The San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame on Dec. 13 announced four class of 2022 inductees: former WNBA San Antonio Silver Stars all-star and NCAA champion Sophia Young-Malcolm, 12-year NFL veteran Ndukwe Dike “N.D.” Kalu, high school football coach George Pasterchick and Baylor University track All-American Natalie Nalepa Linam.
The new inductees, who will be honored in a black-tie event April 23 at Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, were part of or represented in a news conference at the Alamodome alongside Mayor Ron Nirenberg and officials from sponsor organization San Antonio Sports.
Young-Malcolm was a two-time All-American at Baylor University and helped lead the team to its first national championship in 2005, according to a release.
Young-Malcolm still ranks fourth all-time in scoring, fifth in field goal percentage and second in rebounds. She was the fourth pick in the 2006 WNBA draft by the San Antonio Silver Stars where she played for nine years.
Young-Malcolm averaged 14.3 points and six rebounds per game and was named to the Western Conference WNBA All-Star team three times. She totaled 4,300 career points and 1,807 rebounds in a career that spanned from 2006-15 and resulted in a selection to the San Antonio Stars' All-Decade Team. She also was a 2021 inductee into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
“I am so honored,” Young-Malcolm said at the induction announcement. “To be able to have all of these accolades and awards is a dream come true.”
Kalu is a graduate of Marshall High School and Rice University who was a defensive end drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1997. He also played for the Washington Football Team before finishing his NFL career with the Houston Texans in 2008. Kalu left Rice as its all-time sacks leader and still ranks third. He still holds Marshall’s high jump record at 7 feet.
“Everywhere I went, I tried to represent San Antonio. I grew up here my entire life,” Kalu said.
Pasterchick spent most of his coaching career at St. Gerard Catholic School where his teams won eight district titles and the Texas Christian Interscholastic League state championship in 1985.
He also coached San Antonio Toros and San Antonio Charros, both of which were active in minor league football in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.
For more than 30 years, Pasterchick coached the annual San Antonio high school all-star football game, and the trophy is named in his honor. He died in 2012 at age 82.
Pasterchick’s children Steve Pasterchick and Georgia Bartlett represented their father at the induction announcement.
“My father, he’s thrilled right now with the opportunity that [San Antonio Sports CEO/President] Russ Bookbinder and San Antonio Sports have given him to be part of such an elite group,” Steve Pasterchick said.
Nalepa Linam is a Madison High School alumna who set records at Baylor in cross country, indoor and outdoor track. She was a five-time NCAA All-American and in 1991 won five Southwest Conference championships in the indoor 1-mile run, indoor 3,000-meter run, and outdoor 1,500-, 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs. She is Baylor’s first three-sport All-American.
At Madison, Nalepa won the 3,200-meter UIL state championship. She is a 2002 Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, a 2017 Southwest Conference Hall of Fame inductee and a 1995 Texas Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
“There are so many phenomenal athletes in this city, and to be nominated as one of them is such a humbling honor,” Nalepa Linam said.
For more information about the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame and the April 23 induction event, visit http://sanantoniosports.org. Proceeds from the Hall of Fame event will benefit San Antonio Sports’ youth programs.
