Feb. 15, 2009

Family ties by any means are no strangers in sports. Brothers and sisters and parents and children have taken to football, basketball, tennis and baseball. At the University of Texas Pan American family ties are no stranger to athletics as well.

Even today there are two brothers Beau and Brett Bernstein on the men's tennis team and on the women's golf team MJ and Mariale Camey are two sisters from Guatemala.

In the 1970s family ties made its mark on the Bronc Baseball team. Three brothers, James, Leonard and Wayne Tyrone, all played baseball at UTPA.

James was the first of the Tyrone brothers to make his mark on the baseball team. In 1970-71 James played for the legendary Al Olgetree and was also a member of the 1971 College World Series team. The two-time All-American holds the number three spot in batting averages in the record books batting .363 all time and the number six spot in stolen bases with 71. In 1971 he stole 51 bases and was walked 50 times. After UTPA, James went on to play professional baseball with the Chicago Cubs and the Oakland A's.

After James, Wayne, who also lettered on the 1971 CWS team played for only two seasons with the green and white. In 1976 Wayne made his mark in the big leagues as he signed on with the Chicago Cubs as well.

From 1976-79 Leonard made his mark at UTPA. During his tenure he made his mark in the record books being ranked fifth in runs scored with 141, eight in games played with 182, and beat his brother James in stolen bases ranking one spot better in fifth with 79. Leonard also came in seventh all-time in batting average hitting .387.

On Feb. 21 the Tyrone Brothers join the University of Texas-Pan American athletic Hall of Fame for their contributions on the baseball team. This is the third class of the Hall of Fame and there is a banquet scheduled that day. -GO BRONCS!-