University of Oklahoma Athletics
Dales, Kalsu Named to Oklahoma Sports Hall
January 21, 2021 | Athletics, Women's Basketball
NORMAN — Former University of Oklahoma athletics standouts Stacey Dales and Bob Kalsu were named to the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame's 2021 class, the organization announced Wednesday.
Dales and Kalsu will be inducted Aug. 2 at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. Fellow inductees will be Ron Clymer, Mike Gundy, Dan Hays and Gene Stephenson.
One of the most decorated basketball players in OU and Big 12 Conference history, Dales led the Sooners to three conference titles and their first NCAA Women's Final Four appearance in 2002.
The Brockville, Ontario, native was OU women's basketball's first two-time All-American and two-time Big 12 Player of the Year. Dales earned Academic All-America honors in 2001 and 2002, and was the Academic All-America women's basketball team member of the year in 2002. She was later named CoSIDA's Academic All-American of the year for the 2001-02 academic year and in 2020 was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame.
Dales holds the OU career record for assists (764) and ranks third in school history in double-figure scoring games (104), fourth in games played (133), fifth in steals (250) and seventh in points scored (1,920). She also set the school single-season assists record with 248 in 2000-01.
Dales was a member of the Canadian Olympic team at the 2000 Sydney Games and went on to play in the WNBA after graduating from Oklahoma in 2002 with a communications degree. As the No. 3 pick in the 2002 WNBA draft, she remains OU's highest-drafted player and the highest-drafted Canadian in league history.
On Nov. 21, 2014, Dales became the first OU player to have her jersey honored at Lloyd Noble Center. She also received the Distinguished Alumni award from OU's College of Arts and Sciences in 2016.
Dales has worked as a sports reporter, host and national correspondent for the NFL Network since 2009. She also serves as a color analyst for Fox Sports' women's college basketball coverage.
Kalsu, from Del City, Okla., starred on the gridiron as an offensive lineman from 1965-67. Playing for three head coaches in his three seasons (Gomer Jones in 1965, Jim Mackenzie in 1966 and Chuck Fairbanks in 1967), Kalsu earned All-Big Eight and All-America honors as a tackle in 1967 when the Sooners went 10-1 overall, 7-0 in the Big Eight (earned OU's first conference title in five years) and beat No. 2 Tennessee 26-24 in the Orange Bowl to finish No. 3 in the AP poll.
Selected in the eighth round (199th overall) by Buffalo in the 1968 NFL Draft, Kalsu played the 1968 season with the Bills and was named the team's rookie of the year. Also a member of the Army ROTC, he was called in 1969 to serve in the Vietnam War and was killed in combat July 21, 1970, at the age of 25. Among the 58,220 Americans who died in the Vietnam War, Kalsu was the only active professional athlete.
In 1978, the Bills presented the Pro Football Hall of Fame with a plaque honoring Kalsu. The plaque reads, "No one will ever know how great a football player Bob might have been, but we do know how great a man he was to give up his life for his country."
Kalsu was survived by his wife, Jan, and daughter, Jill. Two days after Kalsu's death, Jan gave birth to a son, Bob Jr.
