The Howard Payne University Sports Hall of Fame will induct Vance Gibson, George Hine, and Adam King on Saturday, October 9th as a part of the 2010 Howard Payne University homecoming festivities.
The ceremony will be held in the Bullion Suites of the Mabee University Center on the Howard Payne University campus at 7:30 pm. Those interested in attending can contact the HPU Alumni Relations office at 800-950-8465 or email alumni@hputx.edu.
VANCE GIBSON
The head football coach at Frisco High School, Vance Gibson has been in his current position since 2004. Gibson is a 1971 graduate of Sherman High School. He received the Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from Austin College in Sherman in 1975 and 1976 respectively.
After college coaching stints at Sam Houston State University and Iowa Wesleyan College, Gibson took over an HPU football program that had only two winning seasons in the previous 15 years. His teams either won or shared the conference championship in three of his first five seasons at HPU.
In 1992, the Yellow Jackets won the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (TIAA) Championship outright, 1994 tied with Hardin-Simmons University and Midwestern State University for the TIAA Championship, and in 1995 tied with Hardin-Simmons for TIAA title.
Gibson is the winningest football coach in Howard Payne history with an 89-42-0 record and .679 winning percentage in 13 seasons (1992-2004). He had 11 winning seasons, one at 5-5, and his only losing season at 3-7.
Gibson was twice named TIAA conference coach of the year. His program during the 1990’s was among the winningest football programs in the state of Texas. In five different seasons under his able leadership, HPU was ranked in the Top 25 nationally in either the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics II or NCAA III.
Gibson coached numerous All-American football players, with several going on to play at the professional level. Also, he coached five Howard Payne Sports Hall of Fame inductees, including quarterback Scott Lincher, Receiver Keith Crawford, Receiver Kevin Hill, Running Back Richard Green, and Quarterback Adam King.
GEORGE HINE
George Hine is posthumously being inducted into the Howard Payne Sports Hall of Fame, having passed away in January of 2010.
Hine served for 16 years as sports information director at HPU from 1965-1980. During that time he also was the assistant vice-president for development and publicity and vice-president of public relations.
A U.S. Army veteran, Hine served during World War II in the U. S. Army Engineer unit both in the European Theater of Operations and the Pacific Theater of Operations. He also held a lifetime membership in the Disabled American Veterans.
He was inducted as a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes (NAIA) Hall of Fame and the Texas Baptist Public Relations Association (TBPEA) Hall of Fame. As an inductee into the TBPRA Hall of Fame, Hine was recognized “for his strong religious heritage, his commitment to his profession and his vast knowledge of public relations…a well-known talent in the college public relations community with one of the longest tenures in the state.” He was also been honored by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Hine received honors from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and was a member of the “Personalities of the South.” He also was a former member of the Early Chamber of Commerce and Early City Council. He was married to Maxine Hine for 43 years and she currently resides in Early, Texas.
ADAM KING
A 2000 graduate of River Road High School in Amarillo, Adam King came to Howard Payne University and became one of the most dominate quarterbacks in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III for the Yellow Jackets.
After red-shirting his first year at Howard Payne, he was the starting quarterback and was named the 2001 American Southwest Conference (ASC) Freshman of the Year with a conference-record of 3,177 yards passing.
In 2004, his senior year, he would finish the season with a nation’s best, 3,680 yards of total offense for another ASC record. HPU would finish that year with the third best passing offense in the nation averaging 340 yards per game.
King threw for over 300 yards in a game 14 times with his career game high of 512 yards coming against East Texas Baptist University in 2004.
King had over 10,000 yards passing in his career for the most in American Southwest Conference history.
For his career he had 11,588 yards of total offense placing him third on the all time NCAA Division III list. His passing yards of 10,250 rank him as the eighth best all time NCAA Division III. At the time he was the NCAA Division III football all-time leader in total yardage.
King also holds records for the most plays in an ASC game with 83, and career plays with 1,796. Plus the career highest percentage of passes completed at .592, and most pass attempts 1306 and total passes completed at 786.
