Meet the 2018 RecSports Hall of Honor Inductees
Established in 2017 as part of the department’s Centennial Celebration, the RecSports Hall of Honor recognizes influential alumni, staff, supporters, and athletes who have had a significant impact on Recreational Sports throughout its long history.
Ann Vandiver Brodnax (BA ’78)
Ann Brodnax was a naturally talented athlete with a love for competition. She combined those qualities to compete in intramural sports as a participant with the Pi Beta Phi Sorority team in the late 1970s. She proved to be a versatile athlete able to play a variety of intramural sports including flag football, volleyball, badminton, tennis and table tennis. She also competed individually in the basketball free throw competition and the softball homerun derby, which she won by one homerun on the last pitch.
Ann’s athleticism led her to 15 intramural championships as well as the C.J. Alderson Individual Sportsmanship Award for 1975–76 and the Women’s Outstanding Athlete Award in 1976–77.
She has served as a member of the RecSports Leadership Team since its inception and continues to lend support and guidance to the department as a way of giving back to the program. Her involvement includes spearheading the Women in Intramurals initiative and other fundraising efforts.
Michael Carnes
Mike Carnes was a Recreational Sports student employee for only a brief time, however, he continued his association with RecSports after leaving the Forty Acres and made a huge impact on the department. It began when his lifelong friend René Garza hired him in 1973 to serve as a supervisor at Whitaker Fields and to fill in as needed as a sports official.
Mike enjoyed witnessing the enthusiasm and love for the game that players and officials showed day after day. This passion inspired him to join forces with Rene to pay tribute to the leadership of Thomas W. Dison, RecSports Director and Senior Associate Vice President for Student Affairs, by establishing the first endowed scholarship for RecSports student employees. The scholarship debuted in 2006 and led to the creation of 16 additional endowments, which now award a combined total of $37,500 annually to 17 outstanding RecSports student staff. Together, Mike and René initiated a successful program that has accumulated over $850,000 in total endowed funds for student employee scholarships.
Mike and Rene remain friends to this day.
Kenneth Ford, Jr. MD
Dr. Ken Ford grew up in Houston, Texas, before heading to The University of Texas at Austin to pursue a college degree. He became active in the intramural sports program, playing a variety of sports, including basketball, football, softball, tennis, volleyball, handball and bowling. As a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity Ken recorded six intramural championships and the title of Best All-Around Athlete in 1963–64.
Ken’s father, Kenny Ford, and his son, Casey, are also intramural champions and appear on the Intramural Wall of Fame, making them a unique family with three generations recognized on the wall for intramural athletic excellence. To honor his family’s multi-generational involvement with RecSports, he established the Kenneth Ford Family Endowed Scholarship to benefit RecSports student staff working their way through college.
After leaving the Forty Acres, Ken went on to medical school at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston (UTMB), graduating in 1969. After serving as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force, Ken went into private practice as an orthopedic surgeon in Houston for over 30 years.
Ken has been an active member of the RecSportsLeadership Team since 2008 working tirelessly to promote and support the department. Of note, he lent his support to the digitization of the Intramural Wall of Fame, a one-of-a-kind historical record that is now available online.
Bennett Glazer (BA’73, MA ’76)
Bennett Glazer was an enthusiastic intramural athlete who competed in handball, volleyball, basketball, and bowling with his fraternity, Zeta Beta Tau. He won a handball championship in 1965, an achievement he remains proud of to this day.
His involvement with the Texas Cowboys gave rise to a friendship with fellow member, Joe Bill Watkins, who he considers to be a mentor. Joe Bill, a fervent supporter of RecSports and 13-time intramural champion, was selected to serve as the first chair of the RecSports Leadership Team in 2007.
Bennett joined the RecSports Leadership Team during its inaugural year and contributed the first major gift to the RecSports Excellence Fund which helps the department maintain quality programs, events, and facilities.
Dr. Bailey & Rebecca (Bludau) Marshall (BA ‘73)
Dr. Bailey Marshall and his wife, Becky (Bludau), enjoyed intramural sports to the fullest as players, officials, and coaches. In fact, intramural sports brought them together as a couple.
Many times Becky traded her coaching hat for a players vest and joined The Trainers team, competing in their flag football, softball and basketball championship games. As an accomplished racquetball player, she won the faculty/staff singles tournament each year she played, including the year the right-handed player competed with her left hand.
Becky served as the head athletic trainer for Women’s Athletics from 1976–85, followed by a career officiating both high school and collegiate basketball. Bailey served as Director of the University Interscholastic League from 1977–95.
William C. Powers, Jr.
Bill Powers, the University’s 28th president,, was first introduced to RecSports as a faculty member of the UT School of Law’s intramural sports team, Criminal Element. He soon became a star player for the team and contributed to their football and softball championships in the ’80s. He proudly displayed his championship photo in his office during his tenure as president.
During his tenure as president, he visibly and vocally advocated for RecSports. His help and encouragement made it possible for the renovation of Clark Field to transform into the Caven Lacrosse and Sports Center at Clark Field. Similarly, he played a significant role in the renovation of Whitaker Fields, now known as the Charles Alan Wright Fields at the Berry A. Whitaker Sports Complex.
In all, President Powers presided over the construction of 13 major buildings on the Forty Acres and RecSports was fortunate to count him as an advocate and ally.
President Powers passed away in 2019. As a tribute to his legacy of student support, the Student Activity Center, which sits north of Gregory Gym, was renamed the William C. Powers, Jr. Student Activity Center in 2019
Rodney L. Schlosser (BS ’85)
Rodney Schlosser’s advocacy for RecSports came about in 1983 when he served on the Student Services Fee Committee which entailed reviewing the allocation of student funds to non-academic services funded by the fee, RecSports included.
When elected student body president in 1984, he learned of the need to remodel and/or build campus facilities. He recalls the conversation moving quickly to the idea of running a student referendum to fund a new facility given the lack of state funds to support those endeavors. Recognizing the importance of recreational sports to the college experience, Rodney championed the first student-run referendum for a legislatively mandated fee to build the Recreational Sports Center, which students overwhelmingly approved. The bill was carried in the Texas Legislature, prompting Rodney to comment, “we were on our way to pouring cement.”
As one of the first referendum-funded recreation centers in the country, the Recreational Sports Center became a model for other universities seeking to build new facilities or upgrade existing ones.
Linda and Mark Williams (BBA ’81)
Linda and Mark Williams were such devoted intramural sports participants they say in jest that they “majored in intramurals.” The couple met while playing coed intramural football and their relationship blossomed during an intercollegiate regional tournament in Arlington, Texas, in which Linda was playing. Mark traveled to the event to support some of his teammates and found himself supporting Linda.
Intramurals continued to play a large role in their time on the Forty Acres. Linda played on intramural teams for Pi Beta Phi and The Bombers. At a nationals competition in New Orleans, she threw a 10-yard pass within a few minutes of the game to help the team win the Women’s Flag Football National Championship. Her success on the field garnered her selection as All-American Quarterback that year.
Mark played football, water polo, basketball, volleyball, and softball on several different teams. He won the “A” League Intramural Football Championship with his fraternity, Delta Upsilon, in 1979 and 1980. He also worked for RecSports as an intramural supervisor.
Both have served on the RecSports Leadership Team and as co-chairs of the RecSports Centennial Celebration in 2016.
Phi Gamma Delta
The legacy of Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity and intramurals dates back to the inaugural Intramural Wall of Fame picture board of 1919 depicting its basketball championship of 1919–20.
Over the ensuing decades, the Fijis became one of the most successful fraternities in terms of intramural championships. The fraternity is pictured over 200 times on the Intramural Wall of Fame, hitting its peak in the 1960s with 29 total championships.
To recognize and honor the fraternity’s outstanding success, many of its members from that decade partnered with RecSports in 2010 to establish the Phi Gamma Delta Endowed Scholarship for students who work hard to make intramural sports a cornerstone of the UT experience. The effort was led by three members in particular- Dr. Kenneth Ford, Ed Junell, and Jack Holford.
The Bombers
The Bombers were formed in 1978 as a coed football team by a student named Kevin McCalla (BBA ’83) and his little sister, Linda McCalla (BBA ‘82), who served as quarterback. The team name came from Linda’s extraordinary arm strength and ability to “throw the bomb.” After winning the coed football championship in 1978, the Bombers continued to rack up success in football and basketball over the next few seasons.
Kevin’s athletic prowess, winning 15 intramural championships and a nomination for the UT Men’s Outstanding Intramural Athlete award, made him a natural choice as coach for the Bombers. In 1982, Kevin organized a women’s Bombers football team. The team represented Texas at the National Collegiate Flag Football Championships in New Orleans, Louisiana, that year and won their first national championship. Their success continued upon their return to the Forty Acres, winning intramural championships each year from 1983–85. The women’s team also brought home two more national championships. In five seasons, their win/loss record was an astounding 75–3.
