Former Owls Kramer, Berkman to be inducted into Texas Sports Hall of Fame

FROM RICE ATHLETICS

Rice fans have long known that former Owls stars Tommy Kramer and Lance Berkman have had legendary careers in their respective sports. The Texas Sports Hall of Fame has now made it official with the recent announcement that both Owls would be among the Class of 2009 inductees.

The Texas Sports Hall of Fame Induction Committee, chaired by Texas Football Magazine founder Dave Campbell, announced the 10 inductees for 2009 this week.

Kramer is a San Antonio native who went on to earn All-America and All-Southwest Conference honors as the Owls’ quarterback. As a Rice senior in 1976, he led the nation in passing and finished fifth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy. After setting a host of school and conference records for passing and total offense, Kramer was named the MVP of the 1977 Senior Bowl and was a first-round NFL draft pick (and the second quarterback selected overall that year). In more than a dozen years playing in the NFL — 13 years with the Minnesota Vikings and one with the New Orleans Saints — Kramer passed for more than 24,000 yards, with 159 touchdowns.

The Texas Sports Hall of Fame tabbed Berkman for an induction spot while his baseball playing career is still in progress with the Houston Astros. Before Berkman slugged his 300 home runs, 1,500 hits and 1,000 RBI in the major leagues, he led the Owls to their first-ever appearance in the College World Series. He was a Rice All-America from 1995-97 who set school and conference records for hits, runs, RBI, home runs, doubles, total bases and slugging percentage. The New Braunfels native was named the College Player of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers, and he was the 16th pick overall in the Major League Draft that year.

Berkman and Kramer are the 17th and 18th Owls to earn induction into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. The most-recent Rice hall of fame inductee was current head baseball coach Wayne Graham in 2004. Rice’s Texas Sports Hall of Fame inductees are:

1956 Jimmy Kitts (football)
1958 Fred Wolcott (track)
1961 Pete Cawthon (football)
1962 Cecil Grigg (football)
1966 Eddie Dyer (baseball)
1967 Fred Hanson (track)
1969 Weldon Humble (football)
1970 Buster Brannon (basketball)
1970 Jess Neely (football)
1978 Bill Wallace (football)
1980 Dicky Maegle (football)
1980 Jack Patterson (track)
1984 Bob Kinney (basketball)
1984 Emmett Brunson (track)
1985 James “Froggy” Williams (football)
2004 Wayne Graham (baseball)