Every two years, the R Association and Rice athletics honors its great athletes with the Rice Hall of Fame Ceremony. This year's event is on Friday, October 21. Being inducted are Rodrigo Barnes (football), Kenny Baugh (baseball), Bryan Bronson (track and field), Candace Lessmeister (track and field), Mandy Mularz (swimming), and Greg Williams (basketball). Along with the induction of the six newest members of the Hall of Fame, the R Association honors Ralph O'Connor with the Distinguished R Award and Audrey Ley with its Honorary R Award.
Today the R Blog presents a closer look at Hall of Fame inductees Rodrigo Barnes and Bryan Bronson.
Rodrigo Barnes - Hall of Fame Inductee
Rodrigo Barnes, from Waco, Texas, earned 3A second team all-state honors in football and was a state finalist in track, while attending George Washington Carver High School. After graduation, Barnes attended Rice University, where played football for the Owls. He was one of only four African-American student-athletes at Rice and one of 12 African-American undergraduates. Barnes was a true pioneer for Rice athletics and the first African-American to be named to an All-SWC Defensive Team.
In 1969, Barnes was honored as SWC-Sophomore Defensive Player of the Year (Dallas Morning News) and All-SWC Second Team Defense. In 1971, Rodrigo was honored as All-SWC, SWC- Defensive Player of the Year, and recipient of the Jess Neely Defense Award. Barnes earned All-SWC honors in 1972 and played in the Blue-Gray All-Star Game where he served as co-captain on the Gray Team and was named the defensive player of the game.
He graduated from Rice with a B.A. degree in sociology, behavioral science, and H&P.E. and was a seventh round draft pick by the NFL's Dallas Cowboys in 1973. In mid-season of 1974, Rodrigo was traded to New England Patriots and completed the 1975 season with the Miami Dolphins. Rodrigo then played for the Oakland Raiders in 1976 and helped them win Super Bowl XI. Injuries in 1977 forced Rodrigo to retire from professional football.
After his NFL career, Barnes was general manager and coach in the United Football League 1979-81. He earned a masters degree in education from Prairie View A&M University, with certifications in guidance and counseling and mid-management. He is a motivational speaker, program implementation and assessments, and employee relations consultant. Rodrigo has worked with schools, businesses, pro-athletes, and many organizations. His company, Pro Consultants, provides confidential consultation services to professional athletes, and senior administrators ("Your Success is Our Business").
Bryan Bronson - Hall of Fame Inductee
Bryan Bronson is considered to be one of the greatest 400m hurdlers of all-time, anywhere. The Jasper, Texas, native set a meet record while winning the 1998 U.S. Outdoor 400m hurdles with a time of 47.03, that still ranks third all-time. An Olympic semifinalist at Atlanta in 1996, Bronson finished third in the 400m hurdles at the 1997 IAAF World Outdoor Championship with a time of 47.88. At Rice, Bronson also competed collegiately in the 200m in addition to the 400m hurdles.
He holds the school's indoor (20.90) and outdoor (20.28) records for the 200m. His 49.07 in the 400m hurdles is a Rice record, which he set while winning the NCAA title in 1993 as a sophomore to complete an undefeated season. Bronson won five Southwest Conference titles during his time at Rice.
Bronson earned the team's Fred Wolcott Award, given to the men's track and field athlete judged to be the most versatile winning performer while best exemplifying the winning team attitude and high moral character of Fred Wolcott, both on and off the field, in 1993 and 1994.
This year's ceremony takes place in the R Room, atop the south end zone of Rice Stadium and begins at 5:30 p.m. with a social hour and the program commences at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $50.00 each and can purchaed by calling Mary Santos at 713-348-5677 or online: Click for Hall of Fame Tickets
The writers at CBSSports.com have said their list of the top 100 players in college basketball is among their favorite features as they continue to preview the upcoming season. Rice basketball fans will likely agree.
The collegiate basketball editorial staff at CBSSports.com has come up with a Top 100 list which includes Rice junior forward Arsalan Kazemi at No. 64.
CBS's Gary Parrish wrote, "Kazemi is proof that there are talented players in C-USA who don't reside in Memphis."
Kazemi is coming off a sophomore season in which he averaged a double-double. He led Rice with a 15.2 scoring averaging while grabbing 11.0 rebounds per game to rank seventh nationally.
Rice ratcheted up practices over the weekend and the Owls are less than a month away from the Nov. 12th opener against the University of New Orleans. For information on purchasing season tickets, fans may go to the ticket link at RiceOwls.com or call the Rice Ticket Office at (713) 522-6957.
Every two years, the R Association and Rice athletics honors its great athletes with
the Rice Hall of Fame Ceremony. This year's event is on Friday, October 21.
Being inducted are Rodrigo Barnes (football), Kenny Baugh (baseball), Bryan
Bronson (track and field), Candace Lessmeister (track and field), Mandy Mularz,
(swimming), and Greg Williams (basketball).
Along with the induction of the six newest members of the
Hall of Fame, the R Association honors Ralph O'Connor with the Distinguished R
Award and Audrey Ley with its Honorary R Award. Today the R Blog presents a
closer look at Audrey Ley and Ralph O'Connor.
Audry Ley - Honorary "R" Award
Audrey Ley is a fan of "All Things Rice" and Rice is grateful for the legacy of Audrey and Wendel Ley and their family.
Audrey and her late husband Wendell are both Rice graduates. Audrey in 1935 and Wendell in 1932. Their generosity has helped Rice tremendously improve the quality of life, the quality of education and the quality of athletics for Rice students over the years.
Audrey has always been involved in Rice affairs attending football, basketball and baseball games and the Shepherd School of Music events among others and Wendell served as president of the Rice Alumni Association, president of the R Association and was a term member of the Rice Board of governors.
The Ley's have contributed to a number of Rice capital campaigns including the construction of Reckling Park, improvements to the track/soccer stadium and most recently the Audrey Moody Ley Plaza which serves as the entrance to Reckling Park.
The Ley Student Center opened in 1986 and has provided a much needed space to compliment the Rice Memorial Center that had been constructed in 1958. According to Judy Allen, a former member of the Board of Governors and daughter of Audrey and Wendell Ley, the major reason behind the large contribution was that when Wendel attended Rice in the early 30's there was no place to court his wife. He wanted a place where Rice students could interact socially.
Audrey Ley and her family share a special place in the hearts and minds of Rice athletics and Rice fans. Every trip to the baseball game is a walk down Audrey Moody Ley Plaza on the way to Reckling Park. It's a beautiful stroll before and after another big win for the Owls and a living and lasting tribute to the legacy of Audrey Ley.
Ralph O'Connor - Distinguished "R" Award
Ralph O'Connor is a Houston entrepreneur, civic leader, philanthropist and full time Rice Owl patron and enthusiast.
Ralph earned his B.A. in biology from John Hopkins University in 1951 and attended the advanced management program at Harvard Business School in 1967. He is the founder, president and CEO of Ralph O'Connor and Associates, a private investment firm focused primarily on oil and gas exploration and real estate. Mr. O'Connor is a director at the Texas Medical Center and is on the Board of Trustees for the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Advisory Board Member at the High School for the Performing Arts.
At Rice, Ralph was president of the Marian and Speros Martel Foundation which funded the residential Martel College on campus, the Henry and Lena Fox Gymnasium, the George and Nancy Rupp Chair in humanities, the Karen Ostrum George Chair in computational engineering, four additional endowed chairs in the humanities and social sciences and numerous student scholarship funds.
O'Connor served as a Rice Trustee from 1967 to 1988 and 1994 to 1996. He is an honorary member of the Association of Rice Alumni and is a recipient of the Association of Rice Alumni's highest honor, the Gold Medal. He has served on numerous Rice Committees and chaired the presidential search committee for Rice's fifth President. Ralph is already a member of the Rice Athletic Hall of Fame when he received the Honorary "R" Award in 1998.
Ralph and his wife Becky have been generous supporters of the Rice Athletics program with gifts towards many renovations and projects and the funding of the Ralph and Becky O'Connor Gymnasium at the Barbara and David Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center. Ralph O'Connor believes that athletic activity makes better students and better people. Since not everyone can play varsity sports, the new recreation center provides superb space for intramural and informal competitions and physical fitness activities. This is an important aspect of student life.
Ralph attends as many Rice athletic events as he can and travels with the teams to far off places like the Top of the World basketball tournament in Fairbanks, Alaska, and never misses an opportunity to host the tennis team at his cottage in La Jolla, California.
A full-time Rice Owl , patron and enthusiast for Rice and Rice Athletics, a man who has contributed to the qualify of the student and faculty experience and in doing so has touched the lives of those who compete and represent Rice in the field of athletics.
It is with great pleasure that the R Association welcomes back Ralph O'Connor for a second time as a Distinguished Member of the Rice Athletic Hall of Fame.
This year's ceremony takes place in the R Room, atop the south end zone of Rice Stadium and begins at 5:30 p.m. with a social hour and the program commences at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $50.00 each and can purchaed by calling Mary Santos at 713-348-5677 or online: Click for Hall of Fame Tickets
The Rice women's basketball team had its first official practice on Monday, October 3. The Owls return four starters from last year's 18-14 squad that placed third in Conference USA with a 10-6 mark. Rice opens the season on Nov. 11 at Prairie View A&M. Seventh-year Owl head coach Greg Williams shared his thoughts and opinions on his squad.
Initial thoughts after the first day of practice?
First day of practice was good. We always kind of expect that to be an emotional day, an exciting day, with a lot of enthusiasm and energy, which we had, but I thought our effort was very good, our conditioning was better than I thought it might be, so I was pleased with that. I thought our freshmen showed a lot of quick learning ability and did not stand out in a negative way with their first practice even though, naturally, they were a little bit nervous so that's always encouraging when you see your freshmen get through their first practice without having to stop and repeat and correct a lot of things they did. If they continue that then we can advance at a much more rapid pace based on how quickly they learn things, because we do have five new freshmen that are learning things for the first time.
I thought our upperclassmen did a good job of remembering a lot of things we were doing and giving good examples to the freshmen in our drills before the freshmen got their reps in. We also did a lot of scrimmaging on the first day, because we haven't really seen our freshmen in a competitive situation at Rice, so, all in all, I was very pleased with the first practice.
Was your approach different this year, compared to last year's first day of practice?
Well, it really ended up not being that much different because of the quickness of which our young freshmen learned the drills and the things that we were teaching. I thought I would probably have to go at a slower pace, maybe re-explain things but that really wasn't the case, so I thought the practice moved along pretty rapidly, we got our work in that we needed and so it really wasn't that much of a difference as I thought it might be not really knowing how the freshmen would do in a team situation in their first day. Our upperclassmen, as well, were ready to go and so it was kind of business as usual with the anticipation of having to go at a slower pace, which did not happen and I'm glad for that.
What are your goals for the first week of practice?
This is the second year with the new format of women's practices being moved up 40 days prior to your first date of competition, this is a rule that the men do not have in place. We have a tough first week, in that we have to take Tuesdays off, due to class conflicts and then this coming weekend is a combination of evaluation weekend where all of my assistant coaches and myself will be out of town as well as it being fall break on campus. So, it kind of really broke up our practice continuity. We'll have to see how that works out because we've gone one day on Monday, we were off Tuesday, we're practicing Wednesday and Thursday, then we are off Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, which you don't really want to take four days off after only three practices, but that's the way the school calendar fell and we felt it is important for our kids to have that fall break before the long season starts. It's particularly important for our freshmen, most of which are going home, so we'll sacrifice that and we will come back and work on Tuesday night. Then, we'll get back into more of a consistent routine because of fall break being over and we'll be much more into a practice routine and it'll be interesting to see how we come back (from the break). Our players were sore after the first day, so I don't think I've ever practiced to start a season and taken the second day off but we had to do that because of a couple of our seniors had classes they need for graduation. They have had a day to recover and that might not have been a bad thing. We'll see how we do on Wednesday and see if they can come back with the same energy.
Other thoughts?
We're excited. I think our team has a nice blend of veterans coming back and our freshmen are stepping up quickly. Several of them we're going to have to count on to give us some quality depth. I was very pleased with D'Frantz Smart, our senior point guard, who had one of her best practices in a long time. She had gotten into a mode of not shooting the ball as much as we would like last year and she made a game winner in one of our scrimmages on Monday and another time found herself running the two-guard spot in a scrimmage situation, which she doesn't normally do because 90 percent of the time she has the ball in her hands, but she ran the wing and hit a three on that possession, so I thought she had an outstanding first practice. Jessica Kuster, coming off a tremendous freshmen year, you always want to see where is her game at - has it gotten better? is she going to continue that same work ethic and coach-ability that she had as a freshman? Well, she was also outstanding. Her and Smart are, if you will, our two marquee players coming back and to see them stand out so positively the first day was definitely something that the coaching staff wanted to see.
Starting five?
I don't know - it's too early. Certainly, we do return four starters from last year's team, and they have a built-in advantage of being experienced and having confidence. Our other two starters who return besides Kuster and Smart are Jessica Goswitz and Brianna Hypolite. They both had very solid first practices and showed they worked on their game in the off-season.
That's the thing you always worry about is someone who has been a starter the year before, do they come back better? Do they come back in shape? Do they come back focused? And, not leave that window open for somebody to sneak past them and those four certainly showed in our first practice that they mean business and they'd done their work in the off-season which is something that coaches always like to see. So, if they continue to do that and stay healthy then they, by all rights, should start when we open our season and that would just leave one open position and if that's the case that's going to be a post spot. We've got several players competing for that position, which would be Candace Ashford, Opal Taskila, Zoe Rogers of are our returning veterans in the post and Christal Porter is our lone freshman post player who will be competing for that fifth starting spot should our returning starters hold court.
But again, our freshmen all played well and showed that they're going to be able to compete at the next level and do it well and that's something as a coaching staff you hope is what happens once you get them on the court. Certainly, it was only one practice but you have a much better feeling after a good first practice than if you'd seen a couple of them that give you some extra gray hairs, which I don't need.
You could say James Casey has impeccable timing.
Four years ago, Casey seized upon the optimum moment in opening chapter of his improbable rise from retired minor league pitcher to NFL starter to lay the foundation of what now is known by many Rice football fans as "The Legend of Thor".
Playing in front of an ESPN national television audience on a Wednesday night, Casey showcased his burgeoning talents on offense, while dusting off defensive skills he had acquired the previous spring to help spark Rice to a manic 31-29 win over Southern Miss in Hattiesburg and present David Bailiff with his first win as the Owls' head coach.
Four years later, as the Owls were set to begin preparations for their first visit to Hattiesburg since that memorable night, Casey staged a similar statement game, this time on the NFL stage. He caught five passes for 126 yards and a touchdown and ran the ball once for 11 yards in the Houston Texans 40-33 loss to the New Orleans Saints.
It was a breakout game at football's highest level, one that brought to mind his effort in Hattiesburg four years earlier.
Casey played quarterback, running back, wide receiver and tight end on offense against Southern Miss, then jumped into the rotation at defensive end to fill in for injured teammates. It's hard to imagine the list of players who rush for a touchdown, catch a pass, throw an interception, share a sack, pick up a tackle for loss on his own and pick up another on special teams in the same game would take long to research. But there was Casey, racking up stats on both sides of the ball while also holding on extra points.
Had his efforts been showcased as one of the multiple games broadcast on an average Saturday, Casey's exploits might have been at best a note in a few columns around the country. But thanks to the unique spotlight afforded by the Wednesday night stage, Casey's exploits were hard to miss.
"I guess it hit me the next day when we got home," Casey recalled. "I started getting texts from people telling me that Jim Rome was talking about me. When people started talking about me playing seven positions, it just took off. Even now, it's something that people still talk about. I know some people were bringing it up during the (Texans) game on Sunday," Casey recalled.
At the time, Casey was having too much fun playing football and competing to worry about doing anything unique. "I never would have guessed that something like that would have happened".
Casey wasted little time in building upon the opportunity created by that memorable game. He and the rest of the Owls offense took off from that game, creating an offensive attack that culminated the following year with a 10-3 record and a Texas Bowl championship while Casey set school season records with 111 receptions for 1,329 yards. He then made the decision to enter the NFL Draft, even though it meant he would forego the chance to return to his dream position, quarterback, had he came back to lead the Owls.
Under the withering examination of pro scouts, Casey had to again defy assumptions and battle the odds. He was drafted by Houston in the fifth round in 2009, but spent his first two years trying to establish a role for himself with the team. When Pro Bowl fullback Vonte Leach chose to sign with Baltimore, the Texans decided to give Casey first shot at the job.
Some might have questioned the Texans' decision, Bailiff was not one of them. "I know one thing for certain, I will never, ever underestimate what James Casey can do," Bailiff said when first asked his thoughts on the move. "He's proven doubters wrong time and time again."
After three games, he appears to be putting any NFL doubters into the same crowded place occupied by all the others who have questioned his dreams along the way.
"It's ironic that the biggest question about me when I decided to enter the draft was if I could play with my hand down and if I could block people. Now I'm starting as an NFL fullback. In the past four years, I went from safety to linebacker, then from defensive end to quarterback, then to wide receiver and tight end and now fullback.
"What it all proves is that you have to take the opportunities that come your way. There's no reason to get nervous. You just believe in yourself."
NFL Bound???
When James Casey first arrived on the Rice campus, he chose to live on campus, while his wife Kylie remained at home in Azle. "I wanted to get familiar with the city and get into the routine of college, so I thought it made sense to live on campus," Casey explained.
Enrolling in January, Casey was assigned to Lovett College, where his roommate would be safety Andrew Sendejo, who was coming off a standout freshman season as a starter on the Owls New Orleans Bowl team.
We know now that this was a rare pairing of players who would both reach the NFL. As Sendejo explained in this interview from the 2008 Texas Bowl special, he didn't project his own NFL future in their initial meeting...
Rice University junior forward Arsalan Kazemi has helped lead Iran into the quarterfinals of the FIBA Asia Championship being played in Wuhan, China.
Both China and Iran cruised through pool play at the championship with 6-0 records. Iran won all six of its pool-play games by double figures and the team's average margin of victory has been 45 points.
Iran will begin the championship round on Friday, taking on Jordan. Game time is 1:30 p.m. local (12:30 a.m. Central). The winner of the FIBA Asia Championship qualifies for the 2012 Olympic Games while the runner-up and third-place teams will advance to the 12-team FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament next July where the final three teams for the London Olympics will be determined.
Through six games of pool play, Kazemi is averaging 10.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game while shooting 63.1 percent from the field (24-of-38). He also has 12 assists and eight steals.
Former Rice women's basketball star Kadie Riverin has been
selected to Canada's Senior Women's National Team that competes at the 2011
FIBA Americas Championship in Nieva, Colombia (Sept. 24-28). Riverin (Rice,
2008) played for the Owls from 2005 to 2008 and scored 1,155 points in her
career, which ranks ninth in school history.
"I am very happy and excited for Kadie to make the Canadian
National Team and she has worked very hard to compete for that spot," says Owl
head coach Greg Williams.
She scored a career-high 25 points vs. UAB in 2006 and TCU
in 2007 and she led the team in assists in each of her last three seasons. A
native of Ottawa, Ontario, Riverin also led the Owls in scoring her senior year
(13.1 ppg). For her career, she ranks fourth at Rice with 419 assists. She and
WNBA draftee Marla Brumfield are the only players in program history to
register at least 1,150 points and 400+ assists. Riverin is the school
record-holder for career free throw percentage at .809 (369-456).
Williams remembers Riverin for her toughness and her desire
to get better.
"Kadie was a player who had a great work ethic and
tremendous dedication to the game of basketball and she was always looking to
improve her game," says Williams. "She was a shooting guard coming out of high
school and had to make the transition to the point and that is a difficult
transition to make.
"She had a great career at Rice and was a three-year starter
who had to play a lot of minutes, because we did not have a lot of support or
depth at her position. She's continued to elevate her game and get better, and
that's proven by her making the national team. We are really excited for her and
hope she does well with Canadian National Team."
Canada begins Group B play when it first goes up against
Mexico on Sept. 24, then Brazil (Sept. 25), Paraguay (Sept. 26), and Jamaica
(Sept. 28). The top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals,
while the rest of the teams will be eliminated. Group A is comprised of Chile,
Cuba, Argentina, Puerto Rico, and Colombia. Canada is ranked 12th in
the FIBA World Rankings.
The FIBA Americas Championship is the FIBA Americas zone qualifying tournament
for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The winner will earn an automatic berth
into the Olympics; while those nations that finish between second and fourth
place will compete at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament which is set for June
25 - July 1, 2012. Twelve nations from all over the world will qualify for this
tournament, but only five will earn a berth to the 2012 Olympics.
The team now travels to Puerto Rico, where it will compete in two final tune-up
contests against the Puerto Rican national team, an opponent that will also be
competing at the 2011 FIBA Americas Championship for Women. The two contests
will be held on September 19 and 20.
 Here's a look at the first of the series of five posters that have been created to commemorate the
100 Years of Rice Football.
The year-long celebration will divide Rice's gridiron history into 20-year blocks and celebrate each with a poster given away at each home game during the 2011 season, as well as the debut of another chapter of a documentary video which is shown on the scoreboard during pregame.
This poster was given away to the first 1,500 fans at the Purdue game. The first chapter of the video is now available for viewing by All Access subscribers by going to the All Access player.
Click on the "Channel" option and then select the "100th Rice Football" channel to view the first chapter. Additional chapters will be available the Monday after they debut on the video board.
Be sure to join us for the Memphis game for the poster that will highlight Rice Football from 1932-51 as well as the second chapter of the documentary. The first edition was a bit of a challenge, but the upcoming installments will have the added benefit of additional video of some of the great moments in school history.
 Here's an advance look at the game program for the home opener with Purdue.
Purdue Program
As the Owls complete final preparations for the 2011 season opener at Texas on Saturday, and as a precursor to the season-long celebration of the 100th season of Rice Football, we bring you the highlights of the Owls last win in Austin, a stunning 20-17 win over the defending National Champions on October 23, 1965.
 The Owls came into the game having dropped three straight after an opening week win over Louisiana Tech, while Texas was coming off a last-second loss to Arkansas the week before that knocked the Longhorns from the top spot in the polls to fifth. Rice was a heavy underdog, but Jess Neely proved to have Texas' number one more time in his illustrious career.
The details of the scoring drives are described by the immortal Kern Tipps, the voice of SWC football for many generations and the color highlights are from Humble Oil's Southwest Conference 1965 highlight film. We added the postgame celebration from the Rice game film. Even without narration, we thought you'd enjoy the sight of Jess Neely being carried off the field after what would prove to be his last road win at Rice.
The magnitude of the win was such that KTRK, channel 13 in Houston, broadcast the film of the game the following day so fans in the Houston area could savor the moment. Hope you enjoy a few of the highlights as well.
Look for more of the same throughout the 2011 season as we celebrate 100 season of Rice Owls Football.
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