Sept. 29, 2008

CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M’s first men’s soccer all-American, a former sports information director who later published the first National Directory of College Athletics, an outstanding Lady Buff point guard who helped lead her team to the national championship game in 1988, and the leading rusher and scorer in Buff football history, will be inducted into the West Texas A&M University Athletic Hall of Champions during a ceremony Friday, Oct. 3, 2008.

Davy Arnaud, Ray M. Franks, Leona Gerber Wilhelm and DeWayne Miles were selected from the more than eighty nominees considered this year for induction into the Hall of Champions. The Hall was established in 1987 to recognize outstanding student-athletes, coaches, and administrators for their achievements, accomplishments and support of Lady Buff and Buffalo athletics.

The quartet will be inducted during a special invitation-only dinner, October 3, during Homecoming Weekend at the First United Bank Center on the WTAMU campus. Also being honored will be the inaugural Legacy Award selections Henry and Betty Ann Davis and the late J.W. Foust, his wife Nell, and Whitney Russell Printers.

DAVY ARNAUD - Arnaud, a Nederland, Texas, native played for Coach Butch Lauffer’s Buffaloes from 1999-2001, earning first team all-America honors in 2001, when he led WT with a team-high 29 points (13 goals, three assists). That team compiled a 16-4-1 record, advancing to the NCAA quarterfinals. Arnaud’s total three-year record was 41-14-6, with a Lone Star Conference championship in 2000.

Following his junior year in 2001, Arnaud was drafted by the Kansas City Wizards in the 2002 MLS SuperDraft’s fifth round – the 50th player selected overall. He finished his three-year Buff career with 73 points on 31 goals and 11 assists, and he was the LSC Offensive Player of the Year in both 2000 and 2001.

He made his MLS debut on July 31, playing the final twelve minutes at Dallas. He scored his first professional point on Aug. 28 in the Champions Cup semifinals and his first start in a Wizards uniform was on Sept. 10 at Columbus.

His first MLS goal came on June 7, 2003, against the MetroStars. His second career goal was on Aug. 22 of the same year, against Colorado, which was the quickest goal in Wizards history (33 seconds into the match), and it was fourth quickest goal in MLS history.

Arnaud had a breakout year in 2004, leading Kansas City to the MLS Cup Championship match, as he appeared in all 30 matches and scored 26 points (nine goals, eight assists). He tallied his first career hat trick against Dallas on July 3.  In September, 2007 he was selected to the U.S. National Soccer Team’s match against five-time World Cup champion Brazil. Arnaud earned his first-ever cap on the national team, when he entered as a substitute in the 86th minute.

Arnaud currently is in his seventh year with the Wizards. In 2007, he received the first-ever KCW Heart Award for his performance that included a team and career-high nine assists in 28 matches. He also scored a game-winning goal in the MLS West Conference semifinals.

Arnaud and his wife Stephanie currently live in Prairie Village, Kan.

RAY FRANKS - Ray Franks is a Crossville, Illinois, native, who came to Amarillo in 1951 with the U.S. Air Force. After obtaining his B.A. degree in English from the University of Evansville, he served in the Air Force from 1950-54. Discharged on Sept. 1, 1954, he was on the job at WT one week later.

He remained with the Buffaloes’ athletic department until Jan. 1, 1963, when he started his own publishing business, Ray Franks Publishing Ranch. His last official game duty at WT was the Dec. 31, 1962, Sun Bowl at El Paso, Texas. That game saw the Buffs defeat Ohio University, 15-14, and Super Bowl V champion and future WT Hall of Champion-member Jerry Don Logan named Most Valuable Player.

While still in the Air Force and based in Amarillo, Franks started the Texas Sports Guide, which was a directory of coaches in the state, as well as the Panhandle Pigskin Preview, a precursor to magazines such as “Texas Football.”

He published the National Directory of College Athletics from 1968-1991. He has also authored several “Ol’ Coach” joke books, “What’s in a Nickname? Exploring the Jungle of College Athletic Mascots,” “Meanwhile Back at the Ranch,” and co-authored, with Jay Ketelle, two editions of “Amarillo, Texas – The First Hundred Years (1887-1987): A Picture Postcard History.”

Franks retired in 1992, but still does part-time writing assignments for Amarillo’s “Accent West” magazine. He and his wife of more than 55 years, Floy, live in Amarillo and have three grown children, six grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

LEONA GERBER - By the time Leona Gerber (Wilhelm) came to West Texas State University in 1987-88, she was already a three-time state champion under legendary Coach Joe Lombard at Nazareth, Texas. At South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, she was all-District and all-Region and was known as an outstanding free throw shooter. She averaged 14.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 3.3 steals per game as a senior in 1986-87.

Lady Buff Coach Bob Schneider knew a good basketball player who was molded in the team concept. The 1987-88 WT media guide stated she was “expected to back up Angela Seay at point guard.”

Little did Lady Buff fans know that the former Naz Swiftette would be part of a juggernaut team that included future Hall of Champion inductees, Vanessa Wells, Von Tucker, and Teresa Tinner, as well as Seay. That quintet started all but six games, and the Lady Buffs ripped off 33 straight wins before losing to Hampton, 65-48, in the Division II national championship game at Fargo, N.D. on March 26, 1988. They were ranked first in all polls taken during the season and at the end of the regular season.

Gerber started all 34 games that season, averaging 11.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 2.4 steals.

In her two seasons at WT, Gerber started all 63 games, compiling an incredible 59-4 mark. Although a frontcourt player, she shot 59.3 pct. from the field in two seasons (33-of-48 three-point shots for 68.8 pct.) and 84.3 pct. from the line (second in Lady Buff annals), dished out 4.3 assists per game, and averaged 2.1 steals per game.  Gerber’s 87.6 percentage (106-of-121) from the free-throw line in 1988-89 is the best single-season record in Lady Buff history.

She received her B.S. degree in Elementary Education from WT in December 1989. She has been a teacher at Sundown Lane Elementary School in the Canyon ISD for 18 years (twelve in the first grade; six in physical education).

She and her husband, Eric, live with their three children near Amarillo.

DEWAYNE MILES - The transition from six-man high school football to NCAA Division II football is quite the leap, but DeWayne Miles, of Amherst, Texas, did just that after redshirting his freshman year in 1996. New WT head coach Stan McGarvey did not put him in the starting lineup until the seventh game, but it helped start Miles down the road towards setting Buffalo career football records for rushing yards, rushing attempts, scoring and touchdowns.

Miles’ 1997 freshman year saw the 6-0, 247-pound “D-Train” carry the ball 165 times for 845 yards and 12 touchdowns, averaging 5.1 yards per carry, as WT rebounded from a 1-9 season to a respectable 7-4 mark.

He was the Lone Star Conference Freshman of the Year and was selected first-team all-LSC and Daktronics all-West Region second team.

Miles proceeded to rush for 937 yards and 15 TD’s in 1998 and 1,053 yards and eleven touchdowns as a junior in 1999. His senior year of 2000 saw him tote the ball 270 times for 1,524 yards (the second highest total in Buff history behind only Mercury Morris) and 16 touchdowns. He was tabbed the LSC Offensive Player of the Year, and Miles was selected first team all-LSC and all-West Region, Daktronics second-team all-America and Football gazette first team All-America.

His total career rushing yards of 4,359 surpassed great Buff running backs of the past like Morris, “Pistol Pete” Pedro, Duane Thomas, Bo Robinson, and Bill Cross. He finished with 770 rushing attempts, 55 TD’s (all but one on the ground), and a 5.6 yards per carry average.

Following his graduation from WT in May, 2001, with a degree in General Studies, he signed a free agent contract with the NFL Detroit Lions and later was claimed off waivers by the Minnesota Vikings. Miles was released by Minnesota on March 26, 2002.

In 2003 he helped lead the Amarillo Dusters under now-Buff head coach Don Carthel in the inaugural year of the Intense Football League. He continued his indoor football career with the Austin Wranglers of the Arena Football League in 2005, before finishing up with the Amarillo Dusters of AF2 later that year.

Miles came back to WT to obtain his teaching certificate and has coached at both his high school alma mater and at West Texas High School in Stinnett, Texas, where he was also the head boys’ track coach. Currently, he is an assistant football coach at Memphis, Texas.

Miles currently resides in Memphis and has three children.