Oct. 28, 2005
Five individuals, including football standouts Ray Berry and Bruce Davis, two-sport star Luke Prestridge, women's basketball's Babette Metcalf Eikenberg and track's Glynn Fields comprise the Baylor University Athletic Hall of Fame's Class of 2005 and will participate in next weekend's on-campus enshrinement activities. In addition, track and field's David Alexander will join the Hall of Fame's Wall of Honor.
Tickets to the 2005 Hall of Fame & Wall of Honor banquet, which will be held on Friday, Nov. 4, in the Galloway Suite at Floyd Casey Stadium starting at 7 p.m., are $30 each ($25 for Baylor letterwinners). Tickets may be purchased by contacting the "B" Association's Reba Cooper by phone at 254.710.3045 or e-mail at reba_cooper@baylor.edu. In addition to the banquet, the six honorees will be recognized prior to the Nov. 5 Baylor-Texas football game.
Baylor's Hall of Fame, organized in 1960, recognizes and honors individuals whose participation and contributions enriched and strengthened the university's athletics program. Athletes are required to wait 10 years after completing their eligibility before being eligible to be considered for this honor. Since coach Floyd "Uncle Jim" Crow and baseball's Teddy Lyons comprised the hall's first class in 1960 through this year's class, some 150 former Baylor student-athletes have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame. The Wall of Honor, established in 2000, boasts a total of eight honorees.
An Abilene, Texas, native, Berry lettered for coach Grant Teaff's Bears in 1983-84-85-86 and was named to the school's 1980-89 All-Decade team as a linebacker. An All-Southwest Conference honoree as a junior and senior, he capped his career by earning MVP honors in Baylor's 21-9 victory over Colorado in the Bluebonnet Bowl. Barry still ranks among Baylor's all-time leaders in total tackles (No. 2, 380), solo tackles (No. 2, 231), assisted tackles (No. 3, 149) and sacks (No. 9, 9). He went on to play in both the Senior Bowl and the East/West Shrine All-Star Game and was selected by Dave Campbell as one of Baylor's Top 50 football players of the 20th century. Berry, who spent six seasons in the National Football League with the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks, lives in his hometown of Abilene where he works in the family business.
Davis was a two-sport standout for the Bears, lettering in both football and track from 1980 through 1984. A Dallas, Texas, product, Davis ranks No. 3 on Baylor's yards per reception list (19.62), No 5 on its touchdown receptions chart (13) and No. 7 on the all-time receiving yards list with 1,393 yards. An All-Southwest Conference wide out as a senior in 1983 when he caught 42 passes for 755 yards and 8 touchdowns, Davis produced five 100-yard receiving games over his career and his 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against SMU still ranks as the school's third-best return all-time. Davis played for the Cleveland Browns and San Diego Chargers following his Baylor career. On the track, he still holds three of Baylor's top five 100-meter dash times. Davis works at Multi Foods, Inc., in Dallas and his son, Braelon is a sophomore cornerback on the 2005 Baylor football team.
Fields, a Little Rock, Ark., native, set a 1960 Southwest Conference freshman record in the 440-yard dash with a 47.8 clocking and ran on SWC record-breaking relay teams that ran a 41.0 in the 440-yard relay and a 3:15.5 mile relay time after having set a national freshman 440-yard relay mark of 40.7. In 1961, Baylor finished second in the SWC Championships with 60 points, 8.5 behind champion Texas. In that meet, Fields led the 440-yard relay team to a gold medal. He was a member of Baylor's 1962 and 1963 SWC championship squads and helped the Bears by placing second in both the 100- and 220-yard dashes, while running on the title-winning 440-yard relay squad. He earned 12 points and was the high point man for the meet, while only one other Baylor thinclad scored more points in three SWC meets than Fields' 30.5 points. Fields is a retired sporting goods salesman who lives in Conyers, Ga., with his wife Betty.
A three-year letterwinner for the Baylor women's basketball team (1976-78), Metcalf led the Lady Bears to the AIAW Final Eight in both 1976 and 1977, finishing seventh and fifth, respectively. Her season year, Baylor won a school-record 33 games (a mark matched by the school's 2005 national championship team), and her 1,314 points ranked among the school's top 10 until 2004, but her 16.0 scoring average still ranks 10th all-time. Metcalf totaled 815 rebounds, good for sixth-place all-time, and she continues to rank on the all-time charts in steals, free throws made and attempted, field goals made and attempted and field goal percentage. She is married to former Baylor football player Ronald Eikenbeg and they reside in Willis, Texas, where she works as an administrator in the Montgomery Independent School District.
Prestridge was a hard-hitting first baseman and one of the nation's top punters as a Baylor Bear. He led the baseball team to the College World Series in both 1977 and 1978, while earning All-SWC honors in 1978 and 1979. He was selected by Dave Campbell as the first baseman on Baylor's all-time SWC honor squad. On the football field, he earned three letters as a punter and today he still ranks among the school's all-time leaders in punting average (No. 3, 42.23 ypa), total punts (No. 6, 180) and total punt yards (No. 6, 7,602). Prestridge recorded two of the longest punts in school history and spent five seasons with the Denver Broncos before concluding his career with the New England Patriots. The 1983 Pro Bowl pick works for Offshore Energy Services and resides in Houston with his wife Diane and family.
After competing for the Baylor track and field team, Alexander went on to become one of America's most valuable aerospace engineers, spending 32 years with NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. He was involved in putting men on the moon and designing the space shuttle and its flights. His technical expertise was orbital rendezvous (bringing two space vehicles together in space), particularly around the moon. Alexander worked directly with the early Apollo astronauts, especially Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, was part of the team that controlled the missions from the Mission Control Center in Houston. He also was involved in returning the Apollo 13 astronauts safely to Earth. Alexander retired from NASA in 1989 and currently lives in White Oak, Texas, with his wife, Virginia.
