WACO, Texas - Texas A&M women's basketball head coach Gary Blair and Aggie softball great Shawn Andaya were officially inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame (TSHOF) Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center.
The evening consisted of a private reception at the TSHOF, followed by a banquet where Blair and Andaya were inducted in front of 1,000 attendees including their family, friends, colleagues and numerous current Hall of Fame members.
A Dallas, Texas, native, Blair led the Aggie women to their first national championship in program history in 2011. He closed out the season with a school-record 33 wins and a program-best No. 1 national ranking. Blair also produced A&M's first All-American in Danielle Adams. An emotional Blair stood behind the podium and expressed his love for what he does and how privileged he felt to be an inductee.
"I've got the best job in the whole world," he said. "This has always been one of my dream jobs (coaching at Texas A&M). I teach and I coach every day and most days I wear short pants to work. It's an honor to go into the Hall of Fame with all of these honorees and with all that they've done and accomplished."
Blair, a 1963 graduate of Bryan Adams High School in Dallas, attended Texas Tech and played baseball for the Red Raiders as well as earning undergraduate and master's degrees from Texas Tech. He was the architect of three state championships and a 239-18 record at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas, before taking over the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack program and making it a national contender. Â
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On the collegiate level, Blair is a two-time national finalist for Coach of the Year honors. He is one of the all-time winningest coaches in NCAA women's basketball history and is one of only three all-time NCAA Division I women's basketball coaches to lead two different teams to the NCAA Women's Final Four (Texas A&M and Arkansas).
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At Texas A&M, he took over a women's basketball program that was at the basement and has elevated it into one of the nation's elite programs, winning a national championship, a Big 12 regular-season and two tournament titles as well as leading the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament for six straight seasons.
Andaya, who currently resides in Bryan, Texas, was a three-time All-American and was the winning pitcher in the Aggies' 1987 National Championship title game. The hurler posted a 114-28 record with 10 saves in her four years at A&M, setting an NCAA career record with 1,234 strikeouts.
Andaya led the Aggies to three national championship games during her career and still holds the record for most innings pitched in a single Women's College World Series (WCWS) game, with 25. Then a freshman, Andaya won the game with an RBI in the 25th inning.
Andaya capped her career with a national title, throwing a perfect game in the 1-0 victory over UCLA in a WCWS elimination game. The Aggies defeated UCLA again to take the '87 NCAA title.
The Aggie All-American was named to the WCWS All-Tournament three times and was also selected to the NCAA 25th Anniversary Women's College World Series team. Andaya became a member of the Texas A&M Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992.
The first Aggie woman, the first softball player and the only woman inductee in the Class of 2011, Andaya expressed her appreciation Wednesday night.
"I don't know what to say, but today has been beyond my wildest dreams," she said. "It's been a really, really great day. I never imagined anything like this would happen to me. I want to thank Texas A&M University, it was the best decision I ever made. It gave me the opportunity to be on a national championship team, to be an All-American and to reach things that I never thought I would reach in my life. I'm up here because of a great group of girls and a great coach and I want to say to Coach Brock, thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me the opportunity that changed my life. I'm hoping he'll be the next softball person inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame."
Blair and Andaya become the 24th and 25th TSHOF Inductees from Texas A&M joining the ranks of Aggie inductees like John David Crow, Gene Stallings and R.C Slocum. Also inducted in the Class of 2011 were Mack Brown, Fred Couples, G.A. Moore, Jr., Dave Parks, Tobin Rote, Bubba Smith, Lovie Smith and Andre Ware.