The following is a press release from Texas Tech Athletics.
LUBBOCK, Texas – The Double T Varsity Club announced six inductees into the Texas Tech Hall of Fame on Monday as part of its official unveiling of the 2019 class that features the likes of nine-time NCAA champion Sally Kipyego and men’s basketball all-time leading scorer Jarrius Jackson.
The 2019 class also includes former All-Southwest Conference offensive lineman Mike Sears, All-American defensive back Dwayne Slay, track and field All-American sprinter Shawon Harris and Kristy Frantz, who will be the first former soccer student-athlete to have her name placed in the Hall of Fame.
“We’re looking forward to inducting another great class into the Texas Tech Hall of Fame,” said Rodney Allison, director of the Double T Varsity Club. “I mean this sincerely when I say this is a special class. This group all had tremendous careers at Texas Tech, and we can’t wait to honor them and their families this November.”
The 2019 Texas Tech Hall of Fame Ceremony will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 22 at the Overton Hotel and Conference Center (2322 Mac Davis Lane). All six honorees will be recognized the following day at Jones AT&T Stadium when the Red Raiders host Kansas State in the final home game of the season.
Tables for the event are $500 while single tickets are priced at $50 each and $30 for Double T Varsity Club members. To reserve a table or ticket, please contact Kami Fryar with the Double T Varsity Club at 806-834-3162 or by email at [email protected].
2019 Texas Tech Hall of Fame Inductees
Kristy Frantz (Soccer, 1996-99)
The first true goal scorer in program history, Kristy Frantz led the attack for a startup Texas Tech soccer program. Frantz was a force on the field, scoring 41 goals in her four years while dishing out 26 assists for a total of 108 points – all three being stats that rank second in program history. She exploded onto the scene as a freshman, tallying 18 goals – five of which were game-winners – and eight assists for 44 points, which stands today as the most dominant season by a Red Raider in history. Frantz was an All-Big 12 second team selection each of her first three seasons at Tech, in addition to being named All-Region twice. She was also a two-time first team Academic All-Big 12 selection.
Shawon Harris (Track & Field, 2004-06, 2008)
Five-time All-American hurdler Shawon Harris finds his name littered throughout the Texas Tech track & field record book. Harris dominated the hurdles in his time at Tech, showing his true versatility doing so indoors and outdoors with first team All-America performances in each the indoor 60m hurdles and outdoor 110m and 400m hurdles. He also helped Tech’s 4×400 team to first team status in both 2006 indoor and 2008 outdoor. In addition, he was also a two-time Big 12 Champion, winning the 60m hurdles and 110m hurdles in 2008.
Jarrius Jackson (Men’s Basketball, 2004-07)
Jackson scored the second-most points in Texas Tech program history and was a two-time All-American, a John R. Wooden Award finalist and three-time All-Big 12 selection from 2004-07 for head coach Bob Knight. Jackson started 131 games and finished with 2,221 career points while also adding 357 assists, 196 steals and is fifth in Tech history with 232 3-pointers made. A Louisiana native, he earned All-America honors as a junior where he averaged 20.5 points per game before receiving the honor as a senior with 19.9 points per game. Jackson, who scored a career-high 41 points at Nebraska in 2006, earned All-Big 12 first team honors in his final two seasons after a third-team selection as a sophomore and being honored as a Big 12 All-Freshman in his first year. After playing for the Red Raiders, he enjoyed a professional career overseas in Spain, Ukraine and Italy.
Sally Kipyego (Track & Field/Cross Country, 2006-09)
No conversation regarding the greatest track and field athletes of all time can take place without the mention of Sally Kipyego. The Kenyan distance runner came to Lubbock and etched her name into the Texas Tech history books across all seasons – cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. Kipyego made national history, too, becoming the first Kenyan to win the NCAA Cross Country Championship in 2007. She did so twice more in her career to become the only woman to ever win three cross country national titles. Kipyego became one of seven women in history to win four individual titles in a single school year, doing so in 2007 with titles in cross country, the indoor 3000m and 5000m, and the outdoor 10,000m. She is the only woman in Big 12 Conference history to win three cross country titles, and her win in 2008 helped the team to its first women’s title in program history. She is a three-time winner of the Honda Sports Award, given annually to the best female athlete in each collegiate sport. She is the only woman to be honored three times in cross country. Several of her marks at Tech have yet to be touched to this day: indoor mile, indoor 3000m, indoor 5000m, outdoor 5000m and outdoor 10,000m.
Professionally, Kipyego has made a career running for the IAAF World Athletics Tour and is the second-fastest Kenyan distance runner in history. She is a two-time top-five finisher in the 10,000m at the World Championships and finished runner-up in the 10,000m at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Mike Sears (Football, 1974-76)
Sears was an honorable mention All-America selection and two-time All-Southwest Conference recipient during his Red Raider career from 1974-76 where he helped lead Texas Tech to one of its best seasons in school history as a senior. Sears joined with fellow offensive lineman Dan Irons, a Texas Tech Hall of Famer in his own right, to form one of the nation’s top units up front, pushing the Red Raiders to eight-straight wins to start the 1976 season, which ultimately ended with a 10-2 record and a Southwest Conference title. Tech finished with six wins in Sears’ other two seasons as he played in two bowl games – the 1976 Bluebonnet Bowl and the 1974 Peach Bowl. Sears was part of the All-Decade team among Red Raiders who played in the 1970s and was also elected to the All-Texas Tech team for the duration of the Southwest Conference.
Dwayne Slay (Football, 2004-05)
Few Red Raiders could disrupt a game quite like Slay, who earned first team All-America honors in 2005 en route to leading Texas Tech to an appearance in the Cotton Bowl. Slay became known as one of the hardest-hitting defensive backs in all of college football during his Red Raider career as he forced a Big 12 record eight fumbles as a senior to go along with a team-leading 112 tackles. Following the season, Slay garnered All-Big 12 first team honors by the conference coaches and was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year by several media outlets, including the Associated Press. He was recognized as a first team All-American by Sports Illustrated, becoming the first Red Raider since 1998 and only the third defensive back all-time to collect the honor. Slay played two seasons at Tech after transferring from Reedley College in California.