Former Sooner Joins Hometown HOF

NORMAN, Okla. – Always quick to the starting line, former Sooner Staneshia Bell saw that speed honored Friday with her induction into the Idabel High School Athletics Hall of Fame. She joined another former Sooner, golfer Jeff Mixon, as the athletic inductees. Other members of the Class of 2014 were Agricultural Hall of Fame honorees Larry Brinkley and Dr. Michael Blackwell. The induction ceremony happened earlier today and the quartet was recognized at halftime of Idabel's Homecoming football game as well.

Bell first knew she was fast when the high school coaches at Idabel had her train with the high school team; Bell was merely an eighth grader. She would go on as a freshman to anchor a state champion sprint relay team for Coach Steve Bryant. Bryant says of Bell, “She worked hard and did not like to lose.”

Those characteristics carried Bell forward the rest of her high school career where she attained Oklahoma All-State status four more times in track, twice as an individual 400-meter champion, once as 800-meter relay member and once more as a sprint relay member.

Bell's closest teammate on the relays was Shameshia Williams, whom she remembers as “fast, outgoing, and reliable.” Bell also played basketball for the Lady Warriors and coach Andrea Guziec. Bell was named all-conference in basketball, and was a member of the 1994 conference championship team at Idabel.

After graduation, Bell moved on to Langston University for one year. After deciding she wanted to transfer after her first year, she went back to her high school mentor to ask for his help in obtaining her an introduction to the University of Oklahoma track and field program. Bryant had coached at McAlester with then then Sooner co-head coach Rodney Price. Ultimately, Price and then Sooner sprint coach Shanon Atkinson welcomed Bell to OU to have a go at being a Division I track and field student-athlete.

The fresh start proved to be a success for all. She was the first OU women's Big 12 champion, winning the indoor 60-meter dash at the conference championship in 2000. She earned NCAA track and field All-America honors after the 400-meter relay's performance at the national championship at Duke University.

She also competed very well at the prestigious Penn Relays, at the Texas Relays, and at a variety of other high-powered track venues. She currently has the sixth best 60-meter time in school history and three of the relays she competed are ranked in OU's top 10 career list.

Her favorite Sooner teammate was Jennifer Fontenot Atkinson. “She was an Okie, like me,” Bell recalls, “and she had the drive to win.” The other members of the Sooner relay team were from Texas, and Bell was glad to have another Sooner-born runner with whom to compete. Successful in the classroom, Bell earned Academic All-Big 12 honors as well.

After her days of competition were over, Bell stayed interested in track. She now is the girls' track and field coach at Southmoore High School in the Oklahoma City metro area. Today, she shares with her team what she learned at OU and Idabel: “Hard work pays off.” She and her husband, former Douglass standout Caden Durham, Sr., have three children. Caden, Jr., is a two-time Junior Olympic national champion, and a five-time Junior Olympic all American. Corey is a national qualifier in the high jump, and one-year-old Sydney will, no doubt, follow her older brothers to the track as soon as she is able.

Staneshia Bell was a team leader in all phases of her career as a student-athlete, and she has brought the ethic of working hard for one's success to her coaching career. Now, her hometown has recognized this speedy Sooner for that success.

-- Story provided by Walter Hamilton

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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