Dr. Paul Sadler played center and linebacker on the Groesbeck High School football team, but “we didn’t win that much…and I wasn’t that good.” Those experiences, however, helped Sadler realize that he wanted to be around athletics, and ever since joining the religion department at Wayland Baptist University in 1990 he has been. First serving as the “Voice of the Hutch” for WBU basketball and volleyball for 13 years, Sadler later was faculty athletics representative for 15 years before becoming eligibility chair for the Sooner Athletic Conference in 2011.
“I’ve had opportunities to work with some outstanding people at Wayland in the roles I’ve played with Dr. Feris (former Athletics Director Dr. Greg Feris) and now Coach Cooper (current AD Rick Cooper), as well as with the coaches and student-athletes through the years,” Sadler said. “It really has been a special part of my life."
After graduating from Baylor University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and serving 18 years in the pastorate, Sadler began his career at Wayland in 1990 as assistant professor of religion at the request of longtime religion professor, and later golf coach, Dr. Gary Manning.
“I was a pastor in Waco working on my PhD at Baylor when Gary called and told me an opening occurred in the religion area. He had been a minister in the same area where I was living and we had known each other a long time.”
Four years after he arrived on campus, Sadler started his duties as public address announcer at Hutcherson Center, taking over for then Dean of Students Tom Copeland.
“I had gotten to know Tom pretty well and he asked me to fill in for him a few times when he was going to be away,” said Sadler, who had no prior announcing experience. “When Tom moved on to Hardin-Simmons, Dr. Feris asked if I would be willing to take it on a regular basis, so I did.”
Sadler said he already was attending most of Wayland’s athletic events anyway.
“I really enjoyed going to games,” he said.
Serving as PA announcer brought the excitement to a whole other level.
“Having that kind of close-up view of the games – especially that interaction between players, coaches and officials – was awesome. You see and hear a lot that the fan in the bleachers doesn’t get to see or hear. I had a great time.”
Sadler said brothers Tom and Bobby Hall, longtime radio announcers for WBU basketball and current dean of students and executive vice president/provost, respectively, arranged a headpiece so could listen to their broadcasts. Seated at midcourt just a few feet from the broadcasters, Sadler could talk privately to the Halls and carry on conversations.
“I had to be careful the (Hutcherson Center) mike was turned off,” Sadler said.
Sadler witnessed countless contests from his courtside seat.
“I got to see some great games,” he said.
One he remembers well was when the Flying Queens knocked off top-ranked Oklahoma City University.
“Just before the tipoff I was introducing teams and mentioned OCU came in ranked No. 1. One of our fans sitting right behind me – I’m sure you could hear it all over the gym – responded, ‘They may be No. 1, but they haven’t been to Plainview yet.’”
Sure enough, Sadler said, “One of the lesser Queens teams managed to knock them off that night.”
Another eventful contest Sadler recalls also involved OCU, this time in men’s basketball.
“There was a confrontation between the teams right in front of the (scorer’s) table. For a while I was concerned I might have to become physically involved in what was going on. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed eventually, but there was a lot of shouting and shoving. It was quite an event.”
Sadler took on the added role of faculty athletics representative (FAR) in 1996, a year after he became an associate professor and four years before becoming a professor.
“Dr. Feris asked me after Emmitt Tipton moved from being a faculty member to being dean of students. At that point Emmitt could no longer serve in that role because the FAR has to be a faculty member. I was already around athletics doing the PA and going to a lot of games, so Dr. Feris knew of my interest.
“I wanted to be around the athletic program, and that was a chance to get to know coaches and student-athletes better.”
In his role as FAR, Sadler was responsible for verifying that all of Wayland’s student-athletes had proper credits and were eligible to participate with the NAIA.
“When I started it was quite a bit of work because we didn’t have the technology we do today. You had to go to the registrar’s office and pull a hard copy file and look through all the paperwork. It was quite different than it is today when you can access all of that on the computer.”
Sadler also tried to support student-athletes’ in their educational journey.
“Back then student-athletes didn’t have the kinds of academic support services they do now, so that was part of my role. I’d give them some counseling and advice on their situations and help them with the academic side.”
Sadler held the FAR post for 15 years, giving it up in 2011 when he took on the post of eligibility chair for the Sooner Athletic Conference, a position he continues to hold today.
“The main reason I transitioned out of (FAR) was when I moved from being a faculty member to dean I knew the work would be too much, especially after we added football. It became quite a bit more work as Wayland expanded the athletic program. When I first started we only had basketball, track, cross country and baseball…maybe 100 student-athletes.”
Today, Wayland’s athletics program features 21 programs and more than 500 student-athletes.
“The SAC had a longtime eligibility chair who was retiring, and since I was the longest-tenured FAR in the conference they asked me if I would assume that role.”
As the conference’s eligibility chair, Sadler is responsible for reviewing eligibility records for all conference schools.
“It’s really less work (than being FAR),” he said. “What I do is not as involved as completing all of the records for all of the teams at the individual schools. I mainly just make sure forms are filled out correctly and rules are being followed by all of the conference schools.”
Sadler also has supported Wayland athletics by serving on numerous search committees for head coaches and on a variety of NAIA committees, including the Conduct and Ethics Committee, Council of Faculty Athletics Representatives and National Coordinating Committee. He was as president of the Faculty Athletics Representative Association from 2000-02.
“I was given the opportunity to participate on a lot of national committees and councils, and I’ve met a great bunch of folks and really neat people in the NAIA,” said Sadler, who routinely attends the NAIA’s annual national convention.
Sadler spent more than a decade serving on the Conduct and Ethics Committee.
“You hear all of the cases where there’s a fight at a game or someone has violated a rule and they’re appealing to maybe have their penalty reduced, or examine a case where there’s been some kind of impropriety by a coach or athlete. It was a very interesting time. Some of them are almost comical, but some are serious.”
Sadler’s many awards include the Janis Davis Faculty Appreciation Award given by the WBU student body in 1999, the Distinguished Service Award from the WBU Association of Former Students in 2003, the Roy McClung Service Award presented by the WBU Athletics Department in 2004, and the Wally Schwartz Award as the NAIA’s outstanding faculty athletic representative in 2009-10.
But it’s the successes of Wayland’s student-athletes – both on and off the field of competition – that are Sadler’s biggest rewards. Like Steven Quezada of Arizona, who wanted to play baseball for the Pioneers in 2000.
“Steven came in the office and we had a look at his transcripts to see if he would be eligible. It was a very sad story. I told him what he would have to do and he said, ‘OK.’ He took one of my classes and sat on the front row trying to take down every word I said. He was very eager as a student.
“The first semester he still couldn’t get his grades where they needed to be. The second semester he was still not there. By mid-term of his second year he had raised his grades enough to where he could play, and he got to play one season.”
Sadler went on to say that Quezada returned to his office one day and presented him with a baseball.
“It was the first home run he hit at Wayland. He said he wanted me to have it because I told him that he could do it when most everyone else told him he couldn’t. He went on to become one of our assistant coaches and is now married and living in Plainview.”
Sadler and his wife Jimye, a longtime educator who retired as principal at Thunderbird Elementary, have two children: Amy, who works for Guidestone Financial in Dallas, and Matt, an attorney in Amarillo. Matt and wife Kalley have four children: Grayson, Matalley, Lola and Millie.
Of being selected to the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor, Sadler said he is “truly humbled and honored that somebody like me would get into this group.
“I never dreamed this would happen.”
