SHAWNEE – The Oklahoma Baptist University Athletics Department is pleased to announce its 2025 Hall of Fame class. Volleyball's Kaitlyn (Lucy) Brown, track and field's Travis (TJ) Lightsey, baseball's Jose Olmeda and Julian Merryweather, women soccer's Ruth (King) Spess, and football's Isaiah Mallory will be formally inducted at a ceremony inside the Geiger Center on Sept. 19 during Hall of Fame Weekend.
With these six, OBU's Hall of Fame will grow to 151 members.
Kaitlyn holds the season high digs record with 978, and her 2,123 career digs are also tops in program history. She also holds the most digs per set in a season. Also of note, she has the second-most career aces (130) behind Hall of Famer Kristin Pressley.
Her 2015 campaign was her best year notching program-highs in digs and digs per set as well as being named Defensive Player of the Year and making First Team All-Conference in the GAC. Kaitlyn was named NCCAA All-Central Region Player of the Year and a NCCAA All-American in 2015. She received Honorable Mention nods for the Sooner Athletic All-Conference in 2013 and 2014.
Representing the Bison track and field team is Travis (TJ) Lightsey.
Lightsey is a four-time national champion with two of those being in the 4x400 meter relay. TJ was the anchor for three relay national championships and a three-time Drake Relays Champion.
He was a 2005 indoor national champion in the 600-meter race and compiled 10 All-American awards.
The Bison baseball program adds two more to the Hall of Fame in Olmeda and Merryweather.
Olmeda played three seasons between 1987-89. He is in the top 10 in five career categories and ranks first in career triples with 13. Olmeda was aggressive on the bases with 89 career stolen bases putting him in second all-time. The 1989 campaign was his best year, finishing the season with 51 stolen bases (2nd), 78 runs (2nd) and 64 bases on balls (1st). He also earned a Second Team All-American nod.
He was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 1989 and went on to play nine professional seasons.
Merryweather pitched two seasons at OBU in 2013 and 2014. He finished with a 22-5 record and had an ERA of just 1.73 in 182 innings pitched. Merryweather tied the second lowest ERA in program history with a 1.07 in 2014. That same year, Merryweather tied the fourth-most wins in a season with 12 and struck out the second-most batters in a season tallying 132.
In 2014, he was drafted to the Cleveland Indians (Guardians). He is currently with the Chicago Cubs and playing in his 11
th professional season.
Our next inductee will be the first for the women's soccer program. Ruth (King) Spess is littered throughout the record book. She owns records for career goals (45), career points (114), career shots on goal (147), and is tied for career assists (24). Spess showed her clutch gene time and time again with 14 game-winning goals in her career.
She received votes for NCAA Second Team All-Region in 2019 along with a First Team All-GAC nod. In 2018, she was the GAC Offensive Player of the Year and First Team All-GAC. Ruth finished her career making First Team All-GAC each year, and earned a spot on the GAC All-Decade Team.
Our last inductee is Isaiah Mallory representing the Bison football team. Mallory came on to the scene in 2016 and ran for 1,083 yards as a sophomore setting the then-single season record. For his career, he ran 2,476 yards and scored 24 touchdowns with both marks putting him second and third, respectively. He holds the record for most rush yards in a game with 236 vs. East Central in 2016. Furthermore, he is the only player in OBU history to rush for more than 170 yards in three different games.
Mallory finished his career with First- and Second-Team All-GAC accolades (2016 & 2017 respectively) and was a First-Team NCCAA All-American in 2016.
Along with the induction on September 19, the inductees will also be recognized during halftime of the OBU versus Northwestern Oklahoma State football game on Sept. 20. All previous OBU Hall of Fame inductees are invited back to attend as well. To RSVP for the induction on the 19 of September. use the link in this article. For more info, contact
BAA@okbu.edu
