This is the 5^th in a series profiling this year's inductees for the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame and Wall of Honor, which will be posted every week at baylorbears.com.
 
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            After four years as a player and 40 years in the broadcast booth as the color analyst for the Baylor men's basketball team, Pat Nunley couldn't hold back the emotion as the final seconds ticked off the clock in the Bears' 86-70 win over Gonzaga on April 5, 2021, in the national championship game. 

            "There's a recording of the (radio) call that John (Morris) and I made when they won it. And I don't remember those words," Nunley said. "I'm not kidding. I don't remember the words coming out of my mouth. I'm just gushing, really."

            Wrapping a nice bow around an unbelievable 28-2 season, Nunley described it as a "long and winding journey."

            "This is a team that could have separated a year ago, but they all came back together," he said on that end-of-the-game call. "All of them came back for this moment. And it is so heartwarming to see that commitment pay off. What a wonderful thing. And John, as they do after every game – win or lose – they are giving thanks, praying as a team. Their arms are locked together, and that's Baylor culture – Jesus, Others, You."

            For the last 20 years, Nunley has had a front-row view "of the most incredible turnaround story in the history of college basketball" as Scott Drew rebuilt the program from the ashes into one of the truly elite teams in the country. 

            "I've had the best seat in the house, and now I'm being honored for that?" said Nunley, who was elected to the Baylor Athletics 2023 Hall of Fame class that will be inducted Nov. 3. "This has been such a gift."

            As a standout guard at Richland High School, Nunley played for coach Tommy Newman, who himself was being recruited by colleges. 

            "I don't know that it was a deal that we made," Nunley said, "but knowing that he was going to go somewhere, I was going to go with him, if it worked out. I didn't really care where it was."

            Although Newman didn't tell him about it until 10 years ago, the pair almost ended up at the University of Evansville with coach Bobby Watson. On Dec. 13, 1977, a plane carrying Watson and the entire team crashed just moments after takeoff, killing everyone on board. 

            "Coach Newman said he was about to sign the contract, had pen to paper, when something told him that Baylor's a better fit," Nunley said. "I didn't know anything about it at the time. But 10 years ago, Coach Newman says to me, 'We are on that plane, but for my second thoughts about it. It hit me: Evansville is not the place. Baylor's the place for us.'''

            A four-year starter at guard for the Bears (1977-81), Nunley played alongside two of the greatest players in program history in Vinnie Johnson and Terry Teagle, averaging a career-high 12.3 points as a junior. On Jan. 28, 1978, Nunley (11) and Johnson (50) combined for 61 points in a 77-53 win over TCU. 

            "We show up (at Baylor), and for the first few days, everybody's just going to the gym and playing," Nunley said. "It's not just the basketball team. And there's a guy over there who is wearing people out. And I go, 'Who is that dude?' I'm thinking, I'm not going to make it here. This guy just shows up in the gym and is so much better than me, I can't even describe it. And then I learned, thank goodness, that that was Vinnie Johnson."

            Watching Johnson and Teagle, who both had extended and successful careers in the NBA, Nunley said he had to "figure out what plan B was for my life."

            "Because if plan A was the NBA, I'm not real sure that was going to work out."

            Before starting law school, though, Nunley got a call "out of the blue" from legendary Baylor broadcaster Frank Fallon. He was leaving KWTX radio to start the Baylor radio network and wanted to see if the recent Baylor grad wanted to join him as the color analyst. 

            "I'm stunned," Nunley said. "I'm thinking, 'Why are you calling me?' I joke about this, but it was in that call that Frank told me the job didn't pay anything. That's when I went, 'Okay, this is all starting to make sense to me now.' But it was totally out of the blue."

            With no previous experience, Nunley moved into a broadcasting role that he has now held for 42 years, the last 28 with "Voice of the Bears" John Morris. 

            "I think it was just, I had played, I knew the program and I fit the budget constraints," Nunley said. "It's interesting, I have never counted. I never really thought about how long I had been doing this, or what next year looked like. I became aware of the years in 2007, when the team gave me an autographed ball honoring 25 years. And I went, 'Holy cow! Twenty-five years!'''

            Groomed and trained by Fallon, Nunley said it was "clunky out of the gate, very clunky."
 
            "It got to the point where I thought, 'Am I doing the job that he wants me to do?''' Nunley said. "And he'd always say, 'You're doing fine.' I just got a lot of coaching in the Frank Fallon Way. And over time, I did get comfortable. But it was years before I felt like I knew what to do, when to come in, when I was talking too much. That balance between not talking enough and talking too much, I had to find that."

            Before handling play-by-play duties for the first time, on the team's trip to the Top of the World Classic in Anchorage, Alaska, he met with Fallon and got a list of "30 things to think about."

            "In fact, I'm holding them in my hand, in his handwriting," Pat said. "This should be in the Smithsonian. And it's golden. But that's what he did. When you asked Frank for help, he's going to help you. So, I took that list with me everywhere I went."

            When Fallon retired in 1995, Nunley quickly developed an immediate rapport with Morris, staying on the broadcast team in the analyst role. 

            "I had known him and we may have worked a game here and there together," Nunley said, "but we hit it off immediately."

            The pinnacle of both of their broadcasting careers came on the night of April 5, 2021, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, when Nunley said, "This is THE best college basketball team in the country, not even close."

            Two years later, Nunley got another "call out of the blue" from Walter Abercrombie, Baylor Associate AD of the "B" Association letterwinners' group, notifying him that he had been elected to the Hall of Fame. 

            "The mere possibility of that happening never occurred to me, not one time," said Nunley, who's an internal consultant with RSM after 25 years as an attorney in Waco and another eight years with Athens Partners. 

            "It was completely out of the blue, and it stunned me. I don't know of a better word. In that call, Walter told me I could tell my family, but otherwise to keep it on the down low. Which was good, because I needed some time to think about it. it's one of those calls you'll never forget."

            Joining Nunley in this year's Hall of Fame class are football's J.D. Walton and Ken Quesenberry, baseball's Max Muncy, tennis All-American Denes Lukacs and track and field's Stan Curry, Sandy Forsythe Massey and Tiffany Townsend. 

            Tickets to the Nov. 3 banquet at Baylor's Cashion Building Banquet Room are $50 per person, with table sponsorships also available at the green ($600) and gold ($800) levels, and can be purchased by contacting the "B" Association at 254-710-3045 or by email at tammy_hardin@baylor.edu.