The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Four Longhorns set for induction into Texas Sports Hall of Fame
04.06.2018 | Football, Women's Basketball, Women's Swimming and Diving, Volleyball
Nell Fortner, Cathy Self-Morgan, Jill Sterkel and Vince Young will be inducted as part of the Class of 2018.
WACO, Texas – Four Texas Exes are set to be inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, it was announced Wednesday. Nell Fortner (basketball, volleyball), Cathy Self-Morgan (basketball), Jill Sterkel (swimming) and Vince Young (football) will join the Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2018. The distinguished group will be honored on April 7, 2018, at the Waco Convention Center.
Fortner is a former two-sport, four-year letterwinner at The University of Texas, having competed in both basketball and volleyball. She played basketball for the Longhorns from 1977-81, scoring 1,466 points in 142 career games (No. 4 on the UT all-time list), and helping Texas to its first national ranking and a seventh-place showing in the AIAW Tournament. In volleyball, she was two-time team MVP as a freshman and a sophomore, and a member of the 1981 AIAW National Championship team. Fortner's decorated resume includes time with USA Basketball as an assistant coach for the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team and as head coach of the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team, both of which won gold medals. She went on to a highly successful coaching career, including head coaching stops at Purdue and Auburn, leading both programs to conference championships and earning conference coach of the year honors, while also becoming the first head coach and general manager of the WNBA's Indiana Fever. A 2001 inductee into the Longhorn Women's Hall of Honor, she currently serves as the analyst for Texas volleyball and women's basketball broadcasts on Longhorn Network along with countless other responsibilities at ESPN.
Self-Morgan, the current head coach at Duncanville High School, has won more than 1,000 career games and seven state titles combined between her tenures at Austin Westlake and Duncanville. Over the summer, she was honored as one of two recipients nationally of the 2017 Gatorade Coaching Excellence Award. After a season at Temple Junior College, Self-Morgan came to Austin as a member of the first-ever varsity women's basketball team. She experienced many firsts, including being a part of the first nationally ranked team in 1976-77, and as a junior averaged a team-leading 17.6 points and 4.1 assists per game. She was a co-captain of the team in both her junior and senior campaigns. In 2014, Self-Morgan was named the National High School Girls' Basketball Naismith Coach of the Year and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year. She has also been honored as the USA Today National Coach of the Year, Max Preps National Coach of the Year, Texas Girls' Coaches Association Coach of the Year and Dallas Morning News Coach of the Year. She was also named Woman of the Year in 2012 by the Duncanville Chamber of Commerce and was honored in 2011 with the UIL Sponsor Excellence Award. She is a member of the Longhorn Women's Hall of Honor and also the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame.
Sterkel is a decorated swimmer, both at Texas and on the international stage. Before coming to Texas, Sterkel was a member of the United States' gold medal-winning 4x100m freestyle relay that stunned heavy favorite East Germany at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Sterkel was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team that boycotted the Moscow Olympics. As a Longhorn, Sterkel was one of the most decorated collegiate swimmers of her generation. She won two Broderick Awards as the National Swimmer of the Year (1979-80 & 1980-81) and was selected as the National Female Athlete of the Year in 1981. Sterkel won 16 individual national titles and helped Texas to AIAW national team titles in 1981 and 1982. She earned the maximum of 28 All-American awards in her appearances at the 1980 and 1981 AIAW National Championships and the 1982 and 1983 NCAA Championships. Sterkel returned to her native southern California for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and helped Team USA to gold once more in the 4x100m freestyle relay. She made her fourth U.S. Olympic Team at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials contested at UT's Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. Sterkel won bronze in the 50m freestyle and the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Sterkel went on to serve as the head women's swimming and diving coach at Texas from 1993-2006. She is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the Texas Swimming Hall of Fame, in addition to the UT Athletics Women's Hall of Honor, the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame and the ASCA (American Swimming Coaches Association) Hall of Fame.
Young led Texas to a 41-38 victory over No. 1 USC in the Rose Bowl, a school-best 13-0 record and the 2005 National Championship in what was one of the most memorable seasons in Texas Football history. He became just the fourth player in Rose Bowl history to earn two MVP Awards, claiming Offensive MVP honors in the 2005 and 2006 games following the 2004 and 2005 seasons. In addition, Young led Texas to its second Big 12 Championship, defeating Colorado 70-3 in 2005. As the quarterback of one of the most potent offenses in NCAA history, Young led the 2005 Longhorns to a NCAA-record 652 points and helped them become one of only four teams in NCAA history at that time to average at least 50 points and 500 yards per game. Individually, he became the first player in NCAA history to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 in a single season. As a result, Young was named the recipient of the Maxwell Award, Davey O'Brien Award and Manning Award. He also was named Cingular/ABC Player of the Year, runner-up for the Heisman Trophy and consensus first-team All-America. Young left Texas as the winningest quarterback in school history, compiling a 30-2 record (.938) as a starter, including victories in the final 20 games of his career. He completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 6,040 yards (No. 6 on UT's career list) and 44 TDs (No. 5 on UT's career list). He also posted 3,127 rushing yards and 37 TDs. Both his rushing yards and TDs are UT quarterback records, and stand sixth and fourth, respectively, among all Longhorn rushers. Young went on to be drafted third overall by the Tennessee Titans in 2006. He claimed NFL Rookie of the Year honors after taking over as the starting quarterback in Week 4 and leading the Titans to an 8-5 record. He earned a spot in the Pro Bowl, becoming the first rookie quarterback ever to play in that game. Young followed up his rookie year by leading the Titans to a playoff berth in 2007. He was named 2006 Sports Person of the Year by the Nashville Sports Council and tabbed the Titans 2007 "Community All-Star" for his efforts on and off the field in Tennessee. He played five seasons in Tennessee, one with the Philadelphia Eagles and one with the Green Bay Packers. Young returned to UT and completed his degree in applied learning and development in 2013.
The 2018 class also includes former Texas A&I and Chicago Bears running back Johnny Bailey (deceased), Mary Hardin-Baylor national championship football coach Pete Fredenburg, Texas A&M quarterback and Super Bowl champion coach Gary Kubiak, former basketball player, coach, and athletic director for Texas Tech Gerald Myers, and former seven time all star Texas Ranger baseball player Michael Young.
The 2018 class will be honored on Saturday, April 7, 2018 at 6 p.m. at the Waco Convention Center. A reception will be held at the Texas Sports Hall of Fame before the banquet at 4 p.m. Combination Reception/Banquet tickets are $200 each or $1,400 for a reserved table of eight. Banquet-only tickets can be purchased for $75 each, or $600 for a reserved table of eight. To purchase tickets, please call the museum at 800-567-9561 or visit http://www.tshof.org/buy-tickets/