Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, December 2, 2016
STEPHENVILLE, Texas—A new generation of Texan and TexAnn greats are set to be immortalized with an induction into the Tarleton State University Athletics Hall of Fame as the class of 2017.
The Hall of Fame induction committee has announced the addition of six former Tarleton standouts who will be inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame. Tarleton will host the six inductees and their families for Hall of Fame Weekend, May 5-6, in Stephenville. The official induction ceremony is set for 7 p.m. Saturday, May 6, in the Barry B. Thompson Student Center Ballrooms.
The class includes two football standouts—one each from the junior college and senior college era—a men’s track and field star, the top men’s basketball scorer from Tarleton’s NCAA era, a record-setting softball pitcher and a former Lone Star Conference (LSC) Player of the Year from the baseball diamond.
The newest inductees for the class of 2017 into the Tarleton Athletics Hall of Fame are:
Bobby Walls – Football (1956-1957)
Bobby Walls enters the Tarleton Athletics Hall of Fame after a standout career on the gridiron in 1956 and 1957 for the purple and white.
A native of Big Lake, Texas, Walls shined for the Plowboys for two seasons—the first of which saw Tarleton earn a share of the Pioneer Conference Championship with a 7-1-1 record. In the 1956 season, the Walls-led Plowboys notched their biggest win of the season by defeating Arlington State, who went on to compete in the Junior Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., that season.
As a sophomore, Walls was a first-team All-Conference, All-State, and All-American as well as the starting running back at the Junior College All-American game, where he was named the Most Outstanding Player. He rushed for 615 yards in his final season at Tarleton and led the team with 42 points in 1957.
Ryan Seward – Football (1998-2001)
Ryan Seward enters the Tarleton Athletics Hall of Fame after a dominant career in the trenches for Tarleton from 1998-2001.
A native of Goldthwaite, Texas, Seward helped Tarleton to 24 wins in his four seasons with the purple and white as well as leading the Texans to their first-ever Lone Star Conference championship and NCAA postseason appearance in 2001 with a 10-3 record overall and an 8-1 mark in LSC play.
He was an honorable mention All-America selection as a senior and led the 2001 Tarleton offense that sits within the top seven single seasons in nine different statistical categories. He was a two-time all-conference center, in addition to his All-America status, and was the 2001 LSC Offensive Lineman of the Year.
Steve Wester – Track & Field (1979-1984)
Steve Wester becomes the 26th individual to join the hall of fame after competing in track and field at Tarleton.
A native of Weatherford, Texas, Wester came to Tarleton in 1979 and made an immediate impact for coach Joe Gillespie’s track and field program. Wester was a conference champion all four years for Tarleton and averaged more than 30 points per meet.
He was a four-time national qualifier in the high jump, topping out at jumps higher than 6-6. He was a three-time TIAA champion in the high jump and a three-time TIAA champion in the high hurdles, including a time of 14.65 to win his 1981 TIAA championship. He also competed in the javelin, pole vault, sprint relay, decathlon, long jump and triple jump during his time with the Texans.
Gabe Johnson – Men’s Basketball (1995-1999)
Gabe Johnson becomes the 38th member of the Tarleton men’s basketball program to be inducted into the Tarleton Athletics Hall of Fame.
A native of Gunter, Texas, Johnson came to Tarleton soon after the school made the leap from NAIA to the NCAA and, under the direction of head coach Lonn Reisman, he helped begin Tarleton’s rise into national prominence. Johnson led the Texans to their first winning record as an NCAA program with an 18-10 record in 1996-1997 and led Tarleton to a record of 65-46 over his four-year tenure.
He was a two-time academic all-conference selection, an LSC South Division honorable mention selection, and enters the Hall of Fame as the school’s all-time NCAA-era scoring leader with 1,123 career points. He holds the school record for three-point shots made (10) and attempted (20) in a single game and was a career .400 shooter from the floor.
Carla Geeslin – Softball (2001-2004)
Carla Geeslin becomes the third TexAnn softball athlete to etch her name into the Tarleton Athletics Hall of Fame.
A native of Kennedale, Texas, Geeslin goes into the hall of fame as arguably the greatest pitcher to throw for the TexAnns since the program began in 1996. Geeslin owns seven school records at, including the all-time record for wins (62), strikeouts (521) and shutouts (23). She also boasts the single-season records for strikeouts, saves, earned run average, shutouts and appearances.
In her four seasons at Tarleton, the TexAnns won 137 games with a winning percentage of .652 and qualified for the school’s first two NCAA regional tournaments in 2003 and 2004. Geeslin was a three-time all-region selection, a four-time all-conference selection, the 2001 LSC Freshman of the Year and the 2003 LSC Pitcher of the Year.
Victor Sauceda – Baseball (1998-1999)
Victor Sauceda becomes the 17th member of the Tarleton Athletics Hall of Fame to have competed in baseball and the fourth member of the Texans baseball program to be inducted from the modern era (since 1988).
A native of Chihuahua, Mexico, Sauceda came to Tarleton in 1998 as a standout shortstop for the late hall of fame coach Jack Allen. In his first season with the Texans, Sauceda led Tarleton to uncharted territory as the Texans qualified for their first-ever NCAA regional tournament with a record of 35-21. Sauceda’s Texans topped the 30-win mark in both of his seasons for an overall record of 69-42 and a win percentage of .622 over that two-year period.
He followed up his debut season with the purple and white by leading the Texans to their first LSC championship in 1999, after which he was named the LSC Player of the Year. He was a first-team all-conference selection in both seasons at Tarleton, in addition to his player of the year tribute.
Sauceda is in the top 10 of six different single-season statistical categories and is No. 3 all-time in career batting average (.395) and triples (14).
Tarleton, a member of The Texas A&M University System, provides a student-focused, value-driven educational experience marked by academic innovation and exemplary service, and dedicated to transforming students into tomorrow’s professional leaders. With campuses in Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Midlothian and online, Tarleton engages with its communities to provide real-world learning experiences and to address societal needs while maintaining its core values of integrity, leadership, tradition, civility, excellence and service.
#
Contact: Nate Bural – Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications
254-968-1802
[email protected]
