Hall Of Fame Voting Continues
4/1/2019 12:00:00 AM | Football, General, Men's Basketball, Men's Golf, Women's Basketball, Women's Soccer
DENTON - Voting for the 2019 class of the North Texas Athletics Hall Of Fame continues this week, the second of the three-week voting period.
Voting is exclusively for dues-paying members of the North Texas Letterwinners Association, the North Texas Hall of Fame, and the North Texas Hall of Fame Selection Committee. Votes submitted by anyone not a member of the NTLA, Hall of Fame, or Selection Committee will not be counted.
Former North Texas letterwinners can participate in the voting by joining the Letterwinners Association. Click here to join, or visit MeanGreenForLife.com for information on the NTLA.
Voting will close at 11:59 p.m. on April 22. Qualifying voters can participate online or by mail. Click here for the 2019 ballot.
This is the second year for voting by members of the NTLA and members of the Hall of Fame. Each qualified voter may submit one ballot and may vote for a maximum of six nominees (there is no minimum). Subsequent ballots by the same voter will not be counted, and ballots with more then six nominees selected will also not be counted.
Here are bios of this year's nominees:
Terry Bailey (men's basketball, 1974-76)
Terry Bailey was the leading scorer for one of Mean Green basketball's greatest teams: the 1975-76 nationally-ranked 22-4 team.
Bailey, a 6-8 forward from Crandall, Texas, began his career at Henderson County Junior College before coming to North Texas. In his first season in Denton, Bailey led the Mean Green in scoring at 15.6 points per game and recorded a 400-point season.
In his senior year under first-year coach Bill Blakeley, Bailey was the leading scorer on a team that recorded the second 20-win season in program history and the first in 50 years. North Texas earned road wins over Baylor, Creighton and SMU and home victories over Arizona State and Bradley, garnered a top-20 national ranking and finished the season 22-4, an .846 winning percentage that is surpassed at UNT only by 1922-23's .929 (13-1) and 1921-22's .917 (11-1).
During that 1975-76 season, North Texas averaged 96 points per game, the best scoring average in program history, led by Bailey's 19.3 points per game. Bailey had the ninth 500-point season in school history and scored a career-best 32 points in a 96-88 victory at SMU.
Bailey still ranks No. 3 in school history in field-goal percentage at .581, and he averaged 17.4 points per game for his career.
Because he played during North Texas' years as an independent, Bailey could not earn any all-conference awards. But following his senior season, he was drafted by the NBA's Kansas City Kings (now Sacremento).
Marcus Camper (football, 1985-88)
A two-time all-conference wide receiver, Camper led the team in receiving, punt returns and all-purpose yards in all four of his seasons with the Mean Green, during which time UNT twice reached the Division I-AA national playoffs.
Thirty years after his final game, he still ranks No. 9 in all-time receiving yards with 1,939, 10th in receiving touchdowns with 14, and fifth in career yards per reception at 17.4. He had a career-best performance against Texas in 1988, when he had 224 yards receiving - still the fifth-best total in school history.
Camper also led the team for four years in all-purpose yards (rushing, receiving, and returning kicks), and ranks sixth all-time at UNT in career all-purpose yards with 3,562. His 69-yard punt return against McNeese State in 1988 is the eighth longest in school history.
Rodolfo Cazaubon (men's golf, 2010-13)
Cazaubon was part of one of the most successful eras of UNT golf history, leading the Mean Green to back-to-back Sun Belt Conference championships and three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.
Cazaubon was UNT's leading scorer as a freshman and senior, was the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year in 2010, and earned all-conference honors in each of his four years in the program.
Cazaubon made a splash early in his professional career on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, as he was the Order of Merit winner (money leader) in 2015 and earned full exemption onto the Web.com Tour for the 2016 season. He was also named the 2015 PGA Tour Latinoamerica Player of the Year.
Casey Fitzgerald (football, 2005-08)
A walk-on from Red Oak, Texas, was one of the greatest wide receivers in North Texas history and is the owner of the best two-year stretch any UNT receiver ever had.
In 2007, Fitzgerald caught 111 passes for 1,322 yards. A year later, he hauled in 113 passes for 1,119 yards. Those are the top two seasons for receptions and No. 1 and No. 4 in receiving yards in program history. His 2,533 career receiving yards ranks third all-time at North Texas behind Hall of Famers Johnny Quinn and Troy Redwine. His 229 career receptions ranks first, and his 20 career touchdowns ranks fifth.
Fitzgerald is perhaps best remembered for three remarkable performances: against SMU in 2008 he caught 18 passes for a school-record 327 yards; against Louisiana-Lafayette in 2008 he had 14 receptions for 231 yards (second only to his output against SMU); and against Navy in 2007 he caught 13 passes and scored five touchdowns. He ranks third all-time in 100-yard receiving games with 10.
Fitzgerald was a two-time first-team all-conference selection and was named honorable mention all-America by Sports Illustrated in 2007.
Kelsey Hodges (soccer, 2010-13)
The 2013 Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year, Kelsey Hodges was the first Mean Green soccer player to earn the defensive player of the year honor and is still just one of two to earn the award.
A three-time first-team all-conference selection, Hodges was the anchor of the defense for four years. Despite being a defender, she is eighth in career goals with 32 and is tied for eighth with 10 career game-winning goals. She is the only defensive player in the top 10 of either category.
Hodges, whose 7,174 minutes played ranks second in program history, led UNT to three conference championships including the 2012 Sun Belt regular-season and tournament championships. In 2011, Hodges scored the game-winning goal against Denver to win the regular-season title. During her four years in Denton, UNT won 57 matches, which ranks fifth best in program history.
In 2010 as a freshman, Hodges became just the fifth player in program history to record multiple hat tricks (three goals in one match) in a single season. To this day, only six players in the program's 25 year history have accomplished that.
She was named second-team all-region in 2012 and first-team all-region in 2013. She was named to two all-conference all-tournament teams.
Since graduating, Hodges has played professional soccer in Sweden, Australia and Scotland.
Amber Jackson (women's basketball, 2006-09)
Jackson did it all for North Texas: rebounder, scorer, shot blocker and an academic standout.
Jackson is the top rebounder in North Texas women's basketball history with 761 boards, 45 more than the second-best total of Empress Drane. Her top season was 2008-09, when she grabbed 265 rebounds, an average of 9.5 per game. But Jackson was also a prolific scorer, ranking fifth in career points with 1,394. Jackson was the team's top scorer in 2007-08 at 13.0 points per game and in 2008-09 at 16.8 ppg, and her 471 points in 2008-09 ranks as the sixth-best single-season total. On defense, Jackson recorded 73 career shot blocks, sixth most all-time. Jackson was also durable, playing in 116 games, fifth most in program history.
Jackson was a two-time all-conference selection in the Sun Belt Conference, and was named to ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Team in 2009.
Johnny Mata (football, 1966-67)
Mata was a team captain and the top linebacker on back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference championship teams.
Mata was a standout at Blinn Junior College, where he earned junior college All-America notice before transferring to North Texas, where he earned Missouri Valley all-conference honors. Although tackle statistics from that era have not survived, Mata was a leader on a rugged defense that held opponents under 20 points in 14 of the 19 games North Texas played in 1966 and 1967, and allowed an average of 14.7 points per game on squads that went 15-3-1.
Despite going undrafted, he played for the Baltimore Colts in the NFL in 1967 and for the San Antonio Toros of the Texas Football League. In 1997, Mata was inducted into the Latinos In Action Sports Association Hall of Fame.
Zach Orr (football, 2010-2013)
A three-time all-conference selection at linebacker, Orr is tied for third in program history with 365 total tackles, leading the team in that category on three occasions (2011-13). Orr is also in the top 10 in career tackles for loss with 25.
In 2013 as a senior, Orr was named first-team All-Conference-USA after posting 123 tackles, fifth most in a single season in program history. He also registered a team-high 13.5 tackles for loss with three sacks, four fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles, four pass break-ups and a blocked kick.
Orr led the team in 2012 with 108 tackles and was responsible for four turnovers, picking off a pair of passes and recovering two fumbles on his way to second-team All-Sun Belt honors. As a sophomore in 2011, Orr led the Mean Green with 74 tackles, an interception, a pair of fumble recoveries and a forced fumble.
Orr went on to play three seasons with the Baltimore Ravens before being forced to retire at the age of 24 due to a congenital neck condition prior to the 2017 season. He appeared in 46 games (15 starts) for the Ravens and posted 162 tackles, three interceptions, a sack and one forced fumble. He earned Associated Press second-team All-Pro honors in 2016, when he finished with 132 tackles (ninth-most in the NFL) and three interceptions.
Orr was a three-year captain and four-year letterwinner at UNT, and was named in 2013 to the Conference USA and Capital One District VII all-academic teams.
J.W. St. Clair (coach of football, men's basketball, baseball, 1915-1924)
J.W. St. Clair has the highest winning percentage of any coach of football and men's basketball in North Texas history. He coached football at North Texas from 1915 to 1919, basketball from 1916-17 to 1919-20 and 1921-22 to 1923-24, and baseball from 1922 to 1924.
As the second football coach in school history, St. Clair guided the Mean Green to its first winning season, a 4-1 mark in 1915. By the end of that inaugural season, North Texas was over .500 as a program and has never since fallen below .500.
St. Clair posted a winning record in four of his five seasons, compiling a record of 20-10-2, a .656 winning percentage. That remains the best winning percentage for any football coach in school history.
As basketball coach, St. Clair was 58-21, a .734 winning percentage, the best percentage in the history of North Texas basketball. He posted a winning record in six of his seven seasons, and his teams scored wins over Texas, TCU and Baylor.
St. Clair's 1922-23 team went 13-1, the best winning percentage (.929) of any season in school history. He also owns the second-best season winning percentage, the .917 rate of 1921-22's 11-1 record.
As football and basketball coach, St. Clair was 79-31-2, a .712 winning percentage.
As baseball coach for three seasons, St. Clair's teams recorded one winning season and were 16-26 overall.
In 1924, St. Clair became basketball coach at SMU, where he coached from 1924 to 1938 and posted a record of 132-108. He also coached SMU baseball in 1927 and 1931-33.
Overall, St. Clair's career mark in all three sports was 244-199-3.
In 1938, he became executive secretary for the Southwest Conference until his death in 1945 at age 60.
Quincy Williams (men's basketball, 2005-08)
A 6-8 forward from Forest Park, Oklahoma, Williams was an integral part of a lot of winning at North Texas. The Mean Green posted at least a .500 record in all four years of Williams' career, making him just the third player in school history to accomplish this feat and the first since 1954.
Williams was one of the program's best rebounders and shot blockers, ranking third at UNT in career shot blocks with 98 and 10th in career rebounds with 691. He led the team in rebounds in 2006-07 (with 7.1 rebounds per game) and in 2007-08 (with 7.6 boards per game). On offense, he averaged 7.57 points per game for his career.
Williams had 15 career double-doubles, including seven in his senior year, when he tallied four straight double-doubles in conference play, averaging 13.5 points and 12.0 boards over that span. In his senior year, he was the only player in the Sun Belt Conference to average at least 9.0 points per game, 7.5 rebounds and 1.0 block.
He posted a 19-rebound performance against Indiana State, which is tied for the 15th best rebounding game in UNT history. He led the team in rebounding and blocked shots as both a junior and a senior and finished third on the team with a scoring average of 9.7 points per game.
