The Texas Sports Hall of Fame recently released their 2021 ballots and it has plenty of former Texas Longhorns on it. There are two ballots with one being the primary and the other being the veteran ballot. In total there are nine Longhorns and seven are on the primary ballot. The sports range from football, basketball, softball and track and field.
Primary Ballot
Phil Dawson, Kicker
The first former Longhorn on the ballot is former kicker Phil Dawson. Dawson played for Texas from 1994-97. He would appear in 46 games in that span. Twice he led the conference in extra point attempts, extra points made and field goal percentage. He would finish his Longhorns career with 339 points scored, his career high of 108 was set in 1996.
He would go on to enjoy a NFL career that lasted until 2018. Most of his career was spent in Cleveland for 14 seasons. He would join the San Francisco 49ers for four seasons and the final two in Arizona with the Cardinals. He played in 305 games total. In that time he converted 83.8 percent of his field goal attempts and 97.6 percent of his extra point attempts.
He would finish his career with 1,847 points over his 20-year NFL career. He was selected to his only Pro Bowl in 2012, which would also be his last year in Cleveland. Dawson ranks second in Browns history for most points scored. He only trails legendary kicker Lou Groza.
Accomplishments:
- All-American kicker and four-year starter who left UT with 13 Longhorn records, including all-time marks for scoring (339), field goals (59) and field goal accuracy (74.7 percent)
- Finished his career ranked 16th on the NCAA all-time scoring list, 12th on the NCAA all-time kick-scoring chart and 31st on the NCAA all-time field goals made list
- Set a UT record by hitting 15 straight field goals in 1996-97; set a UT record by making six straight field goals from 50 or more yards from 1995-97
- Connected on 64.3 percent of his field goals from 40 yards and further (27 of 42) during his college career
- Signed as free agent with Cleveland in 1999
- Hall of Honor inductee in 2012