OBU Inducts Four Into Hall of Fame

SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist inducted four All-Americans into its Athletic Hall of Fame at the annual Bison Legends event Friday in the Geiger Center.
 
Baseball player Daniel Baptista, women's track and field athlete Verone Chambers, women's tennis player Paola Costa and men's track and field athlete Jonathan Hilton were welcomed to the Hall of Fame by OBU director of athletics Robert Davenport and present Hall of Fame members Bobby Cox, Don Masters, Ford Mastin and Dr. Norris Russell.
 
Baptista, who had 39 career home runs and played on World Series teams in both his seasons at OBU, recalled the medium pink t-shirt he earned for going 0-10 in Bison Wars, the baseball team's offseason fitness competition.
 
"I'm not a medium," Baptista laughed. "I had a speech in class that day with that shirt not coming down to my navel. Fortunately, I found a blazer."
 
On a more serious note, Baptista recalled life lessons Cox taught him and thanked Coach Cox and former assistant Chris Klimas (also present) for recruiting him.
 
"Coach Cox told me nobody would remember how many home runs you hit or what your batting average was, but they would remember how you made them feel and what kind of teammate you were. I've carried that forward."
 
Chambers, the most-decorated athlete in OBU's most successful sport, called the award "the best thing that has ever happened to me" and thanked her second family.
 
"Coach Mastin has been like a father to me and his whole family has been like a second family to me," Chambers said. "Coming to OBU was the best decision I ever made and if I had to do it over again, I would always choose OBU."
 
Costa, the first five-time All-American in women's tennis and the first women's tennis player inducted into OBU's Hall of Fame, recalled her time at OBU.
 
"It was definitely the best time of my life," Costa said. "Thank you to my friends for being here and for my boyfriend for being here. We met here and we're still together. There were so many nice people here."
 
Hilton, who paved the way for OBU's strong reputation in multi-event competition as a national champion decathlete and in the heptathlon, remembered the people who put the inductees in position to be where they were Friday night.
 
"We were blessed with talent and people who pushed us and with parents who exposed us to the sports we ended up loving," Hilton said. "And we had coaches that helped us."
 
Hilton recalled struggling in his early track years at OBU until Coach Mastin put him in the decathlon.
"All of these people in this place got us to work our tails off and with some God-given talent, we were able to achieve something that none of us thought was possible when we came here as freshmen."
 
The foursome will be honored at halftime of the Hall of Fame Football Game Saturday at Crain Family Stadium at the Hurt Memorial Athletic Complex. The game kicks off at 1 p.m.