer earned two letters as a lineman for Texas A&M. Allen played college ball at Texas Tech, where he led the Red Raiders in receiving his senior year.
Spencer, who died in 2010, is expected to be represented at the banquet by his wife Milly. The other seven inductees have indicated they plan to attend.
Bryan coached Dobie to the state cross country title in 1980 and to a state track championship in 1981. Guy, who went on to a standout career at Rice, won three state titles under Bryan's tutelage, one in cross country and two in track.
The eight inductees will be honored at a gala banquet April 13 at Memorial High School.
Last year's inaugural banquet, held at Phillips Field House, honored the Hall of Fame's first 12 inductees. The banquet will be relocated this year to Memorial High to accommodate construction at Phillips.
Included in those construction plans is a 3,600 square-foot Hall of Fame facility to be built on the north side of the basketball arena. Organizers hope to move the banquet back to field house in 2014 as part of a permanent, on-site ceremony.
All 360 tickets for last year's induction banquet were sold within 48 hours. A ticket sales plan for this year's banquet is expected to be announced later this month.
Organizers also announced that the Hall of Fame will continue to accept founding donor contributions through the end of August. Contribution levels remain at $2,500, $1,000, $500 and $250. New founding donors will receive an allotment of tickets for this year's banquet and the option to buy tickets for future banquets.
The four donation levels are good for ten, six, four and two tickets, respectively.
Moreover, all founding donors will receive an inscription on a glass wall to be placed on permanent display when the completed exhibit opens in 2014.
For additional information on founding donor memberships, please contact Herman Williams, treasurer for the Hall of Fame organizing committee, at 713-907-1190.
