The fact that she is the first person with ties to Wayland Baptist University's volleyball program to be named for induction into the school's Athletics Hall of Honor isn't lost on Kristee Turpin Phelps. She spent a total of eight years at Wayland – four as a player and four as head coach – admiring others in basketball, track and field, and baseball, along with a host of supporters, as they were enshrined. Now, it's her turn.

"I'm very honored to be even thought of in the same light as some of those people that are framed in that room," Phelps said. "I spent a lot of time in that room. I always tried to read the plaques, to see what great athletes and great examples they were. I can even tell you who is in each spot. It's odd thinking of me as being pictured in that room."

Phelps earned her spot among those Hall of Honor inductees by helping to completely transform Wayland's fledgling volleyball program. Before her arrival in 1996, the Pioneers had only one winning season in its five-year existence, including a two-win season just two years before Phelps came on board. After Phelps got to Wayland, the Pioneers put together three straight winning seasons – including a school-record 30-2 campaign – and Wayland advanced to the post-season four times. Individually, Phelps earned All-Sooner Athletic Conference and all-region honors four times and was a two-time SAC Player of the Week. She still holds school records for career kill attempts (4,229) and service aces (174) while standing No. 2 in kills (1,507) and total points (1,755), and No. 5 in digs (1,364).

Phelps came to Wayland after graduating from Amarillo High School and after playing club volleyball for Brad Borden, who at the time was coaching at Pampa High School but who was hired in 1995 as the head coach at Wayland. Borden's first season with the Pioneers resulted in a 12-18 season…then Phelps joined the program. Her freshman season got off to an innocent start as Wayland won its first three matches before losing to Lubbock Christian University. The Pioneers then rolled off 27 consecutive victories, a dominating run that included 13 straight-set wins and only four five-set matches. Wayland twice avenged its early loss to LCU to be crowned conference and sectional champions. The season ended with a four-set loss to Mary Hardin-Baylor in the regional tournament.

What made that improbable 30-2 season even more incredible was the youth of the Wayland program.

"We had five freshman starters, and the only other people out there consistently were sophomores," said Phelps. The other freshmen members of the fab five were Serenity King, who played for Borden at Pampa, Allison Trout and twins Carrie and Terrie Walters. Phelps said all of that youth helped the Pioneers to not only sneak up on some opponents early on but also allowed them to very innocently not realize they weren't supposed to be doing the great things that they were doing.

"When you have a court full of freshmen who don't know any different and don't have anything to lose…," Phelps recalled. "We didn't know who (perennial powerhouse) LCU was or Houston Baptist."

Phelps remembers knocking off Houston Baptist, a Top 25 team, in their season-opener the following season.

"I remember that coach's face," Phelps said of Kaddie Platt, now head coach at the University of Houston. "It was like, 'What the heck just happened.' It was like a tornado went through there and they didn't know what happened."

After the tremendous 1996 season, Wayland went 21-11 and shared the conference championship the next year when the Pioneers headed west to California.

"Coach Borden wanted to see if we could compete with the West Coast teams," Phelps said. "That was the first true test to put his team against those elite teams."

The Pioneers more than held their own, defeating The Master's College twice and Concordia, Calif., once.
"We did pretty well," Phelps said.

The next year, 1998, the Pioneers were 20-14 and again lost in the regional tournament before a series of injuries – including three ruptured discs for Phelps and a blown-out shoulder and elbow for King – resulted in a downer senior campaign when Wayland went 14-18. Of the fab five freshmen, only Turpin and King remained.

Phelps said she loved playing defense and serve receive.

"I wanted to be served to and hit at by the opponent. I could stay on the back line and dig balls all day and be completely happy," she said, adding that the defensive specialist libero position was not created until later. "I would have loved to have done that."

Phelps described her style of play as "very intense and really focused. It was a business."

Borden, who also served as Wayland's sports information director and had Phelps as his assistant, once called her a "consistent player who didn't make many mistakes. And even if she did make a mistake, she always made up for it."

After graduating with a degree in biology, Phelps, who earned the Dr. Wallace & Janis Davis Award of the Spirit her senior year at WBU, served as head volleyball and track and field coach for one year in Bynum, Texas, before returning to Wayland to replace Borden as head volleyball coach. She was 23 years old.

"I wouldn't have thought I would be a candidate," she admitted, "but Wayland has always real good about bringing (their own) people back."

Phelps almost doubled the program's win total in her first season, going 13-19. The Pioneers were 18-24 and 17-19, making the regional tournament behind Amy Smith, Wayland's first NAIA All-American (honorable mention). Phelps called it "an honor" coaching Smith, who still reigns as the program's leader in kills, blocks and points.

After a 5-26 campaign in 2004, Phelps went to the University of Texas at Tyler as head volleyball coach, as well as wellness and fitness director. She reached the 100-win plateau and led two volleyball teams to the American Southwest Conference Tournament in her four years before getting out of coaching to serve as occupational health, safety and wellness manager at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She made the career change, in part, to spend more time with her husband, Stan, a former assistant baseball coach at UT-Tyler who now is a compliance administrator at Texas State University. The couple has a son, 1-year-old Brady.

"Coaching can be overwhelming, especially the time constraints," she explained. Too, as a coach, Phelps said she often felt she had to "plead and beg people to do what they're supposed to do in the first place, and I don't like to get mad."

In her new role, Phelps – who earned her master's degree in sports and exercise science at West Texas A&M University while she was coaching at Wayland – said she still considers herself a coach, but in a different way. Now, as she encourages people to take better care of their bodies, Phelps uses more positive motivation.

"I'm telling people they have lots of reasons to live. I'm not yelling trying to convince people to pass the ball," she said with a laugh. "When I think about (her playing and coaching styles), I'm not even like that now. I can't be like that. The things I'm intense about are customer service and providing a safe, comfortable work atmosphere.

"I liked coaching but never knew what I liked to coach on," she added. "(Being a wellness manager) provides a bigger picture for me of trying to help people and their lifestyle options. I'm getting to impact people on a larger level. I have a chance to impact the general public, which is fun, especially helping out your peers. I fell in love with that part."

Phelps' wellness program has won numerous awards within the UT System and was a chief reason why UTSA has been designated one of the most healthy workplaces in San Antonio. The program also twice won the Get Fit Challenge for a Rock-n-Roll Marathon that featured 25,000 participants.

Besides keeping up with her son, Phelps keeps fit by running and teaching group fitness classes. She's currently training for her fourth half-marathon and also participates in adventure races as a member of a group called Tough Mudders.

Phelps is looking forward to returning to Wayland for her Hall of Honor induction.

"This is very surprising. I can't believe I'm even thought of in that way. I'm real excited," she said. "I'm very proud to be the first volleyball player picked. That's really cool."