2020 Hall of Fame Ballot Announced
5/1/2020 9:10:00 AM | General, Letterwinners Association
DENTON - The 10 nominees for the 2020 North Texas Athletics Hall Of Fame class have been announced, covering seven different sports and dating back to the 1960's. The nominees were set by the Hall of Fame committee following the annual meeting to narrow down the candidates to 10 from dozens of nominations that they received.
Voting begins Friday, May 1, closes on June 1, and is exclusively for dues-paying members of the North Texas Letterwinners Association, members of the North Texas Hall of Fame, and members of the North Texas Hall of Fame Selection Committee.
The ballot consists of Terry Bailey, Tristan Thompson and Quincy Williams from men's basketball, coach Tina Slinker from women's basketball, Johnny Mata and Derek Thompson from football, Rodolfo Cazaubon from men's golf, Jackie Kerestine from women's soccer, Katya Muller-Winslow from softball and Catia Weickgenant from swimming and diving.
The ballot was set by the North Texas Hall of Fame Selection Committee, made up of 10 individuals with strong ties to UNT (including multiple Hall of Fame members) who have been designated by the athletic department, who considered all nominees submitted by NTLA members and Mean Green fans.
This is the third 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. Voting is being conducted online and by paper ballot. Qualified voters can click here to access the 2020 Hall of Fame Ballot.
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).
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.
Jackie Kerestine (women's soccer, 2011-15)
North Texas' 2015 graduate Jackie Kerestine is in the conversation for greatest player in UNT soccer history. A 6-foot-1 intimidating stopper in between the pipes, Kerestine led the Mean Green to four conference regular season championships and two conference tournament championships. In the program record 90 matches she started UNT only lost 16 times. In the 40 league matches she started UNT only lost 4 times.
As a senior captain in 2015, Kerestine led UNT to its greatest season in program history with a 19-4-1 overall record and a C-USA regular season and tournament championship.
Unfortunately, Kerestine tore her ACL during warm ups of their first round 2015 NCAA Tournament match and was unable to play. That season, she led the nation in save percentage and ranked fourth in goals-against average. She set the school record for single-season shutouts with 15 and became the first goalkeeper in UNT history to eclipse 300 saves and 50 wins.
In UNT's double overtime loss at No. 5 Texas A&M that year, Kerestine had a career-best 15 saves.
Kerestine still holds every career goalkeeping record at UNT. She still ranks first in program history in games played (93) and games started (90). When she graduated she ranked fourth in NCAA 01 history in career shutouts (46) and 12111 in save percentage for a single season (.927 in 2015).
She missed the last 19 matches of the 2013 season with an injury and earned a medical redshirt. UNT did not win a regular season or tournament league title that year.
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.
Katya Muller-Winslow (women's softball 2005-08)
Upon graduation in 2008, Katya Muller had penned her name at the top of the North Texas record book in five different categories; hits (222), at-bats (755), runs scored (122), triples (8) and multi-hit games (61). The Southlake native also ranked second in eight other categories including batting average, slugging percentage, games played, games started, home runs, RBI, doubles and total bases. She still holds the North Texas records for at-bats and triples.
The two-time first-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection (2007 and 2008) and 2006 Sun Belt Conference All-Tournament team member became the first player in North Texas to post 200 career hits during her senior season. She led the team in hits in 2006 and 2007 while ranking second as a senior in 2008. Became the first player in North Texas history to post at least 60 multi-hit games and sits third in school history with 61. Named Lowe's Senior CLASS Award Candidate and ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District as a senior in 2008.
Muller became the program's all-time hits leader by picking up five hits in a doubleheader against Northwestern State on April 2, 2008 and currently sits in second-place with 222.
Tina Slinker (coach women's basketball, 1989-2008)
With 19 seasons as the head coach of North Texas women's basketball, Tina Slinker became the longest tenured and winningest coach in program history. She coached UNT to its first-ever invitation to the Women's National Invitational Tournament in 2000-01. During the 2001-02 season she coached the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year (Jalie Mitchell) and Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year (Rosalyn Reades) en route to the program's second consecutive trip to the Women's National Invitational Tournament.
Slinker tallied 21 wins, the most victories in a season in the history of North Texas women's basketball, during the 2001-02 season. She is the only coach in program history to amass two 20-win seasons. In her time as head coach, she led North Texas to six winning seasons, four division championships and ended her career with a 241-287 record.
During Slinker's tenure, North Texas women's basketball produced 17 All-Conference athletes and set 16 team school records and 28 individual school records. She was also named Big West Conference Coach of the Year for the 1998-99 season.
Derek Thompson (football, 2009-13)
Thompson, who concluded his Mean Green career following the 2013 season, is the program's thirdÂleading passer in terms of passing yardage, behind only Mason Fine and Mitch Maher. He engineered the Mean Green's most recent bowl win, a 2014 Heart of Dallas Bowl conquest over UNLV.
Thompson threw for 7,477 career passing yards, ranks fifth in program history in career touchdown passes with 42, is third in career passing attempts (1,055}, third in career completions (636}, fifth in career passing efficiency (126.27), fifth in career completion percentage (60.3%} and was second in career 300-plus yard passing games (seven).
The Glen Rose, Texas, native also owns two of the 10 longest passing plays in program history (85 yards to Brelan Chancellor in 2013 against Idaho and 83 yards to Lance Dunbar against Indiana in 2011). During his 2013 season, Thompson had the fifth-most passing yards in a single season (2,896), the sixth-most pass attempts in a single season in program history (390}, the fifth-most completions (251) in 2013 and seventh-most in 2012 (214 ), the 101h-best single season pass efficiency (133.61) and the third-best completion percentage in a single season in 2013 (64.3).
Thompson's crowning achievement was also his sendoff, after he was named 2014 Heart of Dallas Bowl MVP following the 36-14 win over UNLV. Thompson completed 21-30 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions in the win. The 2013 team concluded the season by receiving votes from the USA Today Coaches Poll, for the first time in a decade.
Tristan Thompson (men's basketball, 2007-11)
Tristan Thompson was a member of one of North Texas' most successful stretch of men's basketball. In his four seasons, UNT won at least 20 games every year including a program-record 24 in 2009-10. In his four years combined, North Texas was 86-43 and went 9-3 in conference tournament games.He still ranks fifth all-time in UNT history with 1,629 career points. He averaged a team leading 14.5 points per game as junior and guided UNT to a Sun Belt Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance where he scored a then career-high 28 points against Kansas State.
As a senior he broke the Sun Belt Tournament scoring record with 95 points. He was named first team all-conference and all-tournament. In the conference tournament semifinal game, Thompson scored an epic 36 points against FAU and was a perfect 20- of-20 from the free throw line to send the Mean Green to the championship game.
When he graduated he ranked fifth in program history in career 3-pointers with 183 and second in free throws with 520.
He was twice named Sun Belt all-conference and was either the team's leading scorer or second leading scorer three of his four years at UNT.
Catia Weickgenant (swimming, 2010-13)
Upon graduation in 2013, Catia Weickgenant sat in the Top-10 Performers list for 10 different events and set and/or helped set six school records; 200 Freestyle, 500 Freestyle, 200 Butterfly, 400 and 800 Freestyle Relays and 400 Medley Relay. Earned five All-Sun Belt Conference honors and five NCAA B-Cuts during her four trips to the Sun Belt Conference championships. She was also named Most Valuable Veteran in 2012 and one of the Most Valuable Rookies in 2010.
Over her four years of competition, Weickgenant earned nine medals at four Sun Belt Conference championships (three gold, five silver and one bronze.) Was a member of the first North Texas relay team to claim a medal at the Conference championships, a gold medal earning finish in the.400 Medley Relay with a time of 3:41.25, which stood as the school record until 2017.
Weickgenant Still holds the North Texas records for the 500 Freestyle (4:46.01), 200 Butterfly (1:59.65), and 400 Medley Relay (3:41.25).
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.
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