Nine new members will be inducted into the Hall of Honor
10/16/2007 1:00:00 AM | Athletics
A highlight of Homecoming 2007 at Bowers Stadium today will be “SH Day” as organization officers and members celebrate the formation of the SH Association, an umbrella organization to include both the Sam Houston Lettermen's Association and the new SHSU Women's Letter Association.
Nine former Bearkat student-athletes will be recognized at halftime as the 2007 inductees for the Sam Houston athletic Hall of Honor. Actual induction ceremonies will take place at a dinner event on December 7. The event marks the first time that representatives from the SHSU Women's Letter Association will be included in the Hall of Honor inductions.
Basketball players David Amaya and Scott Horstman, golfer Jeff Bellnap, and baseball player Chris Burton will be inducted into the men's Hall of Honor. Softball and basketball player Julie Thomas, track champion Cathy Nelson, golfer Wendy Gray, tennis player Megan Burnham, and volleyballer Julie Franzen make up the women's Hall of Honor inductees.
“The formation of the SH Association to serve as an umbrella organization for both the men's and women's letter winners groups is an exciting step forward for the Bearkat athletic program,” Sam Houston State Director of Athletics Bobby Williams said. “The Lettermen's Hall of Honor inductions have been a highlight of our annual athletic calendar. Now, with our new Women's Letter Association, talented student-athletes who have brought glory and attention to our program through their accomplishments also will be recognized. We deeply appreciate the hard work by the officers and members of both organizations to make this possible.”
Since the Sam Houston Lettermen's Association initiated its Hall of Honor in 1971, 148 former Bearkat men from the sports of football, basketball, baseball, golf, and track and field have been inducted. Members of the Women's Letter Association executive committee selected their first inductees from a listing of outstanding performers from basketball, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, volleyball and track and field.
Each of the four men's inductees for 2007 was an all-conference performer for the Bearkats and played on a championship team during their Sam Houston State careers. David Amaya earned first team All-Southland Conference honors after leading Sam Houston to its first Southland Conference men's basketball title in 2000. He was a second-team All-SLC pick as a junior in 1999. Amaya ranks sixth in all-time Bearkat basketball scoring with 1,445 career points.
Scott Horstman was a two-time All-Lone Star Conference performer and ranks as Sam Houston's all-time career leader in assists with 813 in his four years of play between 1981 and 1984. Horstman helped led the Kats to the conference crown in SHSU's final year in the Lone Star Conference in 1981.
Chris Burton was All-Gulf Star Conference in 1986 and 1987 and All-Southland Conference in 1988 and 1989, rolling up a .336 career batting average. He helped lead the Bearkats to conference titles in 1986, 1987, and 1989 and to two NCAA Division I regional playoff appearances.
Jeff Bellnap led the Bearkat golf team to the 1990 Southland Conference title, winning the Southland Conference individual medalist championship and finishing 13th in the NCAA regional. He was a two-time All-SLC performer and earned NCAA Division II All-America honors in 1986.
The women's Hall of Honor inductees all posted outstanding achievements during their Bearkat careers.
Julie Thomas is one of the few athletes in Sam Houston sports history with the distinction of earning all-conference honors in three different leagues and two sports. She was All-Lone Star and All-Gulf Star Conference in basketball and All-Gulf Star and All-Southland Conference in softball.
In basketball, Thomas ranks No. 1 at Sam Houston in career steals (338) and second in career assists (460). She led the Gulf Star Conference three years in a row in steals, setting a season record (125 steals in 1983-84) that still stands at Sam Houston.
As a second baseman in softball, Thomas led the Bearkats to the 1988 Southland championship and three Gulf Star runner-up finishes. She earned NCAA Division II All-America and All-Region honors in 1986 and was the Southland Conference's leading hitter in 1988. During her four years, the Sam Houston softball team compiled an record of 159-90.
Megan Burnham, who played tennis for Sam Houston from 1981 to 1984, won the Lone Star Conference doubles championship in 1983 with Nanette Hancock.
The Bearkats won the Lone Star Conference women's team championship in 1983 as well.
Burnham ranks No. 10 in career singles victories at Sam Houston with 39.
Cathy Nelson was Sam Houston State's first All-Southland Conference athlete in cross country and was the first Bearkat ever to earn NCAA Division I All-Region honors in the sport as well.
She earned All-Southland Conference honors in cross country three times, finishing third at the Southland meet in 1988 and 1991 and seventh in 1990.
Nelson earned All-Southland Conference honors five times in outdoor track and field. She won the Southland 800 meter dash championship twice (in 1990 and 1991) and still holds the school record in the event with a time of two minutes, 10.13 seconds.
Julie Franzen led the Sam Houston State volleyball program to unparalleled levels of success at the NCAA Division I level as the setter for the Bearkats' championship teams in 1993 and 1994.
Franzen ranks third all-time in assists at Sam Houston, rolling up a total of 4,052 assists from 1991 to 1994. She holds the single season SHSU record with 1,818 assists in 1994.
She earned NCAA Division I All-Region honors in both 1993 and 1994 and was All-Southland Conference first team both years as well.
She was the setter on Sam Houston's 1993 Southland Conference championship squad that earned the Bearkats their first NCAA Division I playoff berth. She also was “Most Valuable Player” at the 1993 SLC tournament.
In 1994, Franzen led the Bearkats to an SLC Division championship, the No. 1 seed in the post-season tournament, and an appearance in the National Invitational post-season event.
Wendy Gray, a member of Sam Houston State's first women's golf team when the sport was reinstated at the NCAA Division I level in 1997-98, completed her career by earning honors as Southland Conference “Golfer of the Year” in 2002.
Gray, who ranks fourth in career stroke average at Sam Houston, averaged 79.7 strokes in 90 rounds during her four years. She was a first team All-Southland Conference selection in 2002, placing fourth at the Southland Conference tournament.
She was a two-time selection as Sam Houston State women's golf “Most Valuable Player.”
“Congratulations to the 2007 inductees for the Hall of Honor. This is truly an outstanding group,” Williams said.
“A lot of hard work and time has gone into organizing the new Women's Letter Association and bringing the them together with the Lettermen's Association under the umbrella of the SH Association. We are grateful for each person's contributions to both organizations.”
