(Serenity King will be inducted into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor along with Mark Adams, Kirby Dunn, Daniel Franklin, Kristina Edwards Lee, Joe Lombard, Dr. Claude Lusk, Don Christa & Caren Smith, and Jodie Young during ceremonies at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 23 in the Laney Center. Ray Murphree will be awarded the Harley Redin Coach's Award. A continental breakfast begins at 8:30. The public is invited).
While Serenity King is being inducted into Wayland Baptist University's Athletic Hall of Honor as an accomplished volleyball player, that sport was only her third or even fourth choice when it came to favorites. King was a much more accomplished soccer and softball player at Pampa High School, where volleyball served more as a means to stay in shape leading into basketball season. It wasn't until midway through King's time at Wayland that she truly devoted herself to becoming a legitimate volleyball player, and she wound up a three-time all-conference and two-time all-region player holding numerous school records.
King first was exposed to volleyball as a result of her "fantastically athletic" parents, Dennis and Doris King, playing in small-town adult leagues around the Texas Panhandle. "I was typically on the sidelines dribbling a basketball," King noted. She started playing volleyball herself in the seventh grade, but was much more into soccer and softball throughout high school. She was an all-state second baseman, and, at the time, set her high school record by scoring 18 soccer goals in a season. "I would have played soccer or softball at Wayland" had the school offered it. (WBU started women's soccer in 2001, two years after King graduated.) "Volleyball," she added, "was not my best sport."
But King opted for volleyball at Wayland in large part because of Brad Borden, who coached her in high school her sophomore and junior years before leaving for to coach at WBU. "I liked the comfort level of playing for Brad," King said, adding that the coach – assuming King would play college soccer somewhere – had "already recruited most of his players" when she made up her mind to attend WBU. "I sort of just wanted to be along for the ride."
Wayland volleyball was in just its sixth season when King arrived in 1996, and the then Lady Pioneers ("Lady" was later dropped) had managed only one winning season and no post-season appearances. Wayland won just six of 67 matches in the two seasons prior to Borden becoming coach.
But things began looking up with the arrival of King and numerous other capable freshmen, including twins Carrie and Terrie Walters and Kristee Turpin Phelps, who in 2013 became the first volleyball player to be inducted into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor. In their first season, King and Turpin helped lead the Lady Pioneers to a remarkable 30-2 record and a Sooner Athletic Conference championship.
"That 30-2 season was a lot of fun. We were all freshmen except for two or three," King said. "We lost a game (to Lubbock Christian) during the first tournament of the year and then didn't lose again until the last game" to Mary-Hardin Baylor in the Southwest Regional Tournament. In between there were 27 consecutive victories, which remains a program record along with the 30 overall wins. "I remember the campus support really grew for us," King said. "At Wayland the Flying Queens are the team everyone gets behind, and early on our stands didn't have very many people. But as that streak grew the stands began to fill up. Against Lubbock Christian and College of the Southwest the gym would be packed and it would be really loud."
King was voted second-team all-conference and all-section as a freshman, then after a slight drop-off the following year when she missed a third of the season with an ankle and Achilles tendon injury (the team went 21-11 to share the conference championship), King really came alive. "In between my sophomore and junior seasons, Coach Borden made a video of everything he wanted us to do that summer (to stay in shape), and I took it seriously, did it six days a week and, to Coach Borden's dismay, also played soccer seven days a week." As a result, King's leg and core strength increased considerably, helping improve her jumping ability and overall game tremendously.
Because Borden began scheduling tougher opponents to challenge his players, King's junior and senior years saw fewer victories (20-14 in 1998 and 14-18 in 1999), although the team still qualified for the Southwest Regional Tournament both years and King twice was voted first-team all-conference and all-region, in addition to NAIA Scholar-Athlete.
When she graduated, King ranked second in program history – right behind Turpin – for most career kills (1,439), kill attempts (3,998), aces (165) and points (1,657). They still rank in the top five in all those categories.
King was sad to see her volleyball career at Wayland come to an end. "I could still go over and point to the exact spot on the court where the last ball hit in our last game against John Brown; I was out of position on a misread on our block and needed to dive for it but didn't."
Among her memories at Wayland were a couple of trips to California for volleyball tournaments. "On the first trip I was hurt with a severely sprained ankle, and one of my most vivid memories was taking my air cast off as we walked along the beach. The tide came in and took my air cast with it, and one of my teammates had to get it for me."
King graduated in 2000 with a degree in English and a minor in psychology. "I enjoyed my time (at Wayland)," she said, adding that she was a member of the psychology club and "tried to start an English club but never got that off the ground."
She fondly remembers her WBU professors, among them Dr. Arch Mayfield, Dr. Steven Michael, Dr. Don Cook, Dr. Peter Bowen, Steve Burger and Dr. Wilburn Lackey. "The faculty made a huge impression on me and I'm really appreciative of their early guidance. Dr. Mayfield helped me get into grad school and get my masters."
King's professors influenced her decision to embark on a career in higher education. After graduating, she first worked at WBU before taking a position at the Texas Tech Health Science Center in Amarillo. King has worked the last 13 years at the University of Texas at Dallas, a rapidly-growing university focused on academic excellence. Currently she serves as the assistant provost for policy and program coordination, helping fuel the university's growth by working with faculty and state agencies to get new degree programs approved. The university offers 45 degree programs it did not offer a decade ago.
Since her time at UT Dallas, King, who is completing her dissertation for a doctorate in public affairs, has won the Ethel Ward McLemore Award and the Staff Council CARE Award and has been inducted into two academic honor societies, Pi Alpha Alpha and Phi Kappa Phi.
"I love my job and I love my university," King said.
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