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WACO, Texas — Four Longhorn greats will be inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame as members of the Class of 2024 on Saturday, April 13. Jamaal Charles (football), Colt McCoy (football), Bubba Thornton (track & field) and Christa Williams (softball) are part of a group of nine members who will be honored.

The 63rd Annual Texas Sports Hall of Fame Induction Banquet presented by Texas Farm Bureau Insurance, will be held in the BASE at Extraco Events Center in Waco on Saturday. The Texas Sports Hall of Fame 2024 class also includes Waco native and National Baseball Hall of Famer Andy Cooper, Texas Baseball Hall of Fame (2006) and Houston Astros Hall of Fame (2021) inductee Judge Roy Hofheinz, former Prairie View A&M track & field coach Barbara Jacket, former Texas Tech football head coach Mike Leach and former Texas A&M football head coach Jackie Sherrill.

Charles, the next in a long line of premier Longhorn running backs who went on to success in the NFL, was a three-time All-Big 12 selection and a key part of three 10-win teams, including the Longhorns’ 2005 National Championship team. From 2005-07, Charles played in 38 games during a three-year stretch that saw the Longhorns post a 33-6 (19-5, Big 12) record, including a 13-0 mark in 2005. Charles and UT won three bowl games, finished in the top 15 all three years and posted a pair of top-10 finishes in 2005 and 2007. The 2005 Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year, he carried the ball 533 times for 3,328 yards (No. 5 in school history) and 36 touchdowns (No. 5 in school history), while catching 49 passes for 539 yards and three TDs over his three-year collegiate career.

He produced one of the best seasons by a running back in Texas history en route to first-team All-Big 12 honors as a junior, rushing for 1,619 yards (No. 6 on UT’s single-season list) and 18 TDs (No. 5 on UT’s single-season list) on 258 carries (6.3 ypc). Charles was just the fourth Longhorn at the time, and still currently one of only five, to rush for more than 1,500 yards in a season. He ran for more than 100 yards on 11 occasions (No. 8 in UT history), including seven times in 2007. A second-team All-Big 12 selection as a true freshman in 2005, Charles logged 1,035 yards from scrimmage (878 rush/157 rec) and 13 total TDs (11 rush/2 rec) that year. He began his career with the top freshman rushing debut in UT history, tallying 135 rushing yards in against Louisiana-Lafayette. He also earned second-team All-Big 12 recognition as a sophomore after tallying 1,014 yards from scrimmage (831 rush/183 rec) and eight TDs (7 rush/1 rec).

Charles also competed with the UT Track and Field team as a sprinter for two seasons. He collected four All-America honors and won the 100-meter dash at the 2006 Big 12 Outdoor Championships. Today, Charles still holds the fourth-fastest 60-meter dash time in school history (6.65), the ninth-best in the 100 meters (10.23) and the 10th-best in the 200 meters (20.62).

The 73rd overall pick in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, Charles played 11 seasons in the NFL, nine with the Chiefs. A four-time Pro Bowl selection (2011, 2013-15) and three-time All-Pro (2011, 2013-14), he is the Chiefs’ all-time leading rusher (7,260 yds). In addition, Charles holds Chiefs records for career yards per carry (5.5), longest rushing play from scrimmage (91 yards), rushing yards in a game (259), points scored in a game (30), and receiving TDs in a game (4). The four receiving TDs are also an NFL record by a running back, in addition to his NFL records for rushing yards in a quarter (165) and career yards per carry average by a running back (5.4 ypc). Charles recorded five 1,000-yard seasons, including three-straight from 2012-14.

The Port Arthur, Texas native discovered he had a learning disability in the third grade after having difficulty reading, and through that experience went on to develop a strong relationship with the Special Olympics after thriving in Track and Field competition. To this day, Charles serves as a Global Ambassador for the Special Olympics movement. He was recognized by the Texas House of Representatives for his philanthropic and athletic achievements in March 2015. Charles officially retired as a Kansas City Chief in 2019, and he and his family currently reside in Austin.

McCoy, a two-time winner of the prestigious Walter Camp Football Foundation (WCFF) National Player of the Year award, consensus first-team All-American and Heisman Trophy finalist, is one of six Longhorns with his jersey number retired at Texas. In addition to those honors, McCoy claimed the Maxwell Award (nation’s top player), AT&T Player of the Year, Davey O’Brien Award (nation’s top QB), Manning Award (nation’s top QB) and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (nation’s top QB) as a senior in 2009. He was also named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year by both The Associated Press and the league’s coaches that year and earned that honor twice from The AP. McCoy earned bowl game offensive MVP honors three times in leading Texas to victories at the 2006 Alamo Bowl, 2007 Holiday Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl following the 2008 season.

A four-year starter with a 45-8 career record, he finished his career as the NCAA’s all-time winningest quarterback and was the first QB in major college football history to lead a team to four 10-win seasons. He is also the first QB in Texas history to lead his team to consecutive 12-win seasons and just the second, joining Vince Young, to lead his team to consecutive 11-win seasons. A redshirt backup to Young on the 2005 National Championship team, McCoy led Texas to a 13-1 record and No. 2 ranking in 2009, a 12-1 mark and No. 3 ranking in 2008, and a pair of 10-3 records in 2006-07 with a No. 10 ranking in 2007 and No. 13 in 2006.

Statistically, McCoy finished his career with 47 school records including 16 career, 13 single-season, five single-game, six freshman and seven miscellaneous marks. During his 53-game career, he completed 1,157-of-1,645 passes (70.3 percent) for 13,253 yards and 112 TDs for a passer rating of 155.0. When his career concluded, his 13,253 passing yards were sixth on the NCAA all-time list, his 112 TD passes ranked seventh and his 70.3 career completion was just shy of the NCAA record. In addition, McCoy rushed for 1,571 yards and 20 TDs on 447 carries (3.5 ypc), while rushing and passing for a TD in the same game 14 times during his career. In combining his passing (112) and rushing (20) TDs, McCoy finished his career ranked sixth on the NCAA’s touchdowns responsible for list and first at UT in that category with 132. He had scored at least one TD in 30 straight games entering the 2009 BCS National Championship Game. McCoy is UT’s all-time leader in total offense and finished his career ranked fourth on the NCAA all-time list in that category, having produced 14,824 yards (13,253p/1,571r) on 2,092 plays (7.1 ypp).

In 14 games as a senior in 2009, the year he led Texas to a Big 12 title and the National Championship game, McCoy completed 332-of-470 (70.6 percent) for 3,521 yards and 27 TDs, while rushing for another 348 yards and three TDs. His 70.6 completion percentage led the nation. McCoy’s 147.4 pass efficiency rating ranked 16th, and he averaged 26.6 yards per TD pass on his 27 scoring throws. As a junior in 2008, he set UT single-season records for passing yards (3,859), passing TDs (34) and total offense (4,420). With the addition of his 11 rushing TDs, he also set the UT single-season record for most TDs responsible for with 45 that year. McCoy was the Sporting News National Freshman of the Year and Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year in 2006 and set UT freshman records for victories by a QB (10) and TD passes (29).

A standout on and off the field, he received the 2009 Bobby Bowden Award (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) and was a National Football Foundation (NFF) Scholar-Athlete and three-time first-team Academic All-Big 12 selection. He also was a member of the AFCA Good Works team for his community service efforts. He graduated in December 2009 with a degree in sports management,

A third-round selection by the Cleveland Browns in the 2010 NFL Draft, McCoy has played 13 NFL seasons. That’s second only to Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Bobby Layne’s 15 NFL seasons for a Longhorn quarterback. McCoy has also played for the Browns (2010-12), San Francisco 49ers (2013), Washington Redskins (2014-19), New York Giants (2020) and Arizona Cardinals (2021-22). He has played in 56 career games with 36 starts and thrown for 7,975 yards and 34 TDs, while also rushing for 582 yards and two TDs.

Thornton will forever be known as one of the most successful coaches in Texas Track & Field history. For 18 years, Thornton dominated the track and field scene, coaching the likes of Olympians Trey Hardee, Leo Manzano, Mark Boswell, Raymond Stewart and Marquise Goodwin. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Thornton was the head men’s track and field coach for Team USA where two Longhorns Hardee and Manzano joined him in the decathlon and the 1500m, respectively.

His impact was instantly felt on the Forty Acres when Thornton’s team won the final SWC title in his first season with the Longhorns before moving to the Big 12. In 1996, he coached Richard Duncan to an NCAA title in the long jump and then later coached him in the Olympics. Thornton led Texas to Big 12 outdoor track and field titles in three different decades (1997, 1999, 2003, 2006 & 2013).

His reign in Austin saw his Texas teams twice finish in the top-10 at the NCAA Championships in 2012 (tied for ninth) and 2013 (sixth). Thornton’s men’s teams finished in the top-15 at the NCAA 13 times, including four top-five finishes. Indoors, he had the Longhorns finish in the top-10 for seven-straight seasons at NCAAs, the top finishes being from 2006-08, finishing fourth in 2006 followed by back-to-back third-place finishes.

In her two seasons on the Forty Acres, Williams was as dominate a force in the pitching circle as a student-athlete could be. In addition to leading The University of Texas’ softball program to its first-ever Women’s College World Series appearance in 1998, when the Longhorns ended the season ranked as the seventh-best team in the country.

Williams, alongside teammate Nikki Cockrell, were the first-ever National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) First-Team All-Americans in program history after the pair earned the honor following the ’98 campaign. She was also the 1998 Big 12 Conference’s Newcomer of the Year, two-time NFCA All-Midwest Region selection, two-time All-Big 12 honoree, a nine-time Big 12 Pitcher of the Week, two-time NFCA National Player of the Week and the 1998 NCAA Regional Tournament Most Outstanding Player.

Williams, after beginning her collegiate career at UCLA, arrived in Austin having already achieved greatness after earning a gold medal with the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team. She returned to the top of the Olympic podium four years later and became a two-time gold medalist during the 2000 Summer Olympics. In total, she was a five-time U.S. National Team member and helped the organization win two World Championships (1995 & 1998), one Pan American Games Qualifier gold medal (1994), one U.S. Olympic Cup golf medal (1999) and two Olympic gold medals (1996 & 2000).

With her induction, Williams will join three-time U.S. Olympian Cat Osterman in the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. Williams was enshrined in The University of Texas’ Women’s Athletics Hall of Honor in November of 2007.