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EDINBURG – The University of Texas-Pan American Department of Intercollegiate Athletics inducted on Saturday the 2015 Athletics Hall of Fame class, which includes the 1962-66 men's tennis teams, former men's tennis players John Hunter, George Kon and Gerry Wortelboer, former baseball players Tommy Sandoval and Tommy Simpson, and former women's basketball player Dawn (Beachler) Murray. The department also inducted former Pan American Board of Regents President Orville I. Cox and former Pan American Board of Regents member Ann LaMantia into the Hall of Honor. 
 
The 1962-65 men's tennis teams all won NAIA National Championships and Big State Conference Championships, capping off a streak of five-straight national titles and 13-straight conference championships. The 1966 team finished sixth at the NCAA Championships in the Broncs' first year at the NCAA Division I level. In 1962, UTPA Hall of Famer Don Russell won the NAIA Singles Championship while teaming with Wortelboer to win the NAIA Doubles Championship. In 1963, UTPA Hall of Famer Ken Lang won the NAIA Singles Championship while teaming with Hunter to win the NAIA Doubles Championship. In 1965, Kon won the NAIA Singles Championship while UTPA Hall of Famers Detlev Nitsche and Sherwood Stewart teamed up for the NAIA Doubles Championship. In 1966, Kon was a semifinalist for the NCAA Singles Championship while he and Nitsche were quarterfinalists for the NCAA Doubles Championship. Complete rosters can be found below.
 
"Each player that we had on the teams has special strengths, and we really learned a lot by watching each other play tennis," Nitsche said "We came together now 50 years ago. We had one reunion in 2000, and we promised not to let another 35 years go by before our next reunion. It's been 15 years now, and it's great to get together again after so many years."
 
"I received a phone call by Detlev several months ago telling me about this event and that I would be contacted by UTPA," said Chris Bovett, who played on the 1966 team. "I've relished the opportunity to come back to Pan Am after so many years. I first arrived at Pan Am from Sydney, Australia in January 1966. The next 18 months, as a part of Pan American tennis, were some of the best of my life."
 
Hunter, inducted posthumously, had a big year in 1962-63, earning NAIA All-American honors after winning the 1963 NAIA Doubles National Championship with Lang. Hunter helped the Broncs win their third-straight NAIA National Championship and 11^th-straight Big State Conference Championship that season.
 
Kon won the 1965 NAIA Singles National Championship en route to earning NAIA First Team All-American status. He finished as a semifinalist in the 1966 NCAA Singles Championship, and a quarterfinalist with Nitsche in the NCAA Doubles Championship. Kon helped the Broncs to the NAIA National Championships and Big State Conference Championships from 1963-65, as well as a sixth place finish at the 1966 NCAA Championships.
 
"I want to thank Pan American for the scholarship they gave me, because I spent some of the best years of my life here," Kon said. "In 1963, I was one of three Argentinians on the team who played for the same club in Buenos Aires. What were the odds of that?"
 
Wortelboer teamed with Russell to win the 1961 NAIA Doubles National Championship while helping the Broncs to win their first NAIA National Championship and ninth-straight Big State Conference Championship.
 
"It's an honor and a pleasure to get this prize," Wortelboer said. "The years I spent at Pan American were marvelous and full of joy. All of the people in Edinburg were so kind and they made it feel like my home, despite being from Argentina. The four years I was here will remain in my heart until I die."
 
Sandoval, inducted posthumously, pitched for the Broncs from 1967-70, and ranks ninth in program history in career wins (20) and innings pitched (242.1), and 11^th in strikeouts (193). He picked up the only road win against Texas in program history, 2-1 in 10 innings in game two of the 1968 NCAA District Championships. Sandoval went 4-4 with a 2.77 ERA, striking out 44 while allowing 40 hits and 21 walks in 52 innings in 1968. He followed that up by going 5-3 with a 1.27 ERA, striking out 68 while allowing 48 hits and 28 walks in 64 innings in 1969.
 
"Tommy would have been very grateful to be here with the other inductees," Sandoval's widow, Mary Hernandez, said. "I want to think Coach Al Ogletree for everything. Tommy loved him."
 
Simpson played for the Broncs from 1971-75, helping the team to the 1971 College World Series. He went 2-for-2 in the College World Series. Simpsons had six game winning hits and a then-program record 13 doubles in 1974. He hit .311 in 23 games in 1971 and .266 in 30 games in 1972. Simpson missed the 1973 season due to severe burns suffered in the same accident in which UTPA Hall of Honor member Jody Ramsey was killed, but came back in 1974 to hit .306 with 13 doubles, two triples, two home runs, 21 RBI and 22 runs scored. Simpson capped off his career by hitting .300 with five doubles, two triples, one home run, 19 RBI and 22 runs scored in 1975.
 
"Tommy was an outstanding player," Broncs head coach emeritus and Hall of Famer Al Ogletree said. "If you had nine players like him on your team, you'd have an outstanding team."
 
"When I was at Pan Am, those were truly some of the greatest years of my life," Simpson said. "To get to play on that team in '71 was an honor. And to have a coach like Coach Ogletree… I can really say that Coach loves his players."
 
The first UTPA women's basketball player to earn induction into the Hall of Fame, Murray was a First Team All-Sun Belt Conference selection and UTPA Female Student-Athlete of the Year in 1993-94. She ranks third in program history in career field goals attempted (1,041), fourth in field goals made (409) and free throw shooting percentage (.688), fifth in field goal shooting percentage (.392), sixth in points (1,057) and three-pointers (101), and eighth in rebounds (423) and three-pointers attempted (305). She holds the single-season program record for field goal attempts in a single season with 608, and ranks second in points in a single season (606), third in field goals made (233), fifth in field goals made (176) and field goal attempts (433), sixth in points (451) and rebounds (215), seventh in minutes played (968), eighth in three-pointer attempts (182), ninth in minutes played (965), free throws made (85) and free throws attempts (123), and 10^th in three-pointers made (55). She is tied for the program single-game record for free throw percentage at 1.000 (7-7). Murray is tied for third and 10^th in single-game rebounds with 18 and 16, respectively. She ranks fourth, fifth and seventh with single-game totals of 36 points, 34 points twice, and 33 points, respectively. Murray ranks fifth and sixth with single-game three-point field goal percentages of .857 (6-for-7) and .833 (5-for-6), respectively. She also ranks sixth and seventh with single-game field goals totals of 13 once and 12 twice, respectively.
 
"This honor would not have been possible without the support I received from my parents. They brought my all over the country so I could pursue my dream of playing college basketball," Murray said. "Now that I have my own family, I realize how expensive it is and how you have to put your wants and needs second. I couldn't have done it without them."
 
Cox, inducted posthumously, is known as the father of tennis at UTPA for his almost single-handed procurement of the construction of the then $75,000 tennis facility with a cost to Pan American College of only $3,000. The tennis courts, which opened in 1958, are named after Cox, who offered many scholarships to tennis players who attended Pan American.
 
"Having a university here locally, where many students can live at home or near home and around their friends is crucial," Cox's Son, Orville Cox Jr. said, said. "Pan American provides a base for students to make a transition from youth to stepping out into the world. I want to thank everyone for allowing us to be a part of this."
 
LaMantia, inducted posthumously, served on the Pan American Board of Regents from 1978-83. The Ann LaMantia Outstanding Woman Athlete Scholarship was established in her memory by her husband, Joe, after her passing in 1983. It was one of the first scholarships for women at Pan American, and goes to the female student-athlete with the highest GPA ever year.
 
"It was very clear to me from the very start that she was a person dedicated to family, leadership and community service. There's no better way to do that than through education," Judge Ricardo Hinojosa said. "One of the things we had in common is that we supported the idea of a student-athlete and helping athletes to get their education through scholarships."
 
For more information about the UTPA Athletics Hall of Fame, call (956) 665-2221 or visit utpabroncs.com/halloffame.
 
1962-66 Men's Tennis Rosters
 
1962
Jim Saucedo
John Sharpe
Don Russell
Gerry Wortelboer
Ken Lang
 
Head Coach Harry Meng
Assistant Coach Jim Watson
 
1963
George Kon
Reider Getz
Gerry Wortelboer
Jim Saucedo
Luis Conclavez
John Hunter
Ken Lang
 
Head Coach Harry Meng
 
1964
Larry Riggs
Lornie Kuhle
Gerry Wortelboer
Tom Muench
Jim Saucedo
A.G. Longoria
 
Head Coach Charles Magurean
 
1965
Detlev Nitsche
George Kon
Lornie Kuhle
Sherwood Stewart
Fred Berli
 
Head Coach Don Russell
 
1966
Fred Berli
Chris Bovett
Ray Keldie
George Kon
Detlev Nitsche
 
Head Coach Don Russell

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