SMALL COLLEGE NOTEBOOK: Former UWA kicker has own NCAA display
Former University of West Alabama placekicker Tonya Butler continues to get national recognition long after her playing career has ended.
Butler has been honored with a display at the NCAA Hall of Champions in Indianapolis. Her jersey and cleats are encased in glass right next to a display honoring University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt.
Butler became the first female in recorded NCAA history to successfully kick a field goal when she booted a 27-yarder in the second game of the 2003 season to help the Tigers defeat Stillman College, 24-17.
Butler was UWA’s full-time placekicker in the 2003 and ’04 seasons, making 13 of 19 field goal attempts with a long kick of 39 yards. She finished 48 of 53 in extra-point attempts and was West Alabama’s leading scorer in 2003 with 50 points.
UWA Athletic Director Dee Outlaw got to see the display one day after it was put up in the Hall of Champions earlier this month when he was in Indianapolis for the NCAA Convention.
“I just felt overwhelming pride for her and our university," Outlaw said. “I told everybody at our conference meeting in Indianapolis about it. They all commented on how great it was.
“I was bursting with pride. All the most wonderful athletes in the history of the NCAA have been in there in the Hall of Champions at one time or another. It was really something nice. I wish everybody in Livingston could see it."
Butler made her mark off the field at UWA as well, earning a master’s degree in psychology and counseling in the spring of 2005. She earned Academic All-Gulf South Conference recognition in 2004 and had a 3.92 grade-point average at UWA. She was twice elected special teams captain by her teammates.
“It’s indicative of her," Outlaw said. “She’s a special person and had a special impact on us.
“I’d never dreamed that we’d have a female football player, much less one that would contribute."
Butler’s exhibit will remain on display for six months.
Shelton State men
fall in Juco rakings
Shelton State Community College’s 18-game winning streak ended with Monday’s 83-76 loss to Gadsden State, and the Buccaneers fell from No. 3 to No. 7 in the National Junior College Athletic Association rankings as a result.
Shelton State finished eighth at last year’s NJCAA Division I Tournament, compiling a 30-8 record.
The Shelton State women also lost on Monday, falling 73-61 to No. 10 Gadsden State, but the Buccaneers actually jumped two spots in the latest women’s rankings from No. 18 to No. 16.
Shelton State will host Wallace-Hanceville tonight in a men-women doubleheader starting at 5:30 p.m. at Umphrey Center.
Stillman basketball players
climbing in national stats
Four Stillman College basketball players have worked their way into the ranks of NCAA Division II national statistical leaders.
Monyea Pratt, a 6-foot-6 junior forward, ranks 21st in field goal percentage at 60.8 percent and 40th in steals at 2.4 per game.
Senior guard Rickey Gibson is ranked 17th in steals at 2.8 per game.
For the Stillman women, 6-foot sophomore forward Bianca Burton is seventh nationally in rebounding (12.1 per game) and seventh in blocked shots (2.2 per game). Aisha Brown, a 6-3 junior center, is third nationally in blocked shots with an average of four per game.
Stillman will return to action Saturday at home in a men-women doubleheader against Clark Atlanta starting at 5:30 p.m. The Stillman men (9-7 overall, 6-5 in Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play) are on a three-game winning streak.
UWA’s Hembree honored
West Alabama junior guard Jared Hembree was recently named Gulf South Conference East Division player of the week after averaging nearly 25 points over a two-game span.
Hembree scored a career-high 34 points in a victory over West Georgia and added 15 points against Lincoln Memorial. Most remarkably, Hembree made 15 of 21 3-point attempts in the two games to shoot 71.4 percent from beyond the arc.
UWA baseball program
plans Grand Slam dinner
The UWA baseball program will hold its annual Grand Slam Dinner on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the Bell Conference Center on the UWA campus in Livingston.
Former UWA head baseball coach Mark Hogan was originally scheduled to speak but will not be able to attend.
Those in attendance will have a chance to meet the 2006 players and coaches. Tickets are priced at $15 for adults and $7 for children 12 and under. For information, call Neal Holliman at (205) 652-3802.
Tommy Deas’ Small College Notebook appears each Thursday. Reach him at tommy.deas@tuscaloosanews.com or at (205) 722-0224