Current Members of the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame
Class of 2005
Reuben Reina
Class of 2005
Reuben Reina
Reuben Reina has represented the United States at all levels of distance running and is the most accomplished runner in San Antonio history. The John Jay High School graduate dominated local and state 1600 and 3200-meter races for three years, winning both events at the state championships in 1984, 1985 and 1986. This feat has never been duplicated. He was also state cross-country champion in 1985. He was the Greater San Antonio Sportsman of the Year in 1985 and 1986.
Reina ran collegiately at the University of Arkansas where he was a two-time NCAA 3000m indoor champion, an eight-time All-American in track and cross-country, and winner of seven individual Southwest Conference titles. He ran on Razorback teams that won six NCAA team championships and eleven Southwest Conference titles. Reina ran the 5000-meter event at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona where he finished fifth in the qualifying round. He is a two-time USA Cross Country Champion, in 1994 and 1996. He has represented the USA in five world championship track and cross-country events, two Goodwill Games, and numerous international competitions.
His personal best times include 3:40.81 at 1500 meters, 3:57.08 for the mile, 7:43.02 in the 3000 meters, and 13:24.78 in the 5000 meters. He has been inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, the University of Arkansas Hall of Honor, the Arkansas Track & Field Hall of Fame and the Hispanic National Hall of Fame.
Class of 2005
Gabe Rivera
Class of 2005
Gabe Rivera
Gabe Rivera was an outstanding high school and college football player who also played professionally for the Pittsburgh Steelers. An all-around athlete, Rivera was a three-year letterman in football, basketball, baseball and track at Thomas Jefferson High School. He immediately became recognized in football where he played tight end and linebacker, being selected All-District at both positions. He was named a Parade Magazine All-American in 1978, his senior year. He also qualified for the state track meet in the discus, throwing over 170 feet.
Rivera became a defensive lineman at Texas Tech University, and earned a starting position in the fifth game of his freshman year. He became nationally known as “Señor Sack.” His collegiate career produced 321 tackles, and he was the team’s leading interior tackler for four consecutive years. Rivera was an All-Southwest Conference selection his junior and senior years and an Associated Press and Kodak All-American pick his senior year, 1982, when he was named Southwest Conference Defensive Player of the Year. He played in the Blue-Gray All-Star game that same year.
His outstanding senior season made him the number one draft pick of the National Football League’s Pittsburgh Steelers. His professional career ended early in October 1983, when he was involved in a head-on automobile accident in Pittsburgh. Rivera has been inducted into the Texas Tech Athletic Hall of Fame, the Latin American International Hall of Fame and The Latino in Action Sports Association Hall of Fame.
Class of 2005
Jim Wacker
Class of 2005
Jim Wacker
Jim Wacker earned a reputation for an eternally positive view of life throughout his 37-year coaching career, which produced national championships and high academic achievement.
His football coaching experience began in 1960 as a high school coach in Oregon, but it was his record in Texas that moved him up the coaching ladder. He was the head coach at Texas Lutheran College from 1971 to 1975 where the Bulldogs won the NAIA Division II national championship in 1974 and 1975. After three seasons, two conference championships and two semifinal playoff appearances at North Dakota State, he became head coach at Southwest Texas State where he led the Bobcats to NCAA Division II championships in 1981 and 1982. The 1982 team had a perfect 14-0 season and Wacker was named College Division Coach of the Year. His four-year record at SWT was 42-8.
Wacker moved into the Southwest Conference in 1983 where he coached nine seasons at Texas Christian University. Three organizations honored him as National Coach of the Year in 1984 when he led the 8-3 Horned Frogs to the Bluebonnet Bowl. In 1992, he became the head coach at the University of Minnesota in the Big Ten Conference. In each of his five years at Minnesota, the Gophers led the conference in graduation rates and all-academic selections. He retired from coaching with a 160-130-3 record, and in 1998 became the Athletic Director at Southwest Texas State where he served until 2002.
Class of 2005
Ross Davis
Class of 2005
Ross Davis
Ross Davis was a multiple medal winner in three Paralympic Games and set numerous national and world records in wheelchair track events. Born with a disability, he started participating in wheelchair sports in 1987 while a student at Texas Tech University. In 1989 he became focused on track events and, after three months of training, won his first 100-meter national championship. In 12 years of racing, he set U.S. national records in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m events, and held world records in the 100m, 400m and 1500m distances.
Davis won nine medals in three Paralympic Games, starting with four silver medals at the 1992 Barcelona Games. In Atlanta in 1996, he won the gold medal in the 100 meters in world record time and took bronze in the 400 meters. He won gold again at the 2000 Sydney Games with a Paralympic record time in the 100 meters and won bronze medals in the 200 and 400-meter events. At the 1995 Pan American Games in Argentina, Davis won every track event from 100 meters to 5000 meters, earning six gold medals overall. He also earned five silver medals at the 1999 Southern Cross Games in Sydney.
In 2000, Davis was selected as the Express-News Sportsman of the Year and recognized in the Top 100 Texas Panhandle Sports Legends of the Century. He represented disabled sports on the U.S. Olympic Committee board of directors from 2002 to 2004. After a long career as director of marketing at San Antonio Sports, Davis currently holds the same position with the Texas Regional Parasport Games.
Class of 2005
Bill Rogers
Class of 2005
Bill Rogers
Bill Rogers has represented the United States as both an amateur and a professional golfer and has won 13 professional golf tournaments. Rogers began playing golf at the age of nine. He was an NCAA First Team All-American at the University of Houston and was a member of the victorious 1973 Walker Cup team. In 1975 he joined the Professional Golf Association Tour and won six Tour events between 1978 and 1983. He also won seven tournaments outside the Tour, including the 1981 Australian Open.
Rogers was named PGA Player of the Year in 1981, his best season on the tour. His Tour victories included the British Open Championship, World Series of Golf and the Texas Open. He played in the 1981 Ryder Cup and contributed one and one-half points to the USA victory over Europe. He was an assistant to captain Ben Crenshaw for the 1999 Ryder Cup Team which staged the dramatic comeback win in Brookline.
Rogers has been inducted into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame and has been a board member of Golf San Antonio. He is an avid supporter of the First Tee Program and helped bring the American Junior Golf Association to San Antonio.
Class of 2005
Stacey Johnson
Class of 2005
Stacey Johnson
As a foil fencer, Stacey Johnson was an Olympian, a national champion and a collegiate champion. A graduate of Robert E. Lee High School, Johnson began fencing at age eleven. She was a four-time All-America selection at San Jose State University where she established the current collegiate win/loss record of 305-1. She helped the Spartans to four NCAA team championships and was the NCAA individual champion in 1976 and 1978.
In U.S. National Championship competition, Johnson won team titles in 1974, 1976 and 1977, and was an individual finalist five times between 1974 and 1982. She represented the USA at three Fencing World Championships, was a member of the U.S. World University Games team in 1977 and 1979 and was the gold medalist at the 1982 U.S. Olympic Sports Festival. Johnson was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Fencing Team. She was appointed to the U.S. Olympic Committee board of directors from 1996-2008 and served on its executive committee from 2003-2004. She was elected President of the U.S. Fencing Association from 2000-2004 and was a nominee for the International Olympic Committee’s Annual Women and Sport Trophy, the highest Olympic award for women.
Johnson founded the San Antonio Sports Foundation’s Dreams For Youth program, an Olympic sport program that developed training centers in disadvantaged neighborhoods. She has served as a member of the San Antonio Sports Foundation board of directors for 18 years. She has been inducted into the San Jose State Hall of Fame and the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame. She was named by the NCAA as a distinguished 2004 NCAA Silver Anniversary Award winner, recognizing her outstanding contributions to sport since her competitive college days.