The 2016 Kansas Sports Hall of Fame induction class
STEVE ANSON
Kansas State
Anson, a native of Mishakawa, Ind., made indelible marks in Kansas as a baseball player and coach. He was one of 21 players selected to K-State’s All-Century Team in 2000 and also became Washburn’s winningest coach with 844 victories in 35 seasons.
Anson was a four-year starter as a first baseman and outfielder at K-State from 1973-76, leading the Wildcats in hits and batting average each season. His .439 average topped the Big Eight in 1974 and earned him all-conference honors as an outfielder. Anson, who also walked on to Coach Jack Hartman’s basketball team, ranks in K-State’s baseball top 10 in six career categories and remains the triples leader with 19.
He began his coaching career in 1978, spending one season at Wayne State (Neb.) before coming to Washburn. Anson then guided the Ichabods to five NAIA tournaments and was named the 1989 CSIC coach of the year. He earned MIAA coach of the year honors in 1994 and posted an 844-798-3 record at Washburn from 1980-2014.
Anson coached three All-Americans and two players – Rick DeHart and Jerad Head –played in the major leagues. He also served as Washburn basketball coach Bob Chipman’s first assistant. A month after his 35th season at Washburn, Anson died at age 60 in a tree-trimming accident at his home outside of Topeka.
BILL BRIDGES
Kansas
One of the best rebounders in Kansas men’s basketball history, Bridges started his collegiate career one season after Wilt Chamberlain departed and he quickly flourished.
The Hobbs, N.M., product was a three-time All-Big Eight selection and an All-American in 1960-61, his senior season. Playing at a time when freshmen were ineligible for varsity competition, Bridges, a 6-foot-5 forward, grabbed 1,081 rebounds in 78 games for KU. That total ranks fourth on the Jayhawks’ career list despite Bridges playing at least 53 fewer games than any of the others in the top five. His 30 rebounds in a 1960 game against Northwestern is third on KU’s single-game list, trailing only Chamberlain’s top two performances.
Bridges, whose No. 32 jersey was retired by KU in 2004, averaged 13.2 points and 13.9 rebounds for the Jayhawks. He was selected in the third round of the 1961 NBA Draft by the Chicago Packers, but started his professional career with the Kansas City Steers of the American Basketball League. After that league folded, Bridges entered the NBA with the St. Louis Hawks and was a three-time All-Star in 13 seasons, also playing for the Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors.
Bridges was a member of Golden State’s NBA championship in 1975, his final pro season. He died of cancer at age 76 last year in Santa Monica, Calif.
BOB DAVIS
Iola
Born in Iola and raised in Topeka, Davis retired this spring after an award-winning, 48-year broadcasting career. From 1984-2016, his inflective delivery provided the soundtrack for some of KU’s most iconic sports moments as the Voice of the Jayhawks. The enthusiasm behind Davis’ calls of a fast-break dunk or touchdown resonated with KU fans.
Davis, a 1967 Washburn graduate, began his on-air career at KAYS in Hays. He called local high school and Fort Hays State games for 16 years, including the Tigers’ NAIA men’s basketball championship in 1984.
Davis moved to Lawrence later that year and paired with legendary KU broadcaster Max Falkenstein and other color analysts to broadcast Jayhawk football and basketball games. He was the play-by-play voice as KU won NCAA basketball titles in 1988 and 2008. He broadcasted six other Final Fours and six KU football bowl games, including the Jayhawks’ 2008 Orange Bowl victory. From 1997-2013, Davis was also part of the broadcast team for the Kansas City Royals radio and television networks.
The 14-time Kansas Sportscaster of the Year called six NCAA Women’s Final Fours for the NCAA/CBS Radio Network. He also worked for 20 years as a morning sports anchor for KMBZ Radio in Kansas City and was a two-time recipient of the KSHSAA’s Oscar Stauffer Award for broadcasting.
TAMECKA DIXON
Kansas
Dixon’s timing was perfect in 1997 to join the launch of the WNBA, the first women’s professional basketball league in the United States. But prior to that, she put together one of the best careers in KU women’s basketball history.
Dixon, a Linden, N.J., native, was signed by former KU coach Marian Washington in 1993. She led the Jayhawks to four NCAA Tournament appearances from 1994-97. Dixon was the 1996 Big Eight Player of the Year and followed it with Big 12 Player of the Year honors in its inaugural season. She earned Kodak All-America honors as a senior and finished her career with 1,689 points, which ranks eighth on KU’s career list.
The Los Angeles Sparks drafted Dixon with the 14th pick of the first WNBA draft, setting the course for her 13-year professional career. She started in the league’s first game when the Sparks faced the New York Liberty. She was a three-time All-Star with the Sparks and won WNBA titles in 2001 and 2002. Dixon later played with the Houston Comets and Indiana Fever, and retired after playing in Italy during the 2010-11 season.
KU retired Dixon’s No. 33 jersey in 2003. Wichita native Lynette Woodard and Angela Aycock are the only other Jayhawk women’s players to receive the honor.
BILL DOTSON
Concordia
Dotson claimed his spot among the best distance runners in Sunflower State history during the late 1950s and early 1960s. As a high school runner at Concordia, he broke former Olympian Glenn Cunningham’s 28-year-old national and state record in the mile at the KU Relays before graduating in 1958.
Like Cunningham, Dotson took his track talents to KU, where he became a two-time All-American and the first Jayhawk to run the mile in under four minutes, posting a time of 3:59.0 at the 1962 National AAU meet in Walnut, Calif. He set three American records in the mile that year.
Dotson finished his collegiate career with five Big Eight track titles – three indoor and two outdoor – and was the conference’s cross country champion in 1961. A week before Dotson cracked the four-minute barrier as a senior, he broke Wes Santee’s 8-year-old KU and conference record by one-tenth of a second, running 4:00.5 at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore.
Dotson also set American records as part of three relays, the first on the 2-mile team that ran 7:30.8 indoors at the 1962 Chicago Daily News Relays. The second and third came on the same day at the Kansas State Relays in the 2-mile and distance relays. A captain of KU’s 1962 track team, Dotson was inducted into the KU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.
SCOTT HUFFMAN
Quinter
From a KU track walk-on out of Quinter to an American record holder and Olympian in the pole vault, Huffman’s athletic journey was one of perseverance. Huffman discovered his blooming talent after his junior year in high school, when he attended KU’s summer track camp and worked with former Jayhawk assistant Roger Bowen. He won the Class 1A title as a senior, clearing 14 feet, 5 inches.
After earning a scholarship at KU in 1984, Huffman’s tutelage continued under Rick Attig, and he soared from 16 feet to over 18 feet. During that time, he began incorporating a style known as the Huffman Roll, a technique in which he straddled the bar, wrapping one leg over and quickly spinning over the other.
Huffman won the 1986 Big Eight outdoor title and the 1988 Big Eight indoor. He was named an indoor All-American in 1986 and 1988.
After his KU career, Huffman was a three-time USA Track and Field national champion. He cleared 19-7 to set an American record in 1994, his personal best in the event. That height put the 5-foot-9 Huffman among the top three in the world that season. After unsuccessful attempts to make the 1988 and 1992 U.S. Olympic teams, Huffman qualified for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. He finished 13th.
JERRY KILL
Cheney
Now an associate athletic director at K-State, Kill, a Cheney native, established a pattern of building successful college football programs over a 22-year head coaching career.
A linebacker who played for Dennis Franchione at Southwestern College, Kill got his coaching start as a graduate assistant at Pittsburg State. He moved up to defensive coordinator before going to Webb City, Mo., where he led that high school program to a 25-1 record and a state title in three seasons.
After returning to Pitt State and helping the Gorillas the 1991 NCAA Division II title, Kill got his first head coaching job at Saginaw Valley State in 1994. After posting five consecutive winning seasons, Kill returned to Kansas and led Emporia State to an 11-11 record. A seven-year stint at Southern Illinois followed in which Kill took the Redbirds from 1-10 in 2001 to 12-2 and the national semifinals in 2007.
Kill then went to Northern Illinois and guided the Huskies to three consecutive bowl appearances. Minnesota hired him away in 2010, and the Gophers went from 3-9 his first season to three consecutive bowls. Recurring health issues forced him to retire from coaching midway through the 2015 season with a 152-99 career record. Kill has been at K-State since May as a member of athletic director John Currie’s senior departmental staff and chief administrator for the football program.
DEANDRA DOUBRAVA-MCBRIDE
Scott City
Doubrava-McBride parlayed enormous success as an all-around athlete in the mid-1990s at Scott City High into even bigger accomplishments at Emporia State, becoming one of the Hornets’ most decorated track and field competitors.
A four-time state track champion in three events at Scott City, Doubrava-McBride led the Beavers to a Class 4A girls title in 1994. Her individual state titles as a senior included the 400 meters (57.98), long jump (17 feet, 8 ¼ inches) and triple jump (39-2½).
She played volleyball at Emporia State while continuing to excel in track. Doubrava-McBride was a 14-time All-American and won NCAA Division II titles in the 400-meter hurdles and decathlon, setting school records that continue to stand. During her senior season, she was named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division II women’s track athlete of the year and CoSIDA Academic All-America of the Year.
Doubrava-McBride left ESU with six other school records and won an MIAA-record 18 conference championships. She won five individual events at the 1999 MIAA outdoor championships, scoring an individual record 66 points. Doubrava-McBride also led the Hornets to 1996 and 1999 MIAA outdoor titles and a fourth-place national finish in 1999. She has been inducted into the USTFA Division II Hall of Fame, ESU’s Athletics Hall of Fame and the MIAA Hall of Fame.
JAIME MENDEZ
Kansas State
One of the first defensive stars of the Bill Snyder era at K-State, Mendez, a Youngstown, Ohio, product, was a ball-hawking free safety who still holds Wildcat records with four interceptions in a game and 15 for his career.
Mendez played fullback and linebacker at Cardinal Mooney High, the alma mater of current Oklahoma coach and former K-State assistant Bob Stoops. When Snyder hired Stoops on his original staff, Stoops brought in Mendez, who redshirted in 1989, then led the Big Eight with six interceptions as a freshman while playing different positions in the secondary.
Mendez was an All-Big Eight first-team safety as a junior and senior, and earned consensus All-America honors in 1993. He was semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award as a senior. His signature game came as a junior against Temple, when he intercepted quarterback Marc Baxter four times – three in the first half — in a 35-14 victory. The Wildcats won 11 of 12 games in which Mendez intercepted a pass.
Mendez’s playing days coincided with the beginning of K-State’s rise under Snyder. The Wildcats went from 1-10 in Mendez’s redshirt season to 5-6 in 1990. His career culminated with K-State’s first bowl victory, a 52-17 romp over Wyoming in the 1993 Copper Bowl. The Wildcats finished 9-2-1 and snapped a 22-game losing streak to Oklahoma.
LAFAYETTE NORWOOD
Wichita
See Bob Lutz’s column on Norwood at Kansas.com.
AUSTRA SKUJYTE
Kansas State
Skujyte, a former track and field star at K-State, is the only woman to compete in four Olympic heptathlons, the last in 2012. The Lithuanian won a silver medal in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
Her rise in the sport continued in Manhattan after she was recruited to K-State by former cross country coach Mike Smith and competed for longtime coach Cliff Rovelto. Skujyte won consecutive NCAA outdoor heptathlon titles in 2001 and 2002, and helped the Wildcats claim Big 12 women’s titles both seasons. Skujyte was also second in the shot put at the NCAA Championships in 2002. She finished her collegiate career as a four-time All-American and two-time Big 12 Performer of the Year.
Skujyte finished 12th in her first Olympics in 2000. After medaling in 2004, she did not finish the 2008 competition at Beijing, but came back with a fourth-place finish and a career-best 6,599 points in her final Olympics in London. She tried to qualify for this summer’s Rio Olympics but fell short.
Skujyte held the women’s decathlon world record after scoring 8,366 points in a 2005 meet in Columbia, Mo. Her K-State records in the pentathlon and heptathlon were surpassed the last two years by Akela Jones. Skujyte, who is married and has one son, coaches at Lithuanian Sport University.
GEORGE SWEATT
Humboldt
Hailing from Humboldt, the same southeast Kansas town that produced Baseball Hall of Fame member Walter Johnson, Sweatt forged a different but successful path in athletics that was also highlighted by his professional baseball career.
Sweatt, who was born in 1893, worked in a cement plant before joining the U.S. Army’s all-black 816th Pioneer Infantry Division. His unit served in France during World War I. Following his service, Sweatt enrolled at Pittsburg State and was the school’s first African-American student-athlete to letter in basketball, football and track and field. He excelled at sprints and set the school record in the shot put.
During his college days, Sweatt began playing baseball for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues. He spent seven seasons with the Monarchs and the Chicago American Giants, competing in two Negro Leagues World Series with each team. Sweatt, who played a variety of positions, won championships with the Monarchs in 1924 and the American Giants in 1926-27.
Sweatt received his teaching certificate from Pitt State in 1922 and taught youth at a segregated school in Coffeyville. Those duties would summon him from baseball late in the season. Nicknamed “Never,” “Sharkey” and “The Teacher,” Sweatt was inducted into the Pitt State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011.
Scott Paske
This story was originally published September 30, 2016 at 5:50 PM with the headline "The 2016 Kansas Sports Hall of Fame induction class."