Six Individuals, One Team Named To Hall of Fame

6/18/2015 8:01:00 AM

EDMOND (June 18) – Four of the best athletes in school history, one of the department's most successful coaches, a long-time supporter and the school's first national championship team have been selected for induction into the University of Central Oklahoma Athletic Hall of Fame, it was announced Thursday.

Making up the 2015 Hall of Fame class in the Athlete Category is basketball star Eddie Robinson, softball standout Chasidy Horton and wrestling All-Americans Jeff Gowens and Jack O'Connor. Record-breaking baseball skipper Wendell Simons was chosen in the Coach/Administrator category and Chuck Stumbaugh as a Friend of Athletics, while the 1962 football squad that captured the NAIA national title became the first team named to the Hall of Fame.

The new members will be inducted during the UCO Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet, set for Friday, Nov. 6 in the University Center Ballroom. The reception starts at 5:45 p.m., with the banquet set to start at 6:30.

A high-flying 6-foot-9 forward from Flint, Mich. Robinson spent two years at Brown Mackie (Kan.) College before coming to UCO. He was a two-year standout for the Bronchos in the late 1999s before becoming the only player in school history to compete in the National Basketball Association.

Robinson averaged 14.8 points and 7.4 rebounds a game as a junior in 1997-98 when he helped UCO go 25-7 in winning the Lone Star Conference title and making it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Division II national tournament and followed with perhaps the best individual single-season performance in school history.

As a senior, Robinson led Division II in scoring with a 28.0 average while adding 9.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots a game. He scored 40-plus points four times – capped by a school-record 52-point outburst against Southwestern Oklahoma – and was named the LSC North Division Player of the Year, a consensus first-team All-American and the Lone Star Conference Male Athlete of the Year.

Robinson signed as a free agent with the Charlotte Hornets two months after his senior season ended and spent two seasons there before going on to play three injury-plagued years with the Chicago Bulls. He averaged 7.0 points and 2.7 rebounds a game in a five-year NBA career that ended in 2004.

Horton was a four-year starter at shortstop for the Bronchos from 1996-99, finishing her career as one of the best players in school history.

She was a second-team All-South Central Region selection as a freshman after hitting .413 with 11 doubles and four home runs before earning first-team All-South Central Region honors and becoming UCO's first first-team Division II All-American as a sophomore after batting .485 with seven homers and 28 RBI.

Horton came back as a junior in 1998 to hit .319 with nine doubles in helping the Bronchos win the Lone Star Conference championship in their first year in the league for softball. She was a first-team All-LSC selection as a senior after hitting .328 with 12 doubles, 10 homers and 31 RBI.

Horton ended her career as the school's all-time leader in at bats (456), runs (124), hits (174), doubles (37), homers (23) and average (.382) while ranking second in RBI (93). She still ranks second in career average, second in doubles, fifth in runs, sixth in homers, seventh in hits and ninth in RBI.

Gowens was a four-year starter and three-time All-American on the mat for the Bronchos who finished with a 130-56-4 career record that ranks sixth on the school's all-time win list while racking up 51 bonus-point wins.

The Del City native went 31-16 at 126 pounds as a true freshman in 1987-88 and was a national qualifier on UCO's NAIA national runner-up team. He was a member of an NAIA All-Star team that traveled to Europe the summer after his rookie season, going 5-0 during that tour.

Gowens moved up a weight to 134 and put together a 37-12-1 record with 11 bonus-point wins as a sophomore. He won three regular season tournaments and pulled off two upsets en route to a national runner-up finish in helping the Bronchos capture the team title in their last year as NAIA members.

Gowens went 29-14-2 with 14 bonus wins his junior season and finished third at 134 in the NCAA Division II national tournament as UCO earned a runner-up team finish. He capped a 33-14-1 senior season with another third-place finish at 134 as a senior in 1991-92 and the Bronchos again came in second as a team.

O'Connor came to UCO from Northern Oklahoma College and was a three-time All-American at 158 pounds while helping lead the Bronchos to three consecutive NAIA national championships.

The Duncan native broke into the starting lineup late in the season as a sophomore in 1983-84 and was unseeded at the national tournament before pulling off a series of upsets en route to capturing the gold medal and sparking UCO to the team title.

O'Connor came back the following season and made it all the way to the national finals before dropping a close match in finishing runner-up and ending with a 28-12 record to help the Bronchos repeat as team champions.

UCO won a third straight team crown in 1985-86 as O'Connor went 27-11-1 with 10 bonus-point wins while earning All-America honors again with a sixth-place national tournament finish.

Simmons won more games than any other coach in school history with a 633-374-1 record in 19 years at the baseball helm from 1992-2010. He directed UCO to 12 seasons with 30-plus victories and had the eight winningest seasons in school history.

Wendell guided the Bronchos to six Lone Star Conference North Division championships, three overall LSC titles and seven NCAA Division II national tournament appearances, with the 1997 team finishing as national runner-up.

Simmons was named LSC Coach of the Year in 1994 and '97, earned LSC North Division Coach of the Year honors in 2001, '02, '03, '05 and '06 and was South Central Regional Coach of the Year in 1997. He coached 134 first- and second-team all-conference players and 14 All-Americans.

A pitcher for the Bronchos in the 1970s, Simmons was a successful high school coach before returning to UCO and he finished his career with a combined high school/college record of 1,078-541-1 in 34 years.

Stumbaugh came to UCO in 1966 and spent 44 years with the school as an accounting professor while also assisting the athletic department in a variety of roles during his long career.

He was a volunteer public address announcer and scoreboard operator for different sports for many years and also served as the school's faculty athletics representative for nine years from 1994-03. Chuck also has an endowed scholarship in his name with the UCO accounting department.

Stumbaugh is and always has been a loyal supporter of all UCO teams, both physically and financially. He rarely misses a home event and often travels to support the Bronchos on the road.

Becoming the first team to be inducted into the UCO Athletic Hall of Fame is the 1962 football squad that captured the school's first-ever national championship.

The Bronchos of head coach Al Blevins dominated from start-to-finish while going a perfect 11-0 that season, outscoring their opponents a combined 350-59 while recording five shutouts. UCO had nine first-team All-Oklahoma Collegiate Conference performers on the team and defeated Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.) 28-13 in the NAIA national title game in Sacramento, Calif.

Seven players from that team (R.L. Briggs, Billy Jones, Mickey Hoy, Mike Little, Ed Nowlin, Mike Rollins and Bobby Williams) are members of the UCO Athletic Hall of Fame and three (Briggs, Hughley and Williams) played in the National Football League.

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