Athletics – Hall of Fame Honorees

Athletics

2021 Athletic Hall of Honor Inductees

Members of the 2002 McMurry Swimming Team took center stage as the first team induction for the program. This group, led by legendary head coach Bev Ball, won the New South Intercollegiate Conference championship on both the men’s and women’s side in just its third year as a program.

Talitha Belcher Alexander ’02 has four records that still stand in the track and field program. She was a four-time All-American and is the only McMurry women’s track and field athlete to win the American Southwest Conference Fred Jacoby Sportsmanship Award.

Hann Ollison ’10 is arguably the most accomplished athlete in NCAA Division III track and field, winning six national championships, 17 All-American honors and 16 individual conference championships. In 2008, he helped McMurry win its first-ever NCAA team national championship and was the High Point Athlete for the NCAA meet. Albert Carrizales ’06 earned his spot in the Hall of Honor as a four-time allconference selection at shortstop for the baseball program, a 2005 All-American and the 2003 American Southwest Conference Freshman of the Year. Carrizales owns multiple school records and is one of three players to hit for the cycle in program history.

Though she was unable to accept in person, Terah Brown Geter ’11 entered the Hall of Honor after a Hall of Honor-worthy career with the volleyball program. Geter, who assisted the program as a coach this fall, will accept her official induction with the 2022 class.

Josh Lee ’05 had one of the most successful baseball careers in American Southwest Conference history, winning Freshman of the Year in 2001 and back-to-back MVP awards in 2003 and 2004. Lee also helped the team win two conference titles and became just the third draft pick in program history in 2005 with the Detroit Tigers. Carla Lewis Frazier ’10 became the first-ever scholar-athlete from the cross-country program to receive induction this year. She is currently the only two-time individual medalist in program history and is also the only McMurry women’s runner to compete at the NCAA Division III national meet.

This year’s Bob and Clara Brown Award recipients were Kathi and Murray Edwards. This couple impacted McMurry with their incredible generosity, which enabled the athletic department to build a state-of-the-art softball field on campus – the first of its kind.

Doc Shelby lettered four seasons at McMurry from 1974 – 1978 and holds the football school record for single-game rushing yards with 261 and the longest run from scrimmage at 99 yards. The now-successful salesman and congressional district candidate remains seventh on the all-time rushing list at McMurry.

Athletics

Cody Brotherton ’05 enters the Hall of Honor after winning five national championships with the track and field program. Brotherton remains at McMurry as the Assistant Track and Field Coach.

This year’s Grant Teaff “Beyond the Game” award went to posthumous recipient William “Doc” Hadley, who served over two decades as head athletic trainer until his passing in 2004. His son and fellow athletic trainer, Trevor Hadley ’02, accepted the award on behalf of Doc and his family.

Former baseball coach and 2010 inductee Lee Driggers returned to campus, along with members of the 2008 baseball team, to celebrate their induction. This team included a National Player of the Year honor for Derek David, multiple school records and a conference championship with a 29-17 overall record.

The arrival of a program – McMurry Women’s Soccer

On Oct. 29, 2021, McMurry University did something that no women’s soccer team has been able to do in the last six seasons: beat Hardin-Simmons University in a conference game. The program across town has won 19 consecutive American Southwest Conference championships, joining McMurry’s track and field program and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor’s football program as perhaps the three most successful teams in the conference since its inception in 1996. Since 2016, Hardin-Simmons’ Cowgirls had a 98-8-7 record entering that memorable night on Oct. 9 – not to mention their stranglehold on the Southwest Conference with a 58-0-2 record in conference games. But their closest and perhaps most bitter rival – McMurry – found a way to end that streak. McMurry War Hawks haven’t always been successful since starting the program in 2001. In fact, Hardin-Simmons had beaten McMurry 21 straight times heading into this year’s regular season finale. And most of those losses weren’t pretty – including 19 shutouts.

Enter Charles Nobles

The fifth-year head coach started with McMurry as an assistant and had a perfect model across town to build his program after. Finally, things began to come together in 2019 when McMurry broke a school record with 12 wins and took Hardin-Simmons to the wire in conference semifinals – falling 2-1 in the final seconds. That heartbreaking loss was a sign of great things to come.

Fast forward to 2021, when freshman Emily Holland wiggled through defenders and launched one into the net for the 1-0 lead. Things only got tougher for the defense, but goalkeeper Cortlynn Boone and the defense put the clamps down and kept the powerhouse Cowgirls off the board. The War Hawks had hundreds of fans in the stands, but none of them were sitting. In fact, most of them were on the field celebrating with the team after the historic win. Despite falling to Hardin-Simmons in the Southwest Conference semifinal later that week, McMurry proved its worth as a viable threat for years to come.