2019 TU Athletic Hall of Fame Class to be Recognized at Halftime of Tulsa-Wyoming Game

TULSA, Okla. –– Three-time conference coach of the year for football F.A. Dry, first-round NBA draft selection Dana Lewis, women's tennis All-American Anousjka van Exel and the 1988 NCAA National Champion women's golf team will be inducted into The University of Tulsa's Athletic Hall of Fame Friday night in ceremonies at Gilcrease Museum.

The honorees will be introduced at halftime of the Tulsa-Wyoming game Saturday at H.A> Chapman Stadium. It's the 32nd Hall of Fame Class for Golden Hurricane athletics.

Head football coach F.A. DRY (1972-76), who became the school's director of athletics in 1971, took over the head coaching reigns in mid-season of 1972 and finished the year with a 3-2 record. Among his wins that season was a 28-26 road victory over No. 17-ranked Louisville in just his second game as coach.

Dry went on to register a 31-18-1 overall record and 20-4-1 Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) mark in 4.5 seasons. His teams won MVC Championships in 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976. The 1974 team compiled an 8-3 record and finished the season ranked 19th in the United Press International (UPI) poll. Tulsa closed out that season with a 30-14 victory over No. 14-ranked Houston at Skelly Stadium.

In leading Tulsa to a 7-4-1 mark in his final season of 1976, Dry's team took down No. 12-ranked Arkansas 9-3 in Fayetteville, and advanced to the school's first bowl game in 11 years with an appearance at the Independence Bowl.

Dry was named the MVC Coach of the Year in three separate seasons, garnering the award in consecutive years of 1974, 1975 and 1976.

He served as director of athletics and head football coach until resigning both posts following the 1976 campaign.

Dry was an assistant coach at Tulsa from 1961-65 and was largely credited for helping install the offense that kept Tulsa atop the national passing statistics and into consecutive Bluebonnet Bowls.

DANA LEWIS (Basketball, 1969-71) wasted little time in establishing himself as a star in the nation's most rugged cage circuit, the Missouri Valley Conference.

The 6-10, 240-pound center averaged 20.3 points and 11.8 rebounds in the 1969-70 season, thus earning MVC Newcomer of the Year accolades. Lewis was second on the team in scoring that first season, but a year later he led the Valley in scoring with a 23.3 average.

In addition, to his scoring output Lewis also grabbed a team-high 13.5 rebounds. He scored a career-high of 37 points twice in his career with the first coming against North Texas his sophomore season, and then against Louisville as a junior. Lewis was a two-time all-Missouri Valley Conference and NABC all-district team selection. He also earned honorable mention All-America merits in 1970-71. Prior to his junior season, Lewis was a member of the U.S. team that participated in the World University games the summer of 1970.

Lewis would forego his senior season and enter the NBA draft, where he was the 12th overall pick of the first round by the Philadelphia 76ers.

ANOUSJKA VAN EXEL (Women's Tennis, 1997-99) becomes the first women's tennis Hall of Fame inductee in school history. Van Exel played two years at Tulsa and earned All-America status in each of those seasons.

She became Tulsa's first female All-America tennis player in 1998 with two wins at the NCAA Women's Singles Championship and followed that up a year later with her second All-America season. Van Exel compiled a 73-16 career record for an .820 winning percentage with 28 of those victories coming against top-100 opponents

In her junior season, van Exel registered a school record 42-12 mark with 13 wins against top-100 opponents, including four against players ranked among the nation's top-10. She finished the year ranked 23rd in the country.

As a senior, van Exel recorded a 31-4 mark as a senior, while posting a school record 15-match winning streak. She finished her senior campaign ranked 12th nationally and was the ITA Central Region Singles Champion and Senior Player of the Year.

Van Exel was twice named to the all-conference first team and was the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year both seasons. She earned GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America first-team accolades her senior campaign.

After missing out on a trip to the NCAA Championship a year earlier, mostly due to an injury plagued season, the 1988 NCAA WOMEN'S GOLF TEAM captured the program's fourth national championship and second NCAA crown, and is recognized as this year's Athletic Hall of Fame Honor Team. The 1988 team joins fellow national championship teams of 1980 and 1982 to be recognized as the Athletic Hall of Fame's Honor Team.

Tulsa came into the national event after capturing team titles at the Stanford Women's Intercollegiate, the UCLA Desert Classic and the Patty Sheehan Invitational, while placing second three times.

After a second-place finish at the Lady Sun Devil Invitational, Tulsa's team of Maggie Kelt, Blue Kinander, Caryn Louw, Melissa McNamara and Kelly Robbins entered the NCAA Championship as one of the favorites at the New Mexico State Golf Course in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The Hurricane went on to score a seven-stroke victory over second-place Georgia with a record nine-under par score of 1,175.

The team title wasn't the only hardware that Tulsa took home as head coach Dale McNamara's daughter, Melissa, claimed individual medalist honors with rounds of 72-74-71-70 for a two-stroke victory.

2019 TU Athletic Hall of Fame Class to be Recognized at Halftime of Tulsa-Wyoming Game

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