Saturday was a day of double honors for Adair, Oklahoma native, Kevi Luper, as she was both inducted into the Oral Roberts University Athletic Hall of Fame and had her uniform number retired.

Luper, a former guard on the ORU women’s basketball team (2009-13), is the all-time leading scorer in school history with 2,867 points. This puts her 14th on the NCAA all-time scoring list. She also set a school with 463 steals, placing her 6th in NCAA history. Luper was named AP All-American in 2010 and 2011, and was a three-time Summit League Player of the Year. She also led the nation in scoring and steals in the same season, the first NCAA female player to ever accomplish that.

Luper’s framed No. 15 uniform was unveiled in the Mabee Center rafters during a ceremony at halftime of the ORU women’s game against South Dakota State Saturday afternoon. That evening, Luper and three other former ORU athletes were inducted into the Hall of Fame at halftime of the men’s game against Purdue Fort Wayne.

Joining Luper in the ORU Hall of Fame were former baseball players Alex “Chi Chi” Gonzalez (2011-13), Buddy Slemp (1975-78), and track and field star Jack Whitt (2009-13).

Gonzalez was named Pitcher of the Year one season in the Summit League and once in the Southland Conference, he was also named to the 2013 Perfect Game Second Team All-American squad. In 2013, Gonzalez finished second in the NCAA with 126 strikeouts and was drafted in the first round by the Texas Rangers. He was the highest draft pick out of ORU (23rd overall) since Mike Moore went first overall in 1981. Gonzalez was also the first ORU player taken in the first round since Bob Zupcic was drafted in 1987. He was named the Rangers’ minor league Pitcher of the Year in 2015.

Gonzalez was called up to the Rangers for the first time on May 30, 2015 and made his Major League debut that day. He faced the Boston Red Sox and began the game pitching 5 2/3 innings without surrendering a hit. It was the longest no-hit stretch to begin a career for a Rangers pitcher since 1992. On June 5, 2015, Gonzalez threw a complete game shutout against the Kansas City Royals. It was his first career complete game.

Gonzalez was diagnosed with a partial tear to the UCL in spring training of 2017, and underwent Tommy John surgery, causing him to miss the entire 2017 and 2018 seasons. This winter, he elected free agency and signed a minor league contract with the Colorado Rockies.

Slemp led ORU with a .387 batting average in 1978, and helped the team earn a berth in the NCAA College World Series, where he scored four runs in three games. He led ORU in runs scored in 1976 (49) and 1978 (74), and in hits in 1978 (82). Slemp was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 32nd round in 1978.

Whitt, a seven-time All-American, finished fifth at the U.S. National Championships in 2010, and became the youngest champion at the Reno Pole Vault Summit in 2011. Whitt was ranked 7th in the US and 27th in the world at just 21 years old in 2011, and 6th in the nation in 2012. He won the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championship in the pole vault, ORU’s third NCAA National Championship, and was named an alternate for Team USA at the 2012 Olympics.