Nine Voted Into UCO Hall of Fame

6/18/2012 7:39:00 AM

EDMOND (June 18) -- Six of the best athletes in school history, a coach who re-established a national powerhouse and two former athletes who went on to long careers in coaching and administration have been selected for induction into the University of Central Oklahoma Athletic Hall of Fame.

Making up the 2012 Hall of Fame class is tennis All-American Melburn Brown, Jr., wrestling national champion Todd Drake, basketball All-American Tyrone Hopkins, football All-American Johnnie Jones, multi-sport standout Christina Smith and soccer star Sally (Holmes) Tinga in the Athlete Category, while Jim Rogers was selected in the Coach Category and Jessie Banks and Don Jimerson for Lifetime Achievement.

The nine new members will be formally inducted during the UCO Hall of Fame Banquet, which is set for Friday, Nov. 2 in the University Center Ballroom during Homecoming weekend.

Brown came to UCO from Cowley County (Kan.) Community College and enjoyed a brilliant two-year career with the Bronchos, putting together a 78-27 combined record in singles and doubles.

He earned All-America honors in doubles and was ranked No. 3 in the nation as a junior in 1994-95 and then helped lead UCO to one of the best years in school history as a senior, with the Bronchos going 16-2 and winning the Lone Star Conference title en route to making it to the quarterfinals in the NCAA Division II national tournament.

Brown was a singles and doubles All-American his final season with a 44-13 combined record, ranking No. 1 nationally in doubles, and he also won the Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award for the South Central Region.

Drake was a four-time Kansas state champion before coming to UCO and he started four straight years at 142 pounds for the Bronchos, amassing a 121-54-4 record that ranks as the 10th best in school history.

He went 18-16-12 as a freshman in 1989-90 and then earned All-America honors his last three seasons while helping lead UCO to a pair of NCAA Division II team titles. Todd was 30-15-2 as a sophomore with a third-place national tournament finish and he repeated that third-place showing the next year in compiling a 40-12 record as the Bronchos won their first-ever Division II national championship.

Drake capped his career in style in 1992-93, capturing the individual national title in addition to leading UCO to a repeat team championship. Todd had a 33-11 record his senior season, avenging a regular season loss in the national finals with a victory over a Portland State wrestler going for his fourth title.

Hopkins put together an amazing two-year career at UCO in the mid-1990s as an inside scoring and rebounding force, finishing his career with 1,233 points. That ranks 22nd on the school's overall scoring list and is the fourth-best among two-year players.

Tyrone averaged a Lone Star Conference-leading 23.4 points a game as a junior in 1996-96 while adding 8.5 rebounds, 3.3 steals and 2.0 assists to win LSC Player of the Year honors and earn All-America accolades and he came back with a better season as a senior.

Hopkins missed the first six games of the 1996-97 campaign to injury, but returned to lead the conference in both scoring (24.0) and rebounding (11.0) -- ranking among the Division II leaders in both categories -- to repeat as LSC Player of the Year and claim first-team All-America honors. He led UCO to a 24-5 record, the regular season and LSC Tournament titles and a berth in the national tournament with a No. 4 ranking in the final poll.

Jones was a highly-decorated player as a star defensive back-punt returner for the Bronchos during the 1990s, finishing with eight school
records that still stand.

A 5-7, 160-pound cornerback, Johnnie had 76 tackles and four interceptions his first two years before putting together a dominating campaign in 1998 in helping lead UCO to an undefeated regular season, the school's first-ever Lone Star Conference title and the No. 1 ranking in Division II. He tied a school record with a league-leading 11 interceptions while adding 67 tackles, 20 passes broken up and three fumble recoveries in earning All-America recognition.

Jones was a consensus All-American again the following season as a senior after collecting 74 tackles, 10 broken up passes and five interceptions in addition to scoring on punt returns of 58, 83 and 84 yards. He finished with school records for single-game (121), season (510) and career (1,163) punt return yards, single-season (11) and career (20) interceptions, single-season interception return yards (234) and single-season (37) and career punt returns (128).

Smith played a variety of sports during her four-year career with the Bronchos in the mid-1960s, excelling in field hockey, volleyball, basketball, tennis, fencing, golf and track. She was named the school's Outstanding Freshman Athlete in 1967 and the Outstanding Senior Athlete in 1970.

Christina played goalie in field hockey, leading Central to a pair of state titles and giving up just two goals one season, and she was a defensive standout in basketball who helped the Bronchos to one undefeated season.

Smith played No. 1 singles four straight years in singles and represented Central at the first-ever United States Tennis Association national collegiate women's tournament. She also won the Oklahoma Collegiate Fencing Tournament and was runner-up in the state collegiate golf tournament.

Tinga transferred to UCO from Oklahoma State when the women's soccer program was started in 1998 before missing that season with injury, but she rebounded to enjoy two fantastic years in helping quickly put the Bronchos on the national map.

Sally led UCO to a 13-5 record in 1999, with the program breaking into the national rankings in just the second year of existence. She scored 21 goals and was named the Offensive Player of the Year in the Lone Star Conference and an All-Region selection.

Tinga came back with an even better senior campaign, setting single-season school and LSC records for goals (35), points (81) and shots (171) that still stand. She guided the Bronchos to a 21-3 record, the regular season and LSC Tournament titles and an Elite Eight berth in the NCAA Division II national tournament in earning LSC Offensive Player of the Year and All-Region honors for the second straight season.

Rogers took over as UCO's head wrestling coach when the school re-instated the sport in the early 1970s after a nearly 30-year hiatus and promptly led the Bronchos back to national prominence.

Central became an immediate national contender under Rogers, with UCO's first team finishing fourth in the NAIA national tournament in 1972-73. The Bronchos were national runners-up the following season and had five top-four national tournament showings during Rogers' six-year tenure.

Jim coached 22 All-Americans, including four national champions and five current members of the UCO Athletic Hall of Fame. The Bronchos won their first-ever national wrestling championship the year after Rogers left with a lineup featuring most of his former wrestlers and recruits.

Jimerson played football and ran track for the Bronchos from 1955-57, starting two years on both offense and defense. He graduated in 1957 and immediately started his coaching career at Lawton High School.

Don was in Lawton from 1957-66, spending the final four years as head football and track coach, before going to the University of Oklahoma as head freshman coach. He became an assistant coach in 1968 and served in that capacity until 1976, when he moved into an assistant athletic director role.

Jimerson was an assistant AD until his retirement in 1998 and he remains Executive Director of the Varsity “O” Club, a position he
assumed in 1996.

Banks played for the All-American Red Heads Basketball Team for five years following high school before coming to Central, where she was a multi-sport standout from 1959-62.

Jessie coached the girls basketball team at McGuinness High School in Oklahoma City for two years while still attending UCO and had two other coaching positions before beginning a 30-year teacher and coaching career at what is now Colorado State-Pueblo in 1966.

Banks coached teams in basketball, volleyball, softball and track and field while at CSU-Pueblo and held many leadership roles in both the AIAW and NAIA during her distinguished career. She is a member of four hall of fames in Colorado.

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