Shocker Sports Hall of Fame 2025 Inductees

[SubGod22]

No basketball players, but this seems like a good place in general.

Go Shockers - 2025 Hall of Fame Class Announced

Kellyn Johnson Taylor (Women's Cross Country/Track and Field), Jim Schaus (Athletic Director), Karma Wagner Mason (Women's Bowling) and Mackenzie Wright (Softball) have been selected as the 2025 Class of the Wichita State Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame.

A dinner is set for 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 17 at the Aetna Multipurpose Center at Charles Koch Arena, while the induction ceremony is scheduled for halftime of Wichita State's Jan. 18 (6 p.m.) men's basketball game against ECU.

Cost for the dinner is $50 per person, and paid reservations can be made online at goshockers.com or by calling the Shocker Ticket Office at 316/978-FANS or in person at the WSU Ticket Office located on the south side of Charles Koch Arena.

The addition of this year's class brings the total of former coaches and student-athletes in the Hall of Fame to 163, while there are 14 at-large selections.

More detail on each ones accomplishments in the link.

[SubGod22]

I feel bad for this group as they're not going to get the crowd that they deserve. Not only is WSU playing poorly and keeping fans away due to the stench of their performance, the Chiefs will still be playing against Houston when this game tips off which means there may be even fewer people there than might be if they didn't have their game overlapping with the defending champs.

[SubGod22]

Go Shockers - Hall of Fame Feature: Jim Schaus

Steve Rainbolt remembers leaving his interview with Wichita State athletic director Jim Schaus and thinking "No way they give the track and field coach an office that nice."

Schaus hired him in August 2000 and Rainbolt did indeed end up in that corner office three years later after the renovation and expansion of Levitt Arena into Charles Koch Arena.

"It's the premier office, and I thought 'Surely they're going to put the basketball coach in there,'" Rainbolt said. "Jim was a visionary. Jim grew up in the world of college athletics and was, I felt, very savvy with regards to athletics and building a program and building and managing a department."

In that interview, Schaus, a member of the 2025 class of the Wichita State Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame, demonstrated that while he certainly knew the importance of basketball, he valued each sport. That philosophy led to a makeover of the athletic department and unprecedented success that carried on after his departure.

"It can never be just about one sport or two sports," said Schaus, athletic director from 1999-2008. "If you're going to be in college athletics, you want to be successful at everything."

In 2003-04, Wichita State won the Missouri Valley Conference All-Sports Trophy for the first time since 1988. Under Schaus, WSU won four straight and, with many of his coaching hirings in place, won seven more from 2008-09 before leaving the MVC after the 2016-17 season.

Schaus moved from Wichita to the University of Ohio as athletic director for 11 years. He served as commissioner of the Southern Conference from 2019 until retiring in 2023. His time at Wichita State remains a highlight of his career.

Schaus lives in Boiling Springs, S.C. where he is active in his church and with A New Beginning Campus Ministry. His three children and seven grandchildren live close enough for frequent visits.

"It was my favorite job, favorite place I've ever been," he said. "It's where my three kids grew up. We had tremendous success, because it was a great team of people."

Schaus took over a sluggish athletic department in 1999 at age 39. The struggles of men's basketball weighed down the department. Levitt Arena and its offices, locker rooms and academic areas fell far behind its peers.

"I wanted to work so hard for him," said Gretchen Torline, director of athletic academic services. "He worked so hard and was engaged in everything. He absolutely came in and you saw what an AD was supposed to do."

With president Don Beggs invested in turning athletics around, Schaus calculated Wichita State's needs, both personnel and facilities. He valued all sports and worked to provide resources. He hired excellent coaches. He trusted coaches and staff to do their jobs.

He created an upbeat attitude with his energy and his "It's a great day to be a Shocker" slogan. He served as an enthusiastic front man for the department and the "Roundhouse Renaissance" fund-raising campaign. Early in his tenure, he held a weekly radio show to connect with fans.

"I don't know that anybody could beat Jim to the office," said Korey Torgerson, associate athletic director for compliance. "He had a plan, and he executed the plan. To rejuvenate this department, when he came here, he needed to get the men's basketball program going again. You can use that revenue to grow your other sports programs."

Schaus put the university in position for an unprecedented run of success for 20-plus years in a variety of sports. He revived a struggling basketball program by hiring Mark Turgeon and later Gregg Marshall. He brought Wichita State's facilities into the modern era by leading the effort to renovate and expand Levitt Arena into Charles Koch Arena.

"It was a perfect combination of staff, university support and donor support," Schaus said. "That made everything easier. The campus was supportive. People were ready, wanting to get back to winning."

Women's sports thrived as never before under Schaus, especially women's basketball and volleyball. Those sports won their first MVC titles and earned their first NCAA appearances with coaches hired by Schaus. Tom McCurdy did the same with women's golf after being hired by Schaus.

Volleyball coach Chris Lamb remembers Schaus as the kind of athletic director who helped staff put down sandbags in the tunnel at Levitt Arena during a storm before the renovation.

"He was right there with us," Lamb said. "We thought water was going to come raining through the tunnel."

His hirings included Lamb, Rainbolt, McCurdy, former women's basketball coach Jody Adams (now at New Mexico State), former tennis coach Chris Young (now at Oklahoma State), cross country coach Randy Hasenbank (now at Iowa), cross country coach Marc Burns (formerly at Missouri) and former softball coach Tim Walton (now at Florida).

This weekend, Schaus returns to WSU to celebrate his legacy by joining a hall of fame bursting with recent additions and incoming candidates he helped by leading the athletic department into a new era.

He was an amazing AD who really turned things around and put Wichita back on the college athletics map.

[SubGod22]

Missed this one yesterday. Kellyn was a beast! She's still a badass!

Go Shockers - Hall of Fame Feature: Kellyn Johnson Taylor

The witnesses don't remember the exact mile time that Kellyn (Johnson) Taylor ran that day in the Heskett Center. They do remember it went well, better than their high expectations as coaches tried out their new arrival from junior college on the indoor track.

"She blew everybody away," said Marc Burns, former Wichita State cross country coach, who remembers her running around 4:48, about 10 seconds faster than previously. Taylor remembers arriving in January 2007, nervous about the step up in competition from Cloud County Community College and ready to get more serious about running.

"We did a mile time trial, and I ran like 4:47 and I had just barely broke 5 minutes (in junior college)," she said. "That was like a 'Oh, Ok maybe I can do this. Maybe something special can happen here.'"

That day was the start of something special for Taylor, a member of the 2025 class of the Wichita State Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame. She ran for Wichita State from 2007-09. She earned All-American status twice in 2009 by placing third in the mile in the NCAA Indoor Championships and 10th the 5,000 meters in the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

She matured into a passionate runner at Wichita State and continues to run professionally while living in Flagstaff, Ariz. She competed in four Olympic Trials, finishing fourth in the 10,000 meters, sixth in the marathon and 12th in the 5,000 in 2016. In 2018, her winning time of 2:24.29 in Grandma's Marathon stood as the seventh-fastest by an American.

She is also a certified firefighter and the mother of four (Kylyn 14, Koen 6, Kaisley 3 and Keagan 1).

"She has done such a great job in her professional career," Burns said. "It's a really rewarding and exciting thing to look back and see kids that continue in the sport in some way beyond college. That means you did a good job instilling in them what a great sport it is."

Taylor, from Sussex, Wis., came to Wichita State after finishing second in the NJCAA indoor mile in 2005 and second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 2006 for Cloud County. She possessed plenty of talent, Cloud coaches told Burns, and needed to mature.

"That happens as you get older," she said. "You figure out what makes sense for your life. In juco, I probably took the opportunities and liberties to really enjoy myself and have maybe too much fun. When I went to Wichita State, I put that on the backburner and decided to dedicate myself more to the sport and see what could happen."

Burns and head coach Steve Rainbolt told her those improvements could land her on the podium for an NCAA meet and lead to a pro career.

"There were definitely sit-downs in my office," Burns said. "She would respond. Some kids you bring them and talk to them, they tell you what you want to hear, and they keep doing the same things."

As Taylor saw the results, she kept working and grew more dedicated. Roommates on the track team provided a good example for her diet and rest.

"They were eating healthy and doing all the miles and doing all the things right you were supposed to do," she said. "I went from living on my own and doing whatever I wanted to keying off these other women."

She won nine MVC titles in track and field and won the 2007 MVC cross country title. She helped the Shockers to two MVC cross country titles and the 2007 MVC indoor and outdoor titles.

"Part of what made her great was that she was fearless," Burns said. "She is going to go to the wall in everything she does. When she lined up on the track, you knew you were going to get the very best she had that day."

Taylor isn't sure when she considered running after college. She does remember being driven by a desire to keep improving. In 2009, she went to the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame needing a personal-best in the mile to qualify for the NCAA meet. She won the race with a time of 4:35.35, a Shocker record by more than five seconds and six seconds better than her previous best. That performance qualified her for the NCAA meet, where she finished third.

"I went into that race and took charge and felt super in control," she said. "It was a big shift."

[1972Shocker]

He was an amazing AD who really turned things around and put Wichita back on the college athletics map.

Ironic that he is being inducted with the current state of the athletic program being what it is. Totally different world now though and I am not sure even Jim Schaus, as good as he was, would be able to save us.

[rjl]

Ironic that he is being inducted with the current state of the athletic program being what it is. Totally different world now though and I am not sure even Jim Schaus, as good as he was, would be able to save us.

He had a good track record of hiring men's basketball coaches. At WSU, it was Turgeon, and then Marshall.

At Ohio, he hired Groce, Jim Christian, and then Saul Phillips. Phillips is the only one of all of those that was not a runaway success.

[BostonWu]

Ironic that he is being inducted with the current state of the athletic program being what it is. Totally different world now though and I am not sure even Jim Schaus, as good as he was, would be able to save us.

It'll be an odd scene being inducted in an empty arena. Kind of like Joe Pesci said, "What the fuq is this POS".

[SubGod22]

Go Shockers - Hall of Fame Feature: Karma Wagner Mason

Karma (Wagner) Mason's bowling career at Wichita State University started with a family recruiting pitch.

In 1974, the Shockers possessed four strong bowlers, including Wendy Hamilton, Karma's older sister. Mason, then a sophomore at the University of Kentucky, came home for semester break and considered transferring.

Hamilton, a senior, reminded her sister they had one chance to bowl together.

"We didn't have to break her arm," Hamilton said. "Just twist it a little bit."

Mason, who attended Southeast High School, missed home and grew up bowling with much of the team.

"It wasn't a real formal recruiting pitch, but they were working me pretty hard," she said. "The bowing was the lure."

That sales job started one of Wichita State's best bowling careers. Mason, a member of the 2025 class of the Wichita State Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame, bowled for three national champions and a runner-up from 1975-78.

She helped the Shockers win the Collegiate Team Championships (now known as the Intercollegiate Team Championships) in 1975, the first year for the competition. She also bowled on WSU's championship teams in 1977 and 1978 and the runner-up in 1976.

Mason placed fourth in the 1976 National Collegiate Individual Championship and served as WSU's captain and anchor bowler her final three seasons. She compiled a high tournament average of 196 and high tournament series of 638.

Her game needed some polishing when she arrived. Coaches Paul Waliczek, Vicki Schmidt-Little and Gordon Vadakin helped her master more complex parts of the game, such as adjusting for lane conditions.

"My weaknesses showed up at the college level," she said. "I essentially started over."

Hours on the lanes helped Mason turn into one of the nation's top bowlers.

"She took coaching and worked on her release, her accuracy and steadiness of nerve," Hamilton said. "She was always calm."

Mason remembers the bowling fondly. She also credits her time at Wichita State with shaping her life in many ways. She earned her bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in geology. That background helped Mason and husband, Gary, start an environmental, health and safety business (iSi, headquartered in Wichita) in 1990.

"I credit the bowling experience and the graduate degree experience at WSU with helping to create a a 'Can do or must do' attitude," she said. "They helped me develop the tenacity to work through difficult times and come out the other side with some victories."

She is a member of WSU's National Advisory Council and in July contributed a lead gift of $100,000 to support a new locker room and offices for the bowling team in the Rhatigan Student Center. She is thrilled that WSU's women's team is a part of the athletic department and the NCAA.

"The university has such a gem in this program," she said. "It's going to be phenomenal for the university. This program is an unbelievable success, and that's attributed to a lot of people and a lot of years of commitment."

[ShockTalk]

Go Shockers - Hall of Fame Feature: Karma Wagner Mason

So many names in that article of those I remember. I knew of Karma and Gordon from the old Crestview Bowl which had 2 teams of junior bowlers in a city traveling scratch league. Knew Paul and Vickie from the WSU teams. Unfortunately, it does take up a lot of one's time. Not only a lot of practice, but also some travel, even out of state. With school and part-time work, I had to drop out before the 2nd semester of my sophomore year.