Hall of Fame Weekend at Seward: Tony Slaughter Audio

Friday night in the Greenhosue, three individuals who
have each made incredible impacts on Seward County Athletics were
inducted into the Saints Athletics Hall of Fame. Longtime supporters
Charles Brownlee and Brent Gould were enshrined next to Saints
basketball star Tony Slaughter as the Class of 2013. After an unveiling
of their Hall of Fame plaques Friday afternoon, the group was officially
inducted at the Hall of Fame Banquet later Friday night. Brent Gould’s
granddaughter, Ginny Wylie spoke for her grandfather, who passed away in
2002, while Slaughter and Brownlee each delivered moving speeches about
their time at Seward County to the crowd. Saturday, the group threw out
the first pitch to the Saints baseball game against Colby with Galen
McSpadden tossing Gould’s first pitch at the park named after the Seward
booster.

Charles Brownlee has given over 40 years of service to
Seward County Community College. Before becoming a regular as a fan in
the Greenhouse, Brent Gould Field, and Lady Saints Softball Field,
Brownlee served as a track coach, bus driver, and Athletic Director for
the Saints. Brownlee was a longtime member of the Board of Directors
for the Saints Booster Club and also served on the Saints Athletics Hall
of Fame Committee. He, along with his wife Evelyn, have established the
Brownlee Science and Math Endowment Fund for student scholarships, with
preference given to a Lady Saints Basketball player. During his
emotional speech, Brownlee talked about the joys of following the Saints
and Lady Saints over the course of the past four decades. He said of
his induction "I never thought that anything that I was doing was
extraordinary. I just did what I thought was best for the
student-athletes."

Brent Gould was one of three original Saints Booster
Club Lifetime Members, donating a substantial sum to get the Booster
Club on its feet. He was a permanent fixture at Seward County home and
road events throughout the years. It was routine for Saints and Lady
Saints basketball players to go straight to Brent and his wife Virginia
in their front row seats, for a handshake when they were announced at
games. In 1996 the Saints baseball field was named after Gould in
recognition of his support and passion for Seward County baseball.
Brent Gould Field now stands as one of the best junior college baseball
facilities in the nation. Gould’s granddaughter Ginny Wylie spoke for
him after his passing in 2002 at 100 years old. Wylie had a smile on
her face while pointing at former Saint Shelby Walton in the crowd
saying "my nemesis Shelby Walton sitting right there during this speech.
My grandparents never came to watch me play soccer because they were
always too busy watching you and the Saints."

Tony Slaughter is the all-time leading scorer in Saints
basketball history with 1,589 career points. His 27.9 points per game
over his career are 5.5 points more than second place on the career
scoring list. He is the only player in school history to score more
than 675 points in each of his two seasons and his 907 points during his
freshman year are the most points ever scored in a season by a Saint in
school history. Slaughter had 45 career 20 point games, 25 career 30
point games, and 4 career 40 point games. He scored in double figures
in all 57 games of his Seward County career and led the Saints in
scoring in 51 of those 57 games, including every single game of his
freshman season. Not just a scorer, Slaughter also ranks 4th in school
history with 615 rebounds and is 2nd all-time with 10.8 rebounds per
game. He is also second all-time with 28 career double-doubles. He was
a two time 1st Team All-Jayhawk West and 1st Team All-Region VI
selection for the Saints. Slaughter, who despite playing for Seward
over 30 years ago, still looked like he could get out on the court and
play for the Saints, drew laughs from the crowd when he said "after a
few weeks I was ready to get out of this place. I came from a big place
in Kentucky and now I was stuck in little Liberal. The problem was,
fortunately there was no way out once I got here, and it turned into the
best two years of my life. I still to today call Liberal home."

The Class of 2013 joins Jim Littell, Galen McSpadden,
Kim Ortega, Cory Patton, and the 2002 Women’s Basketball team in the
Saints Hall of Fame. To nominate someone for the Class of 2014, email
or call Seward County Sports Information Director Roy Allen at
[email protected] or 620-417-1553. The Hall of Fame committee will
take nominations for next year’s class through November when they vote
on the nominees, before releasing the 2014 class at the Saints opening
Jayhawk West basketball game of the year on January 11th.

Roy Allen