A gunslinger from Burleson, Steve Kelly made a triumphant return to the Lone Star State after coming to Tarleton from Miami in 1999. He made nothing short of a legendary impact on the Tarleton Football program as he became the first quarterback to lead the Texans into the NCAA national playoffs.
The Texans won 21 games in three years with Kelly under center, including a 10-3 season in 2001 when Tarleton made its debut in the NCAA postseason and defeated Chadron State in the opening round. Kelly racked up numerous Lone Star Conference awards, including two LSC Offensive Back of the Year honors and the league’s 2001-02 Male Athlete of the Year award.
After an All-American season in 2001, Kelly finished his illustrious career with 8,203 passing yards and 51 touchdowns. He is a top-five quarterback in four major passing statistical categories at the time of his induction
A high-flyer in the truest sense of the word, Tab Felts enjoyed a stellar career as a do-it-all superstar on the track and field team at Tarleton from 1979-82.
Felts was a four-time conference champion pole vaulter, over a span that saw him set multiple school records and become the first Texan in school history to clear 16 feet.
He qualified for the national championship in the pole vault all four years of his storied career and brought Tarleton glory by claiming multiple conference medals in the triple jump. He was a three-time Tarleton team MVP and his school record for pole vault stood tall from 1982 to 2005.
After impressing head coach Tammy Moorhead in a pick-up practice against scholarship players, Misty Garvin-Wilson walked on to the Tarleton Women’s Basketball team and never looked back.
In Tarleton’s early years as an NCAA school, Garvin-Wilson became Tarleton’s first NCAA superstar as she helped Tarleton begin its ascent to national prominence. Tarleton won over 40 games in Wilson’s career, including its first appearance in the LSC postseason tournament.
She was a three-time Tarleton MVP, two-time All-Conference, and 2001 All-Region selection. She finished her hall of fame career with 1,440 points and 326 steals and was among the top 15 players in school history in 13 statistical categories at the time of her induction.
In the rich history of Texan Basketball, Danny Jones put together one of the greatest two-year careers of any player to don the purple and white. Jones came to Tarleton in 2001 and wasted no time in becoming a star on the court and a fan favorite at Wisdom Gym.
He led the Texans to back-to-back Lone Star Conference championships, the first two 20-win seasons as an NCAA, and Tarleton’s first-ever national ranking. Tarleton was ranked the No. 1 school in the country by the NABC in 2003 with Jones at the center of its success.
He won multiple league awards, including two LSC Defensive Player of the Year honors, to go along with regional acclaim and seven different All-America honors over two years. At the time of his induction, Jones boasts the school record in double-doubles (43).
Tarleton’s first six-rotation superstar of the NCAA era etches her name among the elite student-athletes as Sharon Lister becomes the sixth volleyball player to enter the hall of fame.
In 1996, Lister joined a team that had won just 13 games in its first two years as an NCAA school and helped usher the program in a new direction with 49 wins over the next four seasons, including a 17-win season in 1999.
She was the first player in school history to land 1,000 kills and have 1,000 digs in a career. Lister is among the top six TexAnns in school history in four statistical categories at the time of her induction.
Marcie and Gracie Villa become the first sibling tandem to enter the hall of fame together after helping change the culture of Tarleton’s youngest athletic program.
Just five seasons after softball came to Tarleton in 1996, the Villa twins made their way to Stephenville and led Tarleton to back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time in school history. Tarleton won 70 games in two seasons with the Villa twins in the lineup and won the LSC South Division Championship in 2000.
Both slugging standouts were awarded All-Conference recognition while Gracie garnered All-Region and NFCA All-America acclaim. Together, Marcie and Gracie Villa helped provide a cornerstone to the success of the TexAnn Softball Program.
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