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2019 SAISD Athletic Hall of Fame Honorees

Rudy Bernal – a champion basketball coach at Lanier HS. Bernal served as the Lanier boys basketball head coach for 31 years (1983-2014), which included two back-to-back appearances in the UIL’s version of the Final Four or the state tournament in 2000 and 2001. His teams were nicknamed the “Blonde Bombers,” due to the fact that his players would dye their hair blonde during their playoff runs. Bernal was a defensive mastermind, who schemed his players to be aggressive and feisty when defending the court. He compiled 567 wins and 442 losses for the Voks basketball team. He won four district championships, made 15 state playoff appearances and won 27 playoff games.

Larry Collins a 1974 Edison HS alum, known as a sizzling speedster running back with great peripheral vision. Collins rushed for back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons his junior and senior year in high school. During his high school playing days, he was regarded as one of the top two running backs in San Antonio for most yards rushed. Collins was a four-year letterman on the Golden Bears football team and he was named to the All City team three times. He finished third in the 100-yard dash and fifth in the 220-yard dash his senior year at the UIL state track meet. His career best in the 100-yard dash was 9.36 seconds. At Texas A&I, now Texas A&M Kingsville, Collins was a two-time Little All-American football player. He rushed for 4,511 total yards and became the state’s top rusher while playing football for the Javelinas, and he held the top spot for more than a decade. 

Rudy Davalos – a 1956 graduate of Edison HS and a highly regarded coach and athletic director in collegiate circles. Davalos was an All-State basketball player for the Golden Bears and he was the team’s all-time leading scorer during his four years on the varsity team. He received a college scholarship to play basketball at Wharton Junior College and Southwest Texas State, now Texas State University. In 1960, Davalos led his Bobcats team to an NAIA national basketball championship over Westminster College in Pennsylvania. He worked as an assistant and head college basketball coach before serving as the San Antonio Spurs assistant basketball coach between 1973 -1976. Davalos has the distinction of being named the first-ever athletic director at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He spent eight years at UTSA, where he helped select the school’s fight song and create the Roadrunner Club.

Adriane Lapsley Butler – a three time NCAA All-American in track. The 2002 Brackenridge HS graduate was a four-year star on the track team and is regarded as one of the fastest short hurdlers in school history. In her junior year in 2001, Lapsley Butler finished fifth in the 100-meter hurdles at the UIL state track meet. Her career-best time in the short hurdles was a sizzling 14.17 seconds in high school. While in high school, she also lettered twice in basketball and volleyball. She helped lead her Lady Eagles basketball team to the state playoffs. She was recruited by Georgia Tech University where she soared and earned NCAA All-America honors three times, once in the 60-meter indoors and twice in the 4x100-meter relay.

Diz Reeves - a long-time SAISD coach and athletic director, who was instrumental in building the SAISD Sports Complex. Reeves was a teacher, coach and administrator for 21 years in SAISD. He worked in the field of education for 39 years, including 25 years as a head baseball coach. He was a football coach at Connell MS and Brackenridge HS and a baseball coach at Highlands HS. He won district championships at each school. The West Texas native became the District athletic director in 1995. He was the mastermind in building a state of the art baseball, softball and soccer sports complex on the southwest side of San Antonio.

Gilbert Salinas - a 1977 Burbank HS alum, known as a dominating giant on the basketball court who shattered city and national scoring records. At a towering 6-feet and 11-inches tall, Salinas was an All-American and All-State basketball player for the Burbank Bulldogs. The center-forward was the cornerstone on the 1977 Burbank team that powered its way through the UIL playoffs before bowing to Dallas South Oak Cliff in the Class 4A state championship game. He was a four-year starter on the varsity basketball team and once blocked 18 shots in one game, a city record that stood for nearly two decades. Salinas was heavily recruited by more than 350 colleges. In the end, he chose the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, where they ranked as one of the country’s Top 10 basketball teams all four years of Salinas collegiate playing career.

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