(This is the eighth part in a series profiling the 2020 and 2021 inductees for the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame and Wall of Honor. The features will be posted at baylorbears.com in the weeks leading up to the Oct. 29 induction ceremony. Also, listen for Hall of Fame interviews with "Voice of the Bears" John Morris on ESPN Central Texas each Thursday afternoon from 2-3 p.m.)
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
When Baylor assistant coach Billy Mills walked into Andrew Melontree's house in Tyler, Texas, the defensive end prospect started crying. But, through the tears, he managed to get out, "What took you so long?"
Fulfilling a lifelong dream, Melontree parlayed his All-America honors at Tyler Junior College into a scholarship offer to play football at Baylor.
Mills had actually scouted a Navarro College game to recruit a player from the NJCAA national championship team, but was mesmerized by a 6-3, 195-pound defensive lineman that "took them apart."
"He told me, 'I wasn't even going to look at you,''' Melontree said. "That's the story of my life. Nobody ever watched me because of my size."
That lack of size – he never weighed more than 214 pounds in his two seasons at Baylor – didn't keep Melontree from earning consensus All-Southwest Conference honors as a senior and adding Defensive MVP honors at the 1979 Peach Bowl.
And it took a while – 41 years, to be exact – but it didn't keep him from earning his spot in the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the 2020 class with fellow football players Jason Smith and Brad Goebel, tennis All-Americans Lars Poerschke and Lenka Broosova, volleyball's Anna Breyfogle and three-time All-Americans Brette Reagan from softball and Todd Cooper from track & field.
While he certainly could have asked again, "What took you so long?" Melontree said he never wanted to make any waves.
"I always felt like I deserved to be in it, without saying anything to anyone," he said. "You go down and crunch all the numbers, Andrew Melontree should be in there. But, it doesn't matter whether it was five, 10, 15 or 100 years, I'm just thankful and appreciative that I'm finally getting in there. When I was there (at Baylor), I applied myself, gave it everything I had, and I was satisfied with that."
Growing up in Marlin, a short half-hour drive from the Baylor campus, Andrew Melontree Sr. had dreamed of going to school there, "but the finances were just not there," his son said.
"My father lived a wonderful life, and Baylor was part of that life," Andrew Jr. said. "He was extremely envious – not jealous, because my father knew he had the mental capacity to attend Baylor. His goal in life was to attend Baylor, but that did not happen. It didn't come to fruition."
Instead, Andrew Sr. graduated from Texas College in 1952 with a degree in biology, went back to school to earn a law degree from Texas Southern and became the first African American to serve as a commissioner in Smith County. He passed away in the summer of 2020 at the age of 89.
While he missed seeing his son inducted in the Baylor Hall of Fame, "we talked in great detail about it," his son said.
"He told me, 'Son, the way I saw you sliced in there, the way I saw you hit those big guys when you had no business tackling anybody . . . you were so little. I'm happy for you, son."
When Andrew Jr. decided he was going to Baylor at an early age, his father thought he was joking and asked him: "How are you going to get there, son?"
Confident of his athletic ability, Andrew Jr. replied, "Daddy, I might not be as smart as you, but I can run faster and I can jump higher than you."
It just took a while for Baylor to notice.
As a high school sophomore, Andrew was part of Tyler John Tyler's 1973 state championship team that included Heisman Trophy winner Earl Campbell, his twin brothers, Steve and Earl Campbell, and Baylor Hall of Famers Ronnie Lee and Gary Don Johnson.
"When I got promoted to varsity my first year, I went and told my dad, 'I can't play on that varsity, those guys have beards,''' he said. "I was on the Ronnie Lee, take-your-beating program for a year. After taking those beatings in practice, the games were easy. I didn't make anything my junior year. But, the year after he left, I was all-state, Most Valuable Player of the team and East Texas Defensive Player of the year."
That still wasn't enough for Baylor, though. Offers came from SMU, TCU, Texas Tech, Rice and Houston, among others, but "there was never another school, in my heart," he said. Determined to end up at Baylor, he went to Tyler Junior College and was a two-time all-conference pick, earning honorable mention All-America honors as a sophomore.
"My hunger to go to Baylor was because my father always talked about Baylor and life after Baylor," Andrew said. "He told me, 'Andrew, when you fill out that resume and you put down that you're a graduate of Baylor University, the world opens up to you.' At that point, it's not about football, it's about life.''
Bouncing back from a disappointing 3-8 season in 1978, the Bears rode a dominant defense to an 8-4 finish the next year and a 24-18 Peach Bowl win over Clemson. The 1979 defense included NFL and College Football Hall of Famer Mike Singletary, along with eight other future NFL Draft picks.
"Everybody on that defense was somebody," Melontree said. "Mike Singletary was the spearhead . . . somebody had to be the doorknob. And he was a great player. But, we had Doak Field, who was basically the field general. I'll be indebted to him for the rest of my life when it comes to football, because he was the guy calling me to rush the passer four straight times.
"We ran a pro-style 4-3 defense that not a lot of other schools were running because they didn't have the personnel. We had fast guys, but we had smart guys. I found out how much smart counts when I went to the USFL and played for George Allen. He didn't want that football player that could lift a car, he wanted the guys who could put the car together."
Still bothered by the previous recruiting snub, Melontree said he didn't talk to Baylor defensive coordinator and former John Tyler head coach Corky Nelson for almost two years.
But, when Nelson pulled him aside after the Peach Bowl victory, he told him, "Tree, I really didn't think you could play. I'm glad I was wrong."
"He told me if I didn't make it in the pros, I could come back to Baylor and I'd have a job," Melontree said. "It was in God's hands, but it all worked out for me."
Drafted in the sixth round by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1980, Melontree played parts of two seasons in the NFL and three years in the USFL with the Chicago Blitz, Arizona Wranglers and Los Angeles Express.
When the USFL folded after the 1985 season, Melontree said, "I knew that was it."
"I got offers from the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots, but when the light goes out, it's time to go," he said. "I was somebody in the USFL. If one team didn't want me, I didn't worry about it, because I was back in my Baylor groove."
Part of his salary with the USFL paid for the remainder of his college education, with Melontree finishing his degree at Texas College in 1984. Andrew and his wife Marvis, have been married 36 years and have a daughter named, Andrea, who teaches in Tyler; and a son, Andrew III, who is a stock broker in Houston
Named to Baylor's All-Decade Team for the 1970s, Andrew Jr. has worked for Goodyear Tire and Rubber in Lawton, Okla., for 32 years.
This year's Hall of Fame banquet and induction ceremony will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29, in the Brazos Room at the Waco Convention Center and will honor the 2020 and 2021 classes.
Banquet tickets cost $50 per person, with table sponsorships also available for $600 (green) and $800 (gold), and can be purchased by contacting the "B" Association at 254-710-3045 or by email at
Tammy_Hardin@baylor.edu.
NEXT UP
Thursday, Sept. 23: Dr. Michael Attas, football (2020 Class, Wall of Honor)
