Friends of Baylor: December 21, 2005

GOOD NEWS FROM BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
DECEMBER 21, 2005

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dr. & Mrs. Lilley
Lady Bears
Baylor 2012
Marshall Scholar
Coach John Goodner
Men's Basketball
Join Us
Links

Friends of Baylor Co-Chairman Clifton Robinson and his terrific hostess bride, Betsy, threw a fabulous party for John and Gerrie Lilley at their home on December 8th. An ill timed ice storm failed to deter the 100+ FOB Steering Committee members from around the state who made the trek to Waco to meet the Lilley’s. Three private planes out of the Houston area kept the Harris County contingent warm and slip free. FOB Co-Chair Cary Gray delivered a rousing articulation of the FOB mission of “Unconditional Support” and Dr. Lilley likewise ably expressed his enthusiasm for Baylor’s future. The Lilley’s will be outstanding representatives of Baylor University and for those of you who have not met them, you should look forward to the experience.

Coach Kim and her dazzling hoopsters have run their unbeaten streak to 30 games with wins over McNeese State and Army last week. Presently ranked 4th in the nation, the Lady Bears continue to garner wonderful national press for Baylor. The New York Times, again, featured the team in a major article last week (click here). The University couldn’t begin to pay for what this positive advertisement represents.

Thanks Coach Kim and Sic’em Ladies.

BAYLOR 2012 SELLING LIKE HOTCAKES

Interim President Bill Underwood reports that applications for the fall ’07 class are already over 15,000 (up from 6,700 this time last year) and that deposits for next years class are DOUBLE what they were as of this date last year. Keep in mind, last years class was an all time Baylor record for both size and academic quality. Great academic and Christian credentials can co-exist and make for a very appealing product to many prospective students.

Congrats to Baylor student Jamie Gianoutsos for winning the prestigious Marshall scholarship. This scholarship will enable her to study at the London School of Economics and Queen’s University in Belfast.

Jamie, a double major in political science and Great Texts, attributes much of her success to the dedicated mentoring of several faculty members, including Assistant Professor Dr. Sarah Jane Murray, political science Associate Professor Dr. Dwight Allman, who oversaw her thesis work, and Associate Dean Betsy Vardaman, who coached her through the scholarship application process.

Friends of Baylor congratulates Jamie and her parents, the Rev. Jim Gianoutsos and Mrs. Mary Kay Gianoutsos. We salute all the faculty and staff whose commitment to excellence in teaching and research are making Vision 2012 a reality.

For more information, click the following links:

http://www.baylor.edu/pr/news.php?action=story&story=38058
http://www.marshallscholarship.org/

Long time Baylor football coach John Goodner passed away this month after losing a 10-month bout with a brain tumor. Coach Goodner was a highly successful defensive coordinator under Coach Teaff and then returned to Baylor with Coach Morriss. Coach Goodner was an outstanding individual as well as a coach. FOB extends their deepest sympathy to his widow, Karen, his daughter, Katherine (a Baylor graduate) and her husband, Baylor assistant coach Chris Lancaster.

Coach Scott Drew is down to his last couple of weeks of “bench time” and will sic his hoopsters on the Big XII schedule soon after the holidays. Coach Drew refused to let this “time out” slow down the growing momentum of his program and instead delivered Baylor a wonderful recruiting class and, amazingly, generated positive press for Baylor. His team was the featured story on the front page of the sports section of USA Today recently (click here). We understand how Coach Kim pulls that off with a National Championship, but Coach Drew’s enthusiasm is interesting enough to draw national attention while NOT playing. When his team does play, they will be fun to watch over the next couple of years. BU recruit Demond Carter of Louisiana scored 74 points in one game for his high school last week. These are the kind of young athletes that Coach Drew is attracting.

Be there on January 11th to watch the Bears take on Texas Tech.

If you are as tired as we are of listening to the pundits prattle on about the supposed "War on Christmas", the easiest route to victory is to simply always keep Christ in yours. May this blessed season bring you everlasting peace and joy.

Let us all say it loudly together:

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

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Sic ’em Bears