For Release - Wednesday June 3, 2009
UNA ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME TO INDUCT DOUTHITT,
FASCE, JENNINGS, LANE, LEE AND MCBRAYER AS
TWENTIETH CLASS
FLORENCE --
The twentieth class of inductees into the
University of North Alabama Athletic Hall of
Fame will include a married couple who both
earned All-American honors, two former Lion
coaches who spent more than 25 years at the
school, and two former football standouts.
Former Lion football players Robert Douthitt
and Bennie Jennings, baseball All-American
Sam Lee and his wife, volleyball
All-American Mariela Fasce Lee, former
baseball coach Mike Lane and longtime UNA
instructor, facility coordinator and coach,
Don McBrayer, will become the latest
inductees into UNA's Athletic Hall of Fame
on October 3 as part of North Alabama's
Homecoming activities.
Following its creation in 1990, the UNA
Athletic Hall of Fame inducted four members
each year through 2005. Beginning in 2006,
that number was expanded to six, and this
year will mark the fourth year with six
honorees. This year's induction,
scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on October 3 at the
Guillot University Center, brings the total
number of inductees into the UNA Athletic
Hall of Fame to 88.
Douthitt. a Florence native, was a
three-year letterman in football for the
Lions from 1958-60. He was selected as the
team MVP in 1960 after rushing for 1,023
yards on 199 carries. He also scored nine
touchdowns and completed 18 passes for 294
yards. He became the second player in school
history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season
and his 1,023 total stood as the school's
single season record for 26 years until it
was broken in 1986 by Marvin Marsh. Some 48
seasons later, that 1,023 yards still ranks
as the eighth best single season rushing
total in UNA history. Douthitt led the Lions
in rushing in 1959 and 1960 and he led the
team in passing yards in 1960. He rushed for
over 100 yards in a game five games and he
is one of only two players in UNA history to
rush for more than 200 yards in two games.
He rushed for 137 yards against Murray State
in 1959 and the had four 100-plus yard games
in 1960. He gained 225 yards on 24 carries
against Tennessee-Martin, 200 yards on 35
carries against Jacksonville State, 135
yards against on 21 carries against Austin
Peay and 106 yards on 25 carries against
West Alabama. His 225 yards against
UT-Martin in 1960 still ranks fourth best
all-time in UNA history. He was selected as
a member of the UNA All-Decade Team for
1959-1968. Douthitt is a 1961 UNA graduate
with a B.S. degree in Accounting. A cancer
survivor, he worked with the Internal
Revenue Service until his retirement in 1999
and resides in Florence.
Fasce was a two-year starting setter
on the UNA volleyball team from 1997-98. She
was a two-time All- American, being named
second-team by the American Volleyball
Coaches Association in 1997 and first-team
in 1998. UNA went 77-11 in her two seasons
at the school, winning two Gulf South
Conference championships, making two NCAA
Tournament appearances and winning one NCAA
South Central Regional crown. She had 3,264
assists in two seasons and averaged 12.1
assists per game. She was first-team All-
GSC in 1997 and 1998 and was GSC Most
Valuable Player as a senior. She was also
two-time All-GSC Tournament and Tournament
MVP as a senior. Fasce won two GSC Player of
the Week honors, was first-team AVCA
All-South Central Region as a junior and
senior and a 1998 All-South Central Region
Tournament pick. She finished second in the
NCAA Division II in assists per game in 1998
at 13.06. (1,776 in 136 games). UNA went
39-5 in 1997 and 38-6 in 1998 - making the
school’s first trip to the Division II Elite
Eight. A native of Boca Raton, Fla., she is
married to former Lion baseball player Sam
Lee, who is also being inducted in this
year's class. She received her BSED degree
in 2000 from UNA and works as a third grade
teacher. The Lee's reside in Royal Palm
Beach, Fla.
Jennings was a four-year letterman on
UNA football teams from 1987-90. He was
named first-team All- American as a senior
after making 29 catches for 456 yards and
four touchdowns. He was a three-time All-
Gulf South Conference pick during his
sophomore, junior, and senior years. He was
first-team All-GSC in 1988 and 1990 and was
second-team in 1989. He finished his career
at UNA with 61 catches for 980 yards. He was
a four-year starter for the Lions and played
defense for most of his junior season after
being projected as a pre-season All-American
at tight end. In 1990 he switched back to
offense and lived up to his All-America
billing. He helped take UNA to an 8-3 record
and an NCAA playoff berth as a senior. He
was named UNA’s Most Valuable Player as a
sophomore in 1988 and was Most Valuable
Offensive Player as a senior in 1990. He was
selected as a permanent team captain in
1990. Jennings finished with 61 career
catches for 980 yards. He is a member of the
UNA Team of the Decade for 1989-98 and was
selected for the 50th Anniversary UNA
Football Team in 1998. In 1990 Jennings
signed a free agent contract with the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers of the National Football
League. He was drafted by the
Sacramento Surge of the World League of
American Football in 1991. A native of
Fayetteville, Tenn., he has spent the last
16 years in law enforcement and is currently
a Tennessee State Tropper and resides in
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Lane spent 25 years as head baseball
coach at the University of North Alabama and
transformed the program into one of the
nation’s most consistent winners. Lane came
to UNA in 1983 and took over a baseball
program that had produced only one winning
season in the six years prior to his
arrival. In his 25 years at UNA, Lane had 25
straight winning seasons, won 908 games,
averaged 36 wins per season, won 40 games or
more six times, won five Gulf South
Conference championships and took the Lions
to ten NCAA regionals and one World Series.
He ranks among the winningest coaches in
Division II history in both wins and winning
percentage. In all he led UNA to 10
Gulf South Conference division titles and to
GSC Tournament titles in 1984, 1989, 1993,
1997 and 1999. In 1999, UNA went all the way
to its first Division II Baseball World
Series in Montgomery after the Lions won the
GSC and Division II South Central Regional
championships. UNA finished fifth in the
nation with a 45-12 overall record. The
Lions had a remarkable 571-156-4 record at
home in Lane’s 25 years at the school, with
a record 32 home wins in 1999. Under Lane,
numerous Lion baseball players went on to
play professional baseball, including Cedric
Landrum who debuted in the major leagues
with the Chicago Cubs and played in 1993
with the New York Mets, Jim Czajkowski, who
reached the majors with Colorado Rockies is
in 1994, Terry Jones, who debuted with the
Rockies in 1996 and also played with the
Expos and Dodgers, and Josh Willingham who
made his major league debut with the Florida
Marlins in 2004 and earned a starting
position in 2006. Lane was also responsible
for the continued improvements to University
Field and was honored with a fund-raising
roast in 2007 that raised the money for the
stadium’s renovation. The stadium was then
renamed in his honor as Mike D. Lane Field
during the 2008 season.
Lee, a native of Maryville, Tenn.,
was a two-year starter at second base for
the Lions and was the first Lion baseball
player EVER to be selected first-team
All-American. UNA had a combined record of
78-27-1 in his two seasons at the school,
winning the 1997 Gulf South Conference
Championship and advancing to the NCAA
Regional Tournament. He hit an incredible
.521 as a senior and finished second in
Division II in batting average. He was
87-of-167 at the plate. His 68 runs batted
in that season ranked 30th nationally. He
was selected first-team All-GSC and
All-South Central Region in 1997 and 1998.
He also won two GSC Player of the Week
awards. Lee still holds school records
for hits in a game (5) and highest batting
average in a season (.521). His .449 career
batting average (151-of-336) is also a
school record. He has the highest career
on-base percentage in school history at
.579, and his single season and career
batting totals are the best in Gulf South
Conference baseball history as well. A 2000
UNA graduate, Lee played two years of minor
league baseball after his graduation. He is
currently employed as a fire fighter and
resides in Royal Palm Beach, Fla., with his
wife Mariela, who is also being inducted as
part of this year's UNA Hall of Fame class.
McBrayer has been a key fixture in
and around the UNA athletic department for
more than three decades. He coached the UNA
volleyball team to a 24-8 record and to an
AIAW State Championship in 1975. That was
the first championship won by any Lion squad
in women's athletics and was also the first
title of any kind for the school in 12
years, dating back to a pair of Alabama
Collegiate Conference titles in 1963. He
also served as UNA men’s tennis coach in
1980. McBrayer served as facility
coordinator for Flowers Hall, UNA's
multi-purpose athletics building, for more
than 20 years. An instructor in the
Department of Physical Education, he
assisted the athletic department in every
way imaginable, including serving as
interview room coordinator for the NCAA
Division II Football Championship Game since
1986, and as banquet coordinator for the
Harlon Hill Banquet. He also was selected to
serve as Interview Room Coordinator at the
1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and the 2002
Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City,
Utah. A Birmingham, Ala., native, he resides
in Florence and still serves as an adjunct
instructor at UNA.
Class of 2009
