University of Houston Athletics
Carl Lewis Selected for Texas Track & Field HOF
6/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
HOUSTON -- Nine-time Olympic Gold Medalist and Cougar great Carl Lewis and former Houston track and field head coach Jack Patterson have been selected to be inducted into Texas Track & Field Hall of Fame in Addison, Texas.
The 2016 class will mark the seventh annual class to enter the Texas Track and Field Hall of Fame since inductions began. The ceremony will be held Friday, Jan. 8, 2016 at 7 p.m., at the Crowne Plaza-Addison, in Addison, Texas. Awards for the 2015 High School and Collegiate Athletes and Coaches of the Year will also be presented.
Lewis and Patterson will join legendary head coach Tom Tellez, and current head coach and Olympic Gold Medalist Leroy Burrell as members of the Texas Track and Field Hall of Fame.
"This is an honor for a number of reasons," said Lewis. "Number one being that it represents Texas, because my whole career was based in Houston, and this is my home now, and this will be my home. Also to go into the Hall of Fame with my mentor and hero, Coach (Tom) Tellez, and my teammate and good friend Leroy Burrell is a thrill."
Lewis revolutionized the sport of track and field in the 1980s and 90s, and during his time at Houston was a six-time NCAA Champion and NCAA All-American. Lewis won eight SWC Championships in 1980 and 1981 and set the world record in the 100m dash after running a 9.86 at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
Lewis returned to the Cougars as a full-time assistant coach for the 2014-15 season and helped lead Houston to the 2015 American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships.
"I've looked at the list of inductees, and there are some great people in there," said Lewis. "This will be a nice feature, and I'm looking forward to it. Any time people want to honor you for what you've done is a great thing, and I hope that I can live up as a coach to what I did as an athlete."
Patterson served as Houston's first track and field head coach from 1951-54 before moving on to Baylor University and the University of Texas. Patterson led the Cougars to three consecutive second-place finishes in the Missouri Valley Conference from 1952-54 and led 15 individual Cougars and two relays to Missouri Valley Conference Championships.
"Jack Patterson was the first track and field coach at Houston," said Johnny Morris III, son of former Cougar head coach Johnny Morris. "He was a really fine gentleman and a great friend of my family. He is a credit to the coaching profession and to track and field."
2015 TEXAS TRACK AND FIELD HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CLASS
Walter "Buddy" Davis
Fred Hansen
Jim Hines
Darrow Hooper
Rafer Johnson
Carl Lewis
Bobby Morrow
Sanya Richards-Ross
Jeremy Wariner
Posthumous Inductees:
Frank Anderson
Emmett Brunson
Oliver Jackson
Clyde Littlefield
Earle Meadows
Jack Patterson
Jerry Thompson
Fred Wolcott
Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias
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