Fabulous Four: A Brief Celebration of Four Stellar Athletes
College sports is a complicated thing. On the one hand, as with the pros, we expect the athletes designated as representative of our institutions of higher learning to perform on the court or field. On the other, we also expect them to be studious, as they are, after all, “student athletes.” We expect them to be morally upright, and there are times in which this author feels we may be somewhat unfair to them. With professional athletes, winning is everything, often at the expense of basic decency. It may be that we transpose our disappointments with the professionals into aspirations for the amateurs—first-rate amateurs though they may be.
But fair or not, there are certain student athletes who rise to expectation, regardless of how high. And I would like to mention a few student athletes I, since writing for KillerFrogs have been most impressed by, who seem, in my opinion, to exemplify exactly what makes college athletics and enjoyable pastime. The four mentioned are in no particular order.
Max Duggan
Duggan is an obvious favorite. I first wrote about the young man in November, following TCU’s big upset over Baylor in the “Having Fun” summary of the KillerFrogs podcast. Though much attention was rightly doted on freshman Chandler Morris’ performance, none other than TCU Hall of Famer WC Nix noted that Max had “everything you want in a quarterback. He’s a great leader, he’s a team player. Max was the biggest cheerleader I saw over there.” Later, he continued to start for TCU, playing on a broken foot that required surgery after TCU’s loss to Iowa State. To do that, despite the pain, speaks to the kind of passion and love of the game that will bring our football team back to glory in the coming years. Finally, Max Duggan qualified for Second-Team Academic All-Big 12 for the second consecutive season. The man has talent, intelligence, and heart. He is the one I think future Frogs should desire most to emulate.
Gracie Brian
I greatly enjoyed writing about the success of TCU’s women’s soccer team, and there were several worthy candidates to include. But Brian, who performed a hat trick against Prairie View A & M (the fifteenth in program history), while later being voted an Academic All-American beside Brandi Peterson, was a stand out. Of course, it goes without saying that the whole team proved deserving of all accolades. But I don’t think anyone could better claim to represent TCU athletics than a young woman who managed to make history twice, on the field and in the classroom.
Lauren Heard
To exclude her would amount to blasphemy. She was one of only athletes nationally recognized as a candidate for the 2021-22 Senior Class Award. In addition, she was named Big 12 Women’s Basketball Player of the Week. Against No. 18-ranked Texas A & M, she scored 33 points, with 18 free throws that amounted to the second most in TCU single-game history. Oh yeah, that Player of the Week honor? It was only her fifth. Doesn’t get much more impressive than that.
Dani Dennison
Of 85 athletes who qualified for the 2021 Academic All-Big 12 Volleyball Team, 10 are students at TCU, the most in program history. That is impressive enough a feat, but particular praise must be extended to Dennison who earned first team recognition for the third consecutive season, the only member of TCU's current roster to have done so. Dennison was an easy choice.
There you have it--four Horned Frogs who have consistently demonstrated athletic, intellectual, and moral excellence. As I said, there were many candidates who have been a joy to write about. But time is limited. And these are my personal favorites.
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