Former University of Texas All-American Tony Brackens (left), who played his high school football in Fairfield, was among the nine 2019 inductees into the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame during a ceremony held Monday, November 18, 2019, in Fort Worth at the Brown-Lupton University Union on the TCU Campus.
This honor is sponsored by the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
Brackens was a three time All-Southwest Conference selection and All-American at defensive end in 1995, he was a member of the 1995 American Football Coaches Association Good Works team for his community involvement off the field as well. He played a major role in leading Texas to the final Southwest Conference Championship, a 10-1 regular season in 1995 and a Bowl Alliance berth in the 1996 Nokia Sugar Bowl.
He was known as one of the quickest, hardest hitting longhorns and caused five fumbles in his final season of 1995. For his career, Brackens was credited with 24 sacks, which ranked eighth among all Longhorn defenders at the time.
A second round draft choice of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1996, Brackens played his entire eight year NFL career with Jacksonville, earning Pro Bowl recognition in 2000.
He retired from pro football after the 2003 season and now lives with his family on a ranch near his hometown of Fairfield.
Also up for honors in the 2019 class of inductees was former TCU All-American football player Charlie Davis.
Davis starred at Wortham High School in the late 1960s before becoming a standout defensive tackle at Texas Christian University.
The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted him in 1974, and he was a backup on the team’s “Steel Curtain” defense that won the franchise’s first championship in Super Bowl IX.
Davis later played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1975-80) and Houston Oilers (1980-81).
Rounding out the 2019 Southwest Conference Hall of Famers includes Arkansas baseball great Jeff King; All-American Baylor football player Mark Adickes; All-American track star from the University of Houston Leroy Burrell; Rice football great Courtney Hall, SMU football standout Gary Hammond; Texas A&M All-American basketball player Chalisa (Lisa) Branch, and All-SWC running back from Texas Tech, James Gray.
The Southwest Conference Hall of Fame is one of four separate halls of fame housed within the Texas Sports Hall of Fame’s physical structure. They include the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame, the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and now, the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame.
For more information about the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame or the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, visit www.tshof.org.
