Lubbock Christian University Athletics

Walt McAlexander was the sports information director for Lubbock Christian from 1970 to 1992, working full-time for the college/univeristy starting in 1976, and he is inducted into the Hall of Honor for his years of hard work promoting and supporting Chap and Lady Chap athletics. 

Although born in Illinois (Mt. Vernon, 10-22-44), McAlexander is a transplanted Texan, moving to the Lone Star State permanently in 1954. After graduating from Plainview High School in 1962, he attended South Plains College in Levelland, where he played baseball (wearing No. 13) bating.040 (2-for-50) over a two-year period.

His various media guides were awarded 24 times in 20-plus years in the Lubbock Christian Athletic department. Furthermore, Walt was named the NAIA Sports Information Director of the Year in 1988. He was then inducted into the NAIA Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990, also for meritorious service. 

Besides playing baseball, McAlexander met his wife, Sue, while at South Plains, and the two were married in 1964. He also completed his associate's degree and the two went off to Sam Houston State, where he graduated in 1966 with a B.A. in History and Journalism. 

After college, he came back to west Texas, where he began working for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. In his 12 years there, McAlexander won two national baseball writing awards from the American Association of College Baseball Coaches (1972 &1973), was nominated for Texas Sportswriter of the Year in 1970 and received teh Texas Bowling Writer of the Year Award in 1977. 

While still writing for the AJ, McAlexander began doing sports information for then-LCC in 1970, when the school first became a four-year institution. He came on staff full time at Lubbock Christian in 1976 and was named an Assistant Athletic Director in 1982. During his time with the Chaps, he promoted six baseball teams that reached the NAIA World Series, including the NAIA National Champion 1983 team. McAlexander was widely know for his ability to track and keep statistics in an era where the only tools available to sports information directors were pencils and paper. 

"His strength was he was a detail guy," said A-J editor emeritus Burle Pettit, the sports editor who hired McAlexander in the mid 1960s. "Back in the days when you had to figure your own box scores and standings, everybody just hitched their chairs to Walt and he figured them out for them. He was very personable and such a detail guy that you never worried about his accuracy."

After leaving Lubbock Christian, McAlexander joined the sports information staff at Texas Tech, where he served as the main media contact during the women's basketball team's national-title run 1993. He also served as the main contact for Red Raider volleyball and baseball, rejoining with Hays, before leaving in 1997.

"He was working with the paper...and our first game he totaled our box and all that," Hays said. "He asked me if I'd like him to start doing that for the next game and I said sure. He was there from day one and that's why Lubbock Christian stats were something to behold. If you played at Lubbock Christian you better not fudge on your stats because Walt had them in the book.

McAlexander passed away 10 years later in 2007, but his legacy lives on.