SHAWNEE – The Oklahoma Baptist University Athletics Department announced 2021 Hall of Fame class Monday. Track stars Travis Hinton and Jura Levy, along with men's basketball All-American Robbie Powell, and longtime athletics benefactor Tom Lowder will be formally inducted at a ceremony on the OBU campus on Sept. 17.
The quartet join the Hall of Fame's previous 134 inductees to bring the OBU's Hall of Fame membership to 138.
A 17-time All-American during his career at OBU, Hinton was a two-time national champion in the indoor 600, and also claimed three national relay titles in the 4x800 and one in the 4x400. He still owns the NAIA Championship record in the indoor 600 and was the 2015 Outstanding Performer at the indoor national meet. Also a four-time champion at the prestigious Drake Relays, Hinton additionally captured the 2015 NAIA championship in the outdoor 400.
One of the most decorated student-athletes in OBU history, Levy was a three-time MVP of the NAIA national meet, winning 10 total individual national titles during her career on Bison Hill. Her resume includes three NAIA titles in the 60 and 200 meters, and two titles in the 200, as well as two in the 100 meters where she owns the NAIA record. She also claimed an additional five national championships as a member of the OBU relay team, with three coming in the 4x400 and two in the 4x100. Levy holds OBU records in five different events, and is also a Drake Relays record holder as part of the spring medley relay. Following her OBU career, Levy has competed internationally for her native Jamaica and is a two-time World Games medalist.
A member of three NAIA Tournament teams, including the 1992-93 national runners-up and 1993-94 semifinalists, Powell earned Honorable Mention All-America honors in both 1993 and 1994. He was a Second Team All-Conference honoree in the Sooner Athletic Conference in 1993, before earning First Team honors the following season and making the NAIA All-Tournament Team. Powell owns OBU's career record for three-point shooting percentage (.467), and his 48.9 percent mark from beyond the arc during the 1993 season is also a program best. He is also one of just 22 OBU men's basketball players to record a 40-point game, scoring 41 against Philander Smith in 1992.
A fixture around OBU's athletics programs since the early 1980s, Tom Lowder has made a number of contributions to the success of Bison teams. As a member of the official table crew at OBU basketball games since the opening of the Noble Complex in 1982, Lowder has been a clock operator for both men's and women's basketball for nearly 40 years. Since the Bison football program was revived in 2013, he has also served as a timekeeper and scoreboard operator. In addition to his game day duties, Lowder also spent many years as a bus driver for OBU's men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, track and field, and volleyball teams, logging hundreds of thousands of miles transporting the Bison to conference and national events from coast to coast. From the mid-1990s through the early 2000s, he participated in OBU's private plane program, flying coaches and administrators on recruiting and other official visits throughout the region. Since the mid-1990s, Lower has generously donated game day meals for the media and working staff at OBU athletics events, including each men's and women's basketball doubleheader.
The 2021 Hall of Fame class will be formally inducted on Friday, Sept. 17, along with the members of the 2019 and 2020 classes whose induction ceremony was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The inductees will also be honored during halftime of the OBU versus Northwestern Oklahoma State football game the following evening. The contest has been designated as OBU's annual "Hall of Fame" game.
