The latest induction class to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame made lasting names for themselves, to the point where sometimes their names became adjectives or words in their own right.
Consider: In the sport of track and field (and beyond), a feat is known as Beamonesque when it far surpasses anything that came before it. That’s because of Bob Beamon and his incredible Olympic long jump record of 29.2 feet, which still stands 54 years later. In gymnastics, Carly Patterson Caldwell’s signature move became known as the Patterson Dismount. At the time, she was the only gymnast in the world even attempting it.
And of course around Baylor, that sparkling gem on the Brazos, McLane Stadium, is well-known as the House That RG3 Built.
While their names are synonymous with greatness, these former athletic stars are now associated with an entire house of greatness, as the newest inductees to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
In addition to Beamon, Patterson and Robert Griffin III, the rest of the 2022 group included NBA legends Tony Parker and Chris Bosh, former NFL receiver Mike Renfro, Texas A&M multisport star Stacy Sykora and Robinson’s own Suzie Snider Eppers, the first women’s scholarship athlete in Baylor history.
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When asked what being “Beamonesque” meant to him, Beamon said, “Well, I had no thoughts of even jumping 27 feet and then to jump two feet beyond that, it was like a dream. Then they labeled it as a new word of Beamonesque, meaning going past or superior to what was previously believable. But Chris Bosh is Beamonesque.”
Indeed, these athletic greats seemed to get as much a kick out of sharing the dais with each other as they did recalling or reveling in their own athletic achievements. Griffin, the former Copperas Cove standout who won Baylor’s first and still only Heisman Trophy in 2011, said that he was “fanboying” being surrounded by the likes of Beamon, Bosh and Parker, who happened to be sitting around him on Saturday’s press conference podium.
Griffin also credited his parents with shaping him into the man he is today, as well as former Baylor coach Art Briles with recruiting him to the Bears and convincing him that success resided just around the corner.
“(Briles) kind of told me that we could go somewhere and do something that had never been done before. We were able to accomplish that,” Griffin said. “He also said we would be able to build a stadium on campus, and we were able to accomplish that. That was part of his recruiting pitch. Then he said, in three years you’ll be up for the Heisman — won the Heisman in four (years). … But it just seemed like divine intervention.”
Bosh and Parker carved out ultra-successful NBA careers, combining for six championship rings with the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs, respectively. That included twice when Bosh’s Heat and Parker’s Spurs faced off, with the Heat winning in 2013 while the Spurs turned the tables in 2014.
When asked which team might win if they’d been able to meet a third time, both men laughed.
“Bron (LeBron James) was gone by then, so they’d have the edge,” Bosh said. “I still haven’t gone back and watched (2014) — it hurts too much — but I still say that their team that year was one of the best ever. I wasn’t sure, but I think they had six on the court.”
While the Texas Sports Hall of Fame has opened its doors to international athletes before who made a name for themselves in the Lone Star State, including Nigeria’s Hakeem Olajuwon, Parker became the first Frenchman to gain induction. When informed of that fact, he smiled and said, “It’s cool. I just learned that.”
Renfro joins his father Ray as a member of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, as just the third father-son combo to reach such lustrous heights. Mike played his entire career in the state of Texas, from Arlington Heights High School to TCU to the NFL’s Houston Oilers and Dallas Cowboys.
“It’s obviously special. And don’t forget about Monnig Junior High (in Fort Worth), and the only reason I bring that up, I’m so proud for a couple of reasons,” Renfro said. “Check your facts, Longhorn Nation, but my junior high coach invented the Wishbone Offense. I’ve clarified it with everybody, but check your facts. It’s Bud Casey.”
Each of this year’s three female inductees were trailblazers in their own way. Patterson Caldwell was the first U.S. women’s gymnast to win gold in a non-boycotted Olympics, and sparked a dynasty of gold medalists that followed her. Eppers broke down barriers in the early days of Title IX at Robinson and Baylor, and scored 3,861 points as a college basketball player, the most in women’s basketball history.
Sykora was the first volleyball player to play the libero position for the U.S. National Team, which she said makes her feel “ancient.”
Even more than that, Sykora spoke for all of the inductees when she sat slack-jawed at her fellow induction class.
“Look who I’m up here with, look at this table. I feel like I’m in a fantasy world,” she said. “Y’all don’t know me, but I know y’all. Just sitting here listening to their stories, it took me to a story that was theirs, a place that they were, but where I was, too. I love that.”
