Dr. Bobby Hall began broadcasting Wayland Baptist basketball games with his brother, Tom, and Public Relations Director Eddie Owens as a Wayland student in 1980.  After his graduation in 1982, Hall took over as Wayland’s sports information director and radio broadcaster, a post he held until 1995.
 
During his time as SID at Wayland, Hall helped garner Wayland Baptist athletics national recognition.  He won 24 national awards for sports publications, including eight first-place honors.  A Plainview native and graduate of Plainview High School, Hall held numerous national offices in professional associations, including serving as president of the NAIA’s Sports Information Directors Association.  He produced a videotape of statistical guidelines which was marketed nationally by the NAIA, and in 1991 he was named as the Ike Pearson Award winner, presented annually to a member of the NAIA-SIDA to honor outstanding contributions to the profession.  Hall also received a National Merit Award from the American Women’s Sports Federation and the NAIA National Award of Merit.
 
An outstanding sports photographer, Hall was the winner of five national awards for sports photography, including best in the nation from the American Association of University Photographers for a photo taken of a distraught Michael Parks immediately after Wayland lost the 1985 NAIA men’s national championship game on a last-second shot in Kansas City’s Kemper Arena.
 
Although Hall never played a sport at Wayland, he witnessed many exciting times as a part of the Wayland athletic department.  He was there for the Flying Queens' transition from the AAU and AIAW, through the establishment of women’s sports by the NCAA, and into NAIA membership.  He covered, photographed and broadcast Wayland games against coaching giants of the women’s game, such as Jody Conradt at Texas, Leon Barmore and Gary Blair at Louisiana Tech, and Pat Head Summit at Tennessee, not to mention Wayland’s own legendary coaches, Harley Redin and Dean Weese.
 
Hall watched the Pioneer basketball team change from a team with a difficult past to one that became nationally ranked and played almost yearly in the national tournament.  He observed Olympians and national champions while they competed for the Pioneer track and field team, and he was a part of the expansion of athletics at Wayland that included the addition of baseball and volleyball.
 
Despite putting in many long hours of work as the Wayland SID and later as executive director of university relations, Hall earned his Master’s of Science degree in Management from Wayland in 1985 and his Doctor of Education in Higher Education Administration and Management from Texas Tech in 1994.
 
Although Hall has many special memories during his time at the center of WBU athletics, including broadcasting big games such as two Flying Queens and one Pioneers national championship games, and watching the great Cheryl Miller and her USC teammates in person, he says that the time he spent working with his brother, Tom, is the most special.
 
“We spent thousands of hours together driving to games, and it was during that time that I researched and wrote most of my doctoral dissertation.  When I finished my degree, I conferred on him the “Doctor of Driving” degree, because he had largely made it possible for me to accomplish my goal.  By natural extension, accomplishing that goal has led to many other opportunities in my life. 
 
“Even more important, though, was just having that much time to spend with my big brother…and I will always treasure that time in my life.”
 
Dr. Hall left his office in the WBU University Relations department in March 1995 when he was named Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Assistant Professor of Business Administration.
 
In May 2006, Dr. Hall was given his current title, that of Provost and Vice President for Academic Services and Graduate Studies.  He and his wife, Laurie, live in rural Lockney and have two children, Lucas, a junior at Lockney High School, and Alexis, a sophomore at Wayland.