Stroud going into LU hall
Published 11:53 pm Monday, October 19, 2015
**CORRECTED to reflect that the ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 21, at 2 p.m.**
Lamar sports information
BEAUMONT — Port Neches-Groves graduate and PGA Tour golfer Chris Stroud, former Port Arthur News reporter Rush Wood and two-sport great Cassi Presley Ridell have been announced as the newest members of the Lamar University Athletics Hall of Honor, Director of Athletics Jason Henderson announced Monday.
The induction ceremony is set for 2 p.m. Nov. 21 at the University Event Center on the eighth floor of the Mary and John Gray Library on the LU campus. The trio will be honored at halftime of the McNeese State-Lamar football game that night at Provost Umphrey Stadium.
Presley was a standout for the LU volleyball and women’s track and field squads. A four-year letterwinner in volleyball for the Cardinals, Presley was a three-time All-American South Conference selection. At the time of her graduation, she was fifth all-time at LU with 1,177 kills, third with 893 digs and second in service aces with 163. She helped the Cardinals win the 1987 American South Conference regular-season championship.
As a member of the track and field team, she won American South Conference championships in the indoor and outdoor high jump during the 1988 season. She was the recipient of the Julie and Ben Rogers Leadership Award for indoor track and field at LU, and received the 1989 Babe Didrikson-Zaharias Award as the top female student-athlete at LU.
One of the best golfers in Southland Conference history, Stroud was the SLC’s Golfer of the Year all four of his seasons at LU, becoming the only golfer in SLC history to accomplish that feat. A two-time Ping All-America selection, he helped the Cardinals win three Southland Conference titles and make four appearances in the NCAA Regionals.
A two-time Southland Conference individual champion, Stroud finished third at the 2003 NCAA Championships. He is the only golfer in conference history to receive SLC Golfer of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors in the same season. A 2014 inductee into the Southland Conference Hall of Fame, Stroud has won more than $9 million on the PGA Tour. His best finish is a second-place showing at the 2013 Travelers Championship.
Wood recorded two separate stints in the LU Athletics department, serving as sports information director from 1979 until 1991 before going into the newspaper industry. He came out of retirement in 2009 to become LU’s assistant athletics director for media relations to help oversee the return of football to the university.
Wood, who began his journalism career in 1967 with stops at the Houston Post and El Paso Times before his first stop at LU, gave the university tremendous coverage after his first term at LU during his nine years at the Port Arthur News and nine years at the Beaumont Enterprise.
Wood was the 2013 recipient of the Southland Conference’s Louis Bonnette Sports Media Award, presented annually to the individual who has made an outstanding contribution in the field of sports information, print journalism, broadcasting or other media focused on the Southland Conference or its member institutions.
Well-respected in the industry, Wood is considered one of the best sports information directors in Southland Conference history.