Friends of Baylor Newsletter May 1, 2007

Good News from Baylor University
May 1, 2007
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Big XII; 2 Champions!

The Baylor men’s and women’s tennis teams claimed Big XII Championships on Sunday in Kansas City. The men beat Texas 4-1 to earn their fifth consecutive title while the women beat Texas 4-3 for their second straight championship. Baylor also claimed the tournament’s most outstanding player awards with the honors going to Michal Kokta and Iva Mihaylova.

The Baylor tennis program is a national powerhouse due to the great leadership of coaches Matt Knoll and Joe Scrivano. We must also acknowledge the tireless efforts of Friends of Baylor Steering Committee member Scott Livesay in raising the funds to establish our tennis program. Dr. Livesay’s continued efforts will likely lead to more exciting news about Baylor tennis.

Congrats to the fabulous players and coaches for both teams and thanks to all those Baylor fans who helped create this terrific asset for the University. A tennis watch party will be held today at 1:15 pm in the Stone reception room at the Ferrell Center to see where the Bears will be seeded and play in the NCAA tournament. For more information call (254) 710-3073.

Waco Trib Gives Dr. Lilley High Marks for 2012

A recent article in the Waco Trib (Sunday, April 22nd) gave strong praise to Dr. John Lilley for his first year’s performance as the University’s President. Quoting faculty, students and Regent Chair Jim Turner, the comprehensive assessment of the President was that he was making great progress with the goals of Baylor 2012. Baylor 2012 has proven to be a very effective model and plan for Baylor. Its component parts: the integration of faith and learning, creating a residential campus, increasing the academic standing of the University, raising the endowment to $2 billion, etc., are all ambitious but progressing nicely under Dr. Lilley’s leadership. Congrats to Dr. Lilley and to the Waco Trib for noticing.

Baylor Business Network Wins Award
The Baylor Business Network received the Bobby G. Bizzell Innovation award for the Southwest Business Dean’s Association at their annual meeting in San Antonio. The Baylor Business Network does an outstanding job getting Baylor alumni together as well as educating Baylor alums with terrific programs. Case in point, the Baylor Business Network of Dallas’ program this morning featuring Comstock Resources CEO and Baylor Regent Jay Allison. A standing room only crowd showed up at 7:00 am to hear Jay and fellowship with other Bears. Congrats to Baylor Network’s Senior Executive Director Brenda Morris.

Softball Wins Crucial Game Against Mizzou
Stays tied for first place
After a 4-3 heartbreaking loss to Missouri on Saturday, the Lady Bears rallied to beat them in the re-match Sunday, 3-0. The win enabled Baylor to remain tied with Mizzou for first place in the Big XII standings. Baylor controls her own destiny and can win the Big XII championship by beating Texas this week. Come support the Lady Bears Thursday, May 3 at 6:30 pm at Getterman Stadium.

Sepulveda and Wilson Drafted
All-World punter Daniel Sepulveda and defensive back C.J. Wilson were selected in the NFL draft this past weekend. Daniel went in the fourth round to the Pittsburg Steelers and C.J. was picked in the seventh round by the Carolina Panthers. We sure enjoyed having these two fine athletes on our campus and look forward to watching them on Sundays.

Coach Kim and The Lady Bears
Baylor did a wise thing last week in extending Coach Kim Mulkey’s contract and rewarding her for the outstanding performance as the coach of the women’s basketball team. Those in attendance at the Lady Bear’s Appreciation Night at the Ferrell Center where the season and team were recently celebrated have an even greater appreciation for this wisdom. Almost 1,000 Baylor fans attended an event that was full of excitement, great comedy, poignancy and of course with Coach Kim, great energy. Lady Bears Jhasmin Player and Bernice Mosby really stole the show with their respective performances. It was very evident to all in attendance that Baylor’s women’s basketball program is stellar by all measurements and has an incredible future as well.

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Sic ’em Bears