July 25, 2005
ORLANDO, Fla. - UCF softball head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie will be inducted into her alma mater, West Texas A&M, Hall of Champions on Sept. 3.
The induction ceremony is scheduled for noon at the Alumni Banquet Hall on the WTAMU campus. The inductees will also be recognized at halftime of the East Central-WTAMU football game at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium that evening.
In her two-year career as a Lady Buffalo, Luers-Gillispie left her mark by setting school records for most wins, saves, complete games, innings pitched and strike-outs. In 1982, she hurled a perfect game, the first in school history, against North Texas State University.
In May 1984, Luers-Gillispie graduated from WTAMU, then called West Texas State, with a bachelor's degree in recreation administration.
Luers-Gillispie began her coaching career in 1991 at Joliet Junior College where she inherited a 2-29 team. In just two years, she boasted a 47-28 record with a National Junior College Athletic Association regional runner-up title in 1992.
After Joliet, Luers-Gillispie went to Bradley where she transformed a 12-25 team, guiding them to an 86-53 in three years.
In 1996, she moved to Lubbock, Texas where she took over at Texas Tech. After posting a 4-44 record her first year, the Red Raiders turned around and were 115-79 in her final three seasons. During her time at Texas Tech, the 1998 team was ranked 17th nationally and 24th the following year with a runner-up finish in the NCAA regional tournament.
UCF hired Luers-Gillispie in 2000 to start a new softball program, which began play in 2002. Since the start of the program, she has acquired a 172-100-1 record and coached 18 all-conference honorees, including three-time Atlantic Sun Player of the Year Stephanie Best.
In 2005, UCF earned their first bid into the NCAA regional tournament where the Golden Knights eliminated No. 23 University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla. before falling to USF. In the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) final poll of the 2005 season, UCF received seven votes, the first in program history.
Luers-Gillispie along with Alondra Johnson, Bob Kitchens and Julie (Saylor) Young will make up the West Texas A&M Hall of Champions Class of 2005. The four inductees will bring the Hall of Champion members to 115 since its inception in 1987.