 "Photo: Courtesy photo")
Former Texas Tech football coach Spike Dykes will etch his place in Texas sports history forever.
Dykes will be inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame at 7 p.m. today in Waco at Baylor University's Ferrell Center.
"I'm flattered, to say the least," Dykes said in reaction to joining the Hall of Fame. "When you get into any Hall of Fame or any kind of honor when you're a coach, there's a lot of people responsible that's not by you. This is a shared honor with a lot of people. First, you gotta give a lot of credit to your family because I sure was down a lot."
Dykes' first game as a the Red Raiders coach was in the 1986 Independence Bowl, where he lost 20-17 to Mississippi. In his first two full seasons, the Red Raiders could not return to a bowl, but in Dykes' last seven seasons he took Tech to five bowls. In all of these seven seasons, the Red Raiders were bowl eligible. Dykes also retired as the winningest coach in school history with an 82-67-1 record.
He led the Red Raiders to a conference title in 1994, his only title as Tech's coach. He also earned three Southwest Conference Coach of the Year honors on his way to becoming the first Big 12 Coach of the Year in 1996.
He coached Tech players such as Byron Hanspard, Byron "Bam" Morris, Sammy Morris, James Gray, Zach Thomas and Montae Reagor. Hanspard and Morris both won the Doak Walker Award, in 1993 and 1996, respectively.
There were nine first team All-Americans under Dykes, with Thomas earning the honor twice.
Dykes' career is not limited to the college ranks, as he also coach high school teams in his career. He has coached football for 41 years, with 17 of those years being with high school teams. Some of the high schools he coached at include Alice High School in Alice and San Angelo Central in San Angelo.
Dykes will join the ranks of some of the most recognizable names in sports such as David Robinson, Troy Aikman, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Warren Moon and Sammy Baugh.
His fellow inductees in the Class of 2007 include Michael Irvin, Mike Modano, Ray Childress and Mia Hamm, who recently was added.
Dykes said he is excited to receive the honor alongside great athletes.
"Mia Hamm - my gosh - how many goals has she made," he said. "She is the soccer person of the world, female soccer person of the world anyway. There some great people going in there. I'm really proud to be mentioned in the same breath. People that I've known and watched. Michael Irvin - that bunch is really something."
Dykes has spent much of his life in Texas, as he is a 1959 alumnus of Stephen F. Austin. He was an assistant at Tech from 1984-86. He also was an assistant at the University of Texas.
Dykes said even through the tough seasons, his time at Tech was special because of the players and the Tech fans.
"The first game we ever played was Florida State at Florida State, and I enjoyed that," he said. "Last game we played was Oklahoma at Jones Stadium, I enjoyed that. We had some hard knocks, and we had some bad times, but boy, we had a lot of fun and a lot good times. Those kids, they really won a lot of big games. I was always proud of them. Proud of their ability to want to compete. I'm not just saying this, but every place that has the student body like they do at Tech, (I'm) always appreciative of that."
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