The new Wildcat Wall of Honor debuted inside Moody Coliseum a week before the Homecoming weekend and allows anyone to view great players, inductees to the ACU Sports Hall of Fame, seasons and moments from past years. The Department of Athletics created the wall in an effort to allow all members of the ACU community to observe and enjoy the history of ACU athletics.
“It allows us to publicly recognize some of the great historic achievements and contributions that individuals and teams have made in our rich, athletic history,” said Jared Mosley, director of athletics. “The display includes recognition of all of our hall of fame inductees, All-Americans and Olympians, as well as the top sports moments in our history.”
The wall displays the 10 greatest moments in ACU athletics history, ranging from sprinter Bobby Morrow being crowned the “world’s fastest man” in 1956 to basketball star John Ray Godfrey scoring 41 points in the Wildcats’ first game in Moody Coliseum. Each moment has its own section on the wall with a large picture and a brief summary of the historic scene.
Instead of having each athlete represented by a plaque, as they were in the past, they are now electronically displayed. With the number of talented athletes growing and more real estate being required, the athletics department knew that a solution was needed.
“ACU has a tremendous number of student-athletes and coaches who have received national honors but, frankly, we were running out of space to display all of them,” said Ron Hadfield, assistant vice president for university communication who served on the implementation team. “The interactive display was the best solution to the problem.”
The display in the center of the wall uses touchscreen technology to allow viewers to look up legendary moments, view information about members of the ACU Sports Hall of Fame, All-Americans and those who competed in the Olympics.
“The touchscreen allows us to continually update this display without needing more wall space. It is also going to be more cost efficient in the future, as we will not have the expense to build elaborate wooden and cast metal displays and now can upload new information to the display any time,” Mosley said. “We also wanted to have the flexibility to change the static images and top sports moments throughout the year as we celebrate athletics in the future.”
Although the wall honors many athletes from the past, there are a few represented from recent seasons. Former quarterback Mitchell Gale, along with the golfer Alex Carpenter, can be seen on the wall. Current coaches Britt Bonneau and Hutton Jones can also be viewed alongside the great student-athletes in ACU history.
“It makes a great first impression and I love the opportunity to include the Top 10 moments,” Hadfield said. “The interactive display includes our Top 100 sports moments, but the environmental graphics allow us to bring the best of the best to life with text and photography. I hope our alumni and other fans, and visitors, enjoy it.”
