Grayson College Announces 2021 Athletics Hall of Fame Inductees

Grayson College is proud to announce the 2021 Athletics Hall of Fame inductees.  These four inductees have made a significant impact on the Grayson College athletics program and will be honored at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony on November 12, 2021 at 6:30pm at the Denison Hilton Garden Inn. Tickets will be available to purchase through eventbrite. 

Danny Wayne Darwin

Danny Wayne Darwin (born October 25, 1955), known as the "Bonham Bullet" and "Dr. Death", is an American professional baseball pitcher and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, and San Francisco Giants, from 1978 through 1998.

Some of Darwin’s most prominent statistics in the MLB included a Win-loss record (pitching) stat of 171-182, an Earned run average (ERA) stat of 3.84, and a Strikeouts stat of 1,942. One of the highlights of Danny Darwin’s career include being one of the Major League Baseball annual ERA leaders.

Darwin attended Bonham High School and Grayson County College. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the Texas Rangers on May 10, 1976. He began his professional career with the Asheville Tourists in Single-A in 1976. He pitched for the Double-A Tulsa Drillers in 1977 and the Triple-A Tucson Toros in 1978. With Tulsa, he was 13-4, 2.41 ERA in 23 starts with six complete games and four shutouts.

He made his major league debut with the Rangers on September 8, 1978.  Darwin did not become a full-time starter until 1981, a strike-shortened season. He made 22 starts that year, carving out a 9-9 record with a 3.64 ERA.

He was the pitching coach for the Jacksonville Suns in the Double-A Southern League from 2006–2007 and the pitching coach of the Class-A Great Lakes Loons from 2008–2009 before joining Chattanooga for 2010.

In April 2018, Darwin became interim pitching coach for the Cincinnati Reds, promoted from Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos, where he was pitching coach for three seasons.

In January 2019, Darwin was named the pitching coach for the Reds' Double-A affiliate, the Chattanooga Lookouts.

Dr. Kim Williams

As an All-State softball player from Union High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, she recorded only one strikeout at bat in her entire senior season. She was a scholarship athlete at both Oklahoma Baptist University and Northeastern State University. In 1993, she graduated from NSU with a degree in English Education, and began her career in coaching at Skiatook and Bixby High Schools before moving into the intercollegiate athletics arena in 1996.

Williams started the softball program at Oklahoma Panhandle State University in 1996, and spent two years there as the head women’s softball coach, assistant women’s basketball coach, senior woman administrator, NCAA compliance coordinator, and physical education instructor.

In 1998, Williams and her family moved to Grayson County, where she became the first women’s softball coach at Grayson College. During her time at Grayson, her teams were ranked as high as 7 ^th nationally, finished at the top of the conference standings and competed in the regional tournament every year. In 2000, she was named the Conference Co-Coach of the Year.  During her tenure as head softball coach at Grayson, Williams had many student athletes who continued their softball careers at the university level, along with one All-American. She is proud of the fact that many of them have gone on to become educators and coaches themselves.

In 2006, she decided to end her coaching career in order to spend more time with her family. From 2006-2008, she served as the program director for the Education program at Grayson College. In 2008, she became the Dean of the South Campus, and from 2018-2019 she served as the Dean of Workforce Education at Grayson.

Williams is currently the Dean of Northeastern State University’s Muskogee Campus, where she has been since July 2019.

Dr. Sid Simpson

Dr. Sidney Simpson was born on May 8, 1927 in Pine Bluff Arkansas.  During his school years, Sid played football and basketball, sat on the Student Council, and was Senior Class President.  During World War II, he volunteered to serve his country and was assigned to the U.S. Coast Guard. After the war, Sid attended the University of Central Arkansas (at that time Arkansas State Teachers College) and received his B.S.E.

His professional career began as Head Basketball Coach and Assistant Football Coach at Watson Chapel High School (1948-1955).  Sid moved his family to Denison, TX where he was a Basketball coach for Denison High School for two years (1960-1962). He began his college coaching career at McMurry College and served as Assistant Coach for both the Basketball and Football teams as well as serving as Dean of Men.

When Grayson County College was being built in 1964, Simpson was recruited back to Denison to establish the athletic department and to become the Vikings’ first Head Coach and Athletic Director. Eager to get back into coaching, he accepted the offer and moved his family back to Denison.  In 1970, he left Grayson College to pursue his Doctorate degree at North Texas State University (now University of North Texas) in Denton, TX.  Upon completion, Dr. Simpson was hired as the first Head Coach and Athletic Director at Western Texas College in Snyder, TX to once again build a strong athletic program at a new college. 

Dr. Sid Simpson, former Denison High School basketball coach and the founding developer of the Grayson County College athletic program has been inducted into the Arkansas Activities Association Hall of Fame. He was chosen for his body of work in serving high schools and colleges as Athletic Director and Administrator.  Dr. Simpson was Basketball Coach and Assistant Football Coach at Denison High School from 1956 to 1959 before leaving to become assistant coach at McMurry College (now University) in Abilene, TX.

Sherman Perry

Sherman G. Perry Bio Sherman Perry, born in Normangee, Texas, was a 1965 graduate of Carter G Woodson High School. The class Valedictorian, Basketball Team Captain, Class B State Champion and named All State honoree,

Perry received a basketball scholarship to attend, then, Grayson County Junior College. Sherman was a member of the Vikings Basketball team under Coach Sid Simpson and a two-year letterman. He continued his higher education at Tarleton State University of Stephenville, Texas, He retired in 2006, after a gratifying thirty-seven years as a dedicated classroom teacher, high school coach, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Tarleton State University, and High School Administrator.

Perry has received numerous awards and recognition throughout the years including Tarleton State University Outstanding Alumni of the Year, T.I.A.A. Coach of the year, and an induction to the Athletic Hall of Fame at Tarleton State in 2012. Sherman was later named a “Tarleton Pioneer”, having been the first African American Student to earn a Bachelor’s of Science and Masters of Education, and to return to become the first African American Coach and faculty member.

The ceremony will also celebrate the return of the 2020-21 Grayson Softball Team, who were national team finalists at the NJCAA D1 Softball World Series in Yuma, AZ. They will be receiving their conference championship rings.

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