BAYLOR MBB’S ‘FOUNDATION’ ELECTED TO HALL OF FAME

Thu Aug 12 16:54:50 CDT 2021

                                                                                                                                                                BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – August 12, 2021

BAYLOR MBB’S ‘FOUNDATION’ ELECTED TO HALL OF FAME
Five Players From Drew’s First 2 Recruiting Classes Helped Historic Resurrection

WACO, Texas – On the heels of Baylor winning its first men’s basketball national championship, a special group of five players known as “The Foundation” will be inducted into the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame as the lone selections for the 2021 class.

Part of coach Scott Drew’s first two recruiting classes, Aaron Bruce, Mamadou Diene, Henry Dugat, Curtis Jerrells and Kevin Rogers led the Bears’ historic resurrection from the bottom of the Big 12 to an NCAA Tournament bid in 2008 and the NIT finals in 2009. They were credited for being the foundational pieces that helped Baylor win the 2021 NCAA championship with an 86-70 win over Gonzaga.

This year’s induction ceremony and banquet, which will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29, in the Brazos Room of the Waco Convention Center, will also recognize the 2020 Hall of Fame class. Along with the 2020 Hall of Fame class, all of the honorees will also be recognized on the field during the Oct. 30 game against Texas at McLane Stadium.

Banquet tickets cost $50 per person, with table sponsorships also available for $600 (green) and $800 (gold), and can be purchased by contacting the “B” Association at 254-710-3045 or by email at Tammy_Hardin at baylor.edu<mailto:Tammy_Hardin at baylor.edu>.

Organized in 1960, the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame recognizes and honors individuals whose participation and contributions have enriched and strengthened the university's athletics program. Student-athletes are required to wait 10 years after completing their eligibility before they can be nominated for the Hall of Fame.

Beginning with the inaugural 1960 class that included coach Floyd "Uncle Jim" Crow and baseball's Ted Lyons, 257 honorees have been elected or already enshrined in the Hall of Fame, while Dr. Michael Attas is the 29th addition to the “B” Association Wall of Honor. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, official induction ceremonies for the 2020 Hall of Fame class were delayed by a year.

Elected in 2020 were three-time All-Americans Lenka Broosova (women’s tennis), Lars Poerschke (men’s tennis), Brette Reagan (softball) and Todd Cooper (track & field), along with volleyball All-American Anna Breyfogle and football’s Jason Smith, Brad Goebel and Andrew Melontree. Dr. Attas, a 1965 football letterman, is the retired chief of cardiology at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center and founded the Medical Humanities program at Baylor.

Along with Diene, Bruce was part of Coach Drew’s first signing class in November 2003 after leading the Australian Junior National team to a gold medal at the World Championships in Greece that summer. He also played for the Aussie U-21 team in 2004 and ’05 and was part of the Senior National Team in 2006 that placed ninth at the World Championships.

Named a Freshman All-American and All-District 7 in 2005, Bruce was the top freshman scorer in the nation with an 18.2-point average. A three-time honorable mention All-Big 12 pick (3rd team by media in 2005), he was also selected to Baylor’s All-Centennial Team in 2006 and ranks 12th all-time in program history with 1,330 points.

The 7-foot-1 Diene was Drew’s first Baylor signee on Nov. 12, 2003, rated the top NBA prospect in Africa and sixth-best international prospect in the world by NBAdraft.net. From the village of Yeumbeul, Mamadou played for Senegal’s under-20 team in 2004 and was ranked the top player at the Babacar Sy Basketball Camp in July 2004.

Nicknamed “The Mayor,” Diene was named the Big 12 Male Sportsperson of the Year in 2008 and earned Big 12 All-Freshman honors in 2006 when he averaged 3.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and a league-high 2.24 blocks. He left with the second-most career blocks (145) in program history and still ranks sixth, averaging almost 1.5 blocks per game.

Dugat, a consensus top-100 national recruit, was a prolific scorer at Dayton (Texas) High School who earned Class 4A all-state honors as a senior after averaging 28.9 points per game the year before. Starting 80 of his 117 career games at Baylor, he still ranks in the top 20 all-time with 1,229 career points.

One of four Baylor players who averaged double-digit points (12.2) during his junior campaign, Dugat started all 32 games for a 21-11 team that earned the Bears’ first NCAA Tournament bid in 20 years. As a senior, he averaged 9.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists for a team that lost to Missouri in the Big 12 Championship final and Penn State in the 2009 NIT championship game.

Jerrells, already inducted into the Baylor Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility (2019), is the only player in program history to lead the team in scoring and assists all four seasons. A national top-100 and Texas top-10 recruit out of Del Valle High School, he earned Freshman All-America honors in 2006, when he averaged 13.5 points and 3.3 assists.

A consensus first-team All-Big 12 and All-District pick as a junior, Jerrells averaged 15.3 points and 3.9 assists in leading the Bears to 21 wins and back to the NCAA Tournament. Ranked fourth all-time with 1,820 career points, he averaged a career-high 16.3 points and 4.9 assists for the NIT finalist in 2009, earning All-District and NIT All-Tournament honors.

Like Dugat, Jerrells has played internationally for the last decade, helping the Turkish Galatasaray team win its only EuroCup title in 2016.

Part of a powerhouse high school program at Dallas South Oak Cliff, the 6-foot-9 Rogers was a top-50 national recruit who joined Dugat and Jerrells in Drew’s 2005 signing class. Starting 101-consecutive games over his last three seasons, Rogers ranks ninth in scoring (1,371) and fourth in rebounds (865) on Baylor’s career lists.

A consistent producer who averaged better than 12 points and seven rebounds each of his last three seasons, Rogers was twice named to the media’s Big 12 All-Underrated Team and was a third-team All-Big 12 pick as a junior in 2008, when he averaged 12.3 points and a team-best 8.5 rebounds. Capping off his career, he averaged 12.6 points and 7.6 rebounds and earned Big 12 All-Tournament honors for a 25-win team that lost to Penn State in the 2009 NIT final.

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David Kaye | Assistant AD for Communications
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-709-5147

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