2025 SAISD Athletic Hall of Fame Honorees
San Antonio ISD will celebrate its 11th annual Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday, August 9, 2025 at the Alamo Convocation Center. Six honorees will be inducted into the prestigious class. Honorees include a retired NFL fan favorite, a basketball giant, a longtime high school football coach, a volleyball great, an NFL pioneer and a historic two-time state finalist basketball team.
HONOREES
Ray Davis
At 6 feet 9 inches tall, Ray Davis, Class of 1983, was a feared big man on the hardwood court and an SAISD legend. He had the rare distinction of being a “four-year letterman” on the Sam Houston High School basketball team, where he starred at center. He led his Cherokees (now Hurricanes) to an amazing 132-32 record during his high school career, which included two UIL state tournament semi-finalist appearances in 1980 and 1983. Davis set a school record by scoring more than 1,200 points during his schoolboy career. In his senior season of 1983, he scored a career-best 31 points in one game against Corpus Christi Moody in the bi-district championship. He was the team captain and twice made all-district, all-city and all-state. In 1983, he was named an All-American. Heavily recruited, he played college basketball with the University of Texas at Austin. For four years, he was a Longhorns mainstay and made team captain in his senior season. In 1987, he was drafted in the seventh round by the NBA San Antonio Spurs. He was drafted in the same class as Spurs legend David Robinson.
Willie Hall
The winningest football coach of all-time at one SAISD school, Willie Hall achieved great success on the field but also impacted thousands of athletes for nearly four decades. A native of Roswell, New Mexico, Hall starred in football and boxing in high school. He proved to be a champion boxer following his father’s footsteps. He earned a football scholarship to Eastern New Mexico where he soared as a wide receiver. He stepped up to the pro ranks in 1983 with a tryout to the San Antonio Gunslingers of the United States Football League. After a short stint with the Gunslingers, he was hired as an assistant coach and teacher at Brackenridge High School in 1983. In 1995, he became the head football coach at Brack and never looked back. He amassed a remarkable 147-126 record, won 10 district championships and made the state playoffs 16 times all for the Brackenridge Eagles. His biggest win came in the bi-district championship game in 2012 when Hall’s Eagles upset Alamo Heights, ranked No. 7 in Texas, 21-20 with a game-ending field goal at historic Alamo Stadium. Hall coached countless players including NFL players Sam Hurd (Dallas Cowboys) and Ramon Richards (Los Angeles Rams).
Weldon Humble (posthumously)
A true grid iron pioneer from the early days of football, Weldon G. Humble has the distinction of being named a consensus collegiate All-American, a rarity in the sports world. The 1940 graduate of Brackenridge High School was a multi-sport athlete who soared on the football field as a tight end and fullback. He also starred at basketball, track and swimming. Besides his athletic prowess, he was an academic scholar. He was accepted to Rice University, where he played three seasons on the football team. He left college in 1943 to serve three years and earned a bronze star medal in the U.S. Marines during World War II. In 1946, he returned to Rice for his senior football season. He earned consensus All-American at guard and led his Owls to an 8-2 record and an Orange Bowl win over Tennessee. In 1947, he became a professional football player for the Cleveland Browns, where he played for legendary coach Paul Brown. The Browns won the All-America Football Conference championships in 1947, 1948 and 1949. The Browns merged into the National Football League in 1950 where they won the championship. Humble was named an NFL All-Pro in 1950.
Guido Merkins
A “jack of all trades” and perhaps the most versatile athlete to ever come from San Antonio ISD, Guido Merkens made a name for himself by wearing a lot of hats on the playing field. The 1973 alumnus from Edison High School was the star quarterback and safety for the Golden Bears. He was an All-City and All-District performer who made Edison competitive in his era. Merkens took his two-way starter skill set to Sam Houston State University where he was the team’s top quarterback and safety for four years. For 10 seasons, Merkens played in the NFL as a quarterback, running back, wide receiver, punter and defensive back. In 1978, he was an undrafted free agent signed by the then Houston Oilers of the NFL. He played for the legendary Coach Bum Phillips under the “Love ‘Ya Blue” era when the Oilers made the AFC Championship game back-to-back years. In 1980, he signed with the New Orleans Saints where he became a huge fan favorite.
Sharon Neugebauer-Shepard
An all-around athlete, Sharon Neugebauer Shepard proved to be one of the greatest athletes in SAISD girls sports. The 1981 alumna of Jefferson High School was an all-star athlete in volleyball, basketball, track and cross country. In her sophomore year of 1979, the 6-foot-one middle blocker helped guide her Lady Mustangs volleyball team to a stellar 33-2 record and a berth in the UIL state championship game. The pinnacle of her athletic high school career came in her senior year where she soared to the state track meet claiming the bronze medal in the 800-meter run with a blazing 2:11 time, setting a city of San Antonio record that stood for 20 years. At the University of Texas at Austin, she is one of only four athletes in school history to be named All-American in two sports – volleyball and basketball. She helped the Lady Longhorn volleyball team win the national championship in 1981 and make the Elite 8 tournament in 1983. During her four years of play on the UT volleyball team, she had 289 career solo blocks, a school record that still stands today.
Lanier High School 2000 & 2001 Basketball Teams
Known as the “blond bombers”, the Lanier basketball teams of 2000 and 2001 captured the hearts of SAISD and the entire city of San Antonio. They were known as the “underdogs” who proved the oddsmakers wrong. The Voks, an inner-city school from the heart of the westside of San Antonio, were a true Cinderella team powering their way to back-to-back appearances in the UIL’s version of the Final Four or the state tournament in 2000 and 2001. Under head coach Rudy Bernal, his teams were nicknamed the “Blond Bombers,” due to the fact that players would dye their hair blond during their epic playoff runs. Bernal was a defensive mastermind, who schemed his players to be aggressive and feisty when defending the court. In 2001, the Voks rolled to a 32-win season and the state championship game by upsetting Chris Bosh and his Dallas Lincoln team 50-48 in the state semifinals. Bosh, at 6 feet 10 inches tall, went on to become an NBA all-star and calls the Lanier loss “one of the toughest losses of his entire basketball career.” Star Voks players for both teams included Louis Martinez, Josh Martinez, Joseph Martinez, Martin Cardenas and Charles Perez.