The Howard Payne University Sports Hall of Fame will induct Jim Ewing, John Guice, Richard Green, and the 2007-2008 Women’s Basketball Team into the Hall of Fame homecoming weekend. The HPU Sports Hall of Fame banquet will be Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 7:30 pm in the Bullion Suites of the Mabee University Center.
A native of Glasgow, Scotland, Jim Ewing served his country as a reconnaissance photographer in the Royal Air Force (RAF) before coming to Howard Payne College in 1963. Jim developed a love for distance running during his service in the Royal Air Force and represented the RAF in the 400 hurdles and mile run in Europe. After coming into contact with another Scotsman, Bill Thomas, who was running for Howard Payne College, Jim decided to enroll at HPC and run for the Yellow Jackets on the Cross Country and Track and Field teams.
As a freshman, Jim’s presence was felt immediately – helping lead Howard Payne to the 1964 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Cross Country National Championship. He was HPC’s top finisher in 2nd place leading the Yellow Jackets to a record low score for the Championship meet.
In the Lone Star Conference (LSC), Jim was conference champion in the mile run four consecutive years and still holds the LSC meet record in the 2-mile run. In his senior year of 1967, the conference coaches voted him Outstanding Track Man.
At the end of his college career, he was a six time NAIA All-American, four times in Cross Country and twice in Track at the 1500 meters.
Soon after graduating from HPC, Jim won the 2-mile at the United States Track and Field Federation Indoor Championships.
Jim earned his master’s degree in English from Rice University and then returned to Howard Payne as a professor. While teaching he served as a distance running coach under Don Hood and worked extensively with Olympian Billy Fordjour, who represented Ghana in the 1972 Olympics.
Jim continued to run while teaching at Howard Payne, winning the inaugural San Antonio Marathon, Mississippi State Marathon, and other notable 10K races. In 1981, Jim was selected to the U.S. Masters team which toured China, running in 10K races throughout the country.
Jim completed his PhD in 1977 from Texas A&M University. He then went on to teach for several years at Mississippi College. He and his wife, Therese, currently reside in Fresno, California and both teach at Fresno City College.
A standout football player, Richard Green graduated from Mart High School in 1995. Richard was originally recruited by Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos. Even though Richard attended Southwest Texas State he did not play and spent a year working before attending Howard Payne in the fall of 1997.
Playing eight games in an already experienced HPU backfield, he rushed for 425 yards, averaging 53.1 yards per game. In his freshman season, he was named American Southwest Conference Honorable Mention as a running back and American Southwest Conference Freshman of the Year.
Richard continued to shine in the Yellow Jacket backfield and was named second-team All-Conference as a sophomore. His junior season of 1999 was his best statistically, amassing 1,307 yards, for a 130 yard per game average. That season he was named first-team All-Conference and All-American.
His senior year he also was a 1,000 yard rusher (1,063) and scored 13 Touchdowns for the Yellow Jackets. Richard garnered first-team All-Conference honors and became HPU’s all-time leading rusher in his final season at the university. Richard also held several American Southwest Conference records at the time.
To this day Richard still holds Howard Payne records for rushing attempts in a season (246), rushing yards in a career (3,621), and rushing yards per game average for his career (95.3).
Graduating from Howard Payne in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems, he is now a Computer Operations Specialist with the Road and Bridge Department of McLennan County. He and his wife, Para, now reside in Mart, Texas with their four children – Sha’Niya, Elijah, Kaydence, and Richard.
A 1955 graduate of Antelope High School in Jack County, Texas, John Guice attended Decatur Baptist College (now Dallas Baptist University) for two years before transferring to Howard Payne College. At Decatur Baptist he led the basketball team to two regional tournaments and was named to the All-Region team in 1957.
John started at HPC in the fall of 1957 and was a two-year letterman for the Yellow Jackets. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in History and Secondary Education in 1959. It was after graduation from Howard Payne that he truly made his mark on basketball in Texas.
Following graduation, John entered the coaching profession in the Texas Public School System at Midway High School in Clay County. In his 44 years of coaching, John is one of the very few coaches to spend his entire career in the same school district. After his retirement in 2005, he totaled 1,392 coaching wins in boys and girls varsity basketball, the most of any active coach in the history of the University Interscholastic League (UIL) of Texas. He is one of four coaches with more than 1,000 wins in boys basketball in Texas and one of twelve in the nation.
His teams did not just win games, they won titles, including 34 district championships, with 24 regional appearances, three regional titles, three state appearances, and two state runner-ups.
John’s individual honors are extensive, having been chosen to coach numerous all-star games, being named Class A Coach of the Year (1982), receiving the Texas High School Coaches Association Outstanding Achievement Award (1987), the High School Extra Prime Sports Coach Who Makes A Difference (1996), the UIL Southwestern Bell Excellence Award (2002), and induction into the Texas High Basketball Hall of Fame (1998).
In addition to his coaching career, he has served as a principal for 27 years and superintendent for two. John and his wife, Sherry, are both retired and now reside in Wichita Falls, Texas. They have two children: daughter, Tracie (Guice) Cain ’86 and husband, Jim ’86 and son Jeff and wife, Kelly. They also have six grandchildren.
Named the “Perfect Swarm”, the 2007-2008 Howard Payne women’s basketball team went 33-0 and won the 2008 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball National Championship. The championship was the first team championship for Howard Payne since moving to the NCAA from the NAIA in the mid-90’s. It was also the first NCAA Division III National Championship in the 12-year history of the American Southwest Conference.
That season the women’s basketball team was the only collegiate basketball team, men’s or women’s at any level, to finish 2007-2008 season undefeated and the fifth undefeated women’s basketball team in 27-year history of NCAA Division III tournament.
Along the way the team won their second consecutive American Southwest Conference title and third in four years. The Lady Jackets extended their Brownwood Coliseum home win streak to 36 games and win streak over American Southwest Conference opponents to 34 games.
Only four of 33 games were decided by 10 or fewer points. The team led NCAA III women in scoring margin at 27.8 points per game and gained the first number 1 national ranking for women’s basketball in school history.
The team had numerous individual honors, NCAA III National Player of the Year, Meia Daniels, NCAA III National Coach of the Year, Chris Kielsmeier, two NCAA III All-Americans, Meia Daniels and Stacey Blalock, All-Region player, Kim Hoffman, other post-season individuals honors, and numerous American Southwest Conference individual awards.
