Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2023 population of 144,816, making it the 24th-most populous city in the state. The Waco metropolitan statistical area consists of McLennan, Falls and Bosque counties, which had a 2020 population of 295,782. Bosque County was added to the Waco MSA in 2023. The 2023 U.S. census population estimate for the Waco metropolitan area was 304,865 residents.
Michael Singletary, nicknamed "Samurai Mike", is an American former football player and coach. He played as a linebacker for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). After playing college football for the Baylor Bears, Singletary was selected by the Bears in the second round of the 1981 NFL draft and was known as "the Heart of the Defense" for their Monsters of the Midway defense in the mid-1980s. He was part of their Super Bowl XX championship team that beat the New England Patriots. Singletary was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1995 and into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1998.
Kliff Timothy Kingsbury is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the offensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Texas Tech, finishing in the top three in several school passing records before being selected in the sixth round of the 2003 NFL draft by the New England Patriots. He later played for other teams before entering coaching in 2008.
Guy Walker Morriss was an American football coach and player. He served as the head football coach at the University of Kentucky for two seasons (2001–2002) and at Baylor University for five seasons (2003–2007).
O.H. Cooper High School is a public high school located in Abilene, Texas. It opened in 1960, in part to handle the increase in school age youth resulting from the Post World War II Baby Boom. It is one of three 4-year high schools within Abilene Independent School District.
Arthur Ray Briles is an American football coach who is currently the head coach for the Guelfi Firenze in the Italian Football League. Briles was the head coach of the Houston Cougars from 2002 to 2007 and the Baylor Bears from 2008 to 2015. His college coaching career ended with his dismissal from the team in 2015 as a result of the Baylor University sexual assault scandal. He is the author of Beating Goliath: My Story of Football and Faith (2014). He is the subject of a biography written by Nick Eatman titled Looking Up: My Journey from Tragedy to Triumph (2013).
Grant Garland Teaff is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at McMurry University (1960–1965), Angelo State University (1969–1971), and Baylor University (1972–1992), compiling a career college football record of 170–151–8. In his 21 seasons as head coach of the Baylor Bears football team, Teaff's teams won two Southwest Conference titles and appeared in eight bowl games. His 128 wins are the most of any coach in the history of the program. Teaff was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2001.
Robert Lee Griffin III, nicknamed RGIII or RG3, is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons, most notably with the Washington Redskins. He played college football for the Baylor Bears, winning the Heisman Trophy as a senior, and was selected second overall by the Redskins in the 2012 NFL draft.
John Lee Hancock Jr. is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the sports drama films The Rookie (2002) and The Blind Side (2009), the historical drama films The Alamo (2004), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), The Founder (2016) and The Highwaymen (2019), the crime thriller film The Little Things (2021), and the horror film Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022).
Jonathan Donald Weeks is an American football long snapper for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the Texans as an undrafted free agent in 2010. He played college football for the Baylor Bears.
Mickey Sullivan was the head baseball coach at Baylor from 1974 to 1994.
Stephen Carr Smith is an American baseball coach and former pitcher. He was a pitching coordinator for the Detroit Tigers. He played college baseball at Baylor University from 1982 to 1983. He was the head coach at Baylor (1995–2015) and Tennessee Tech (2020–2021).
Matthew Kenneth Rhule is an American college football coach and former linebacker. He is the head football coach for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, a position he has held since 2023. He was also the head football coach for Temple University from 2013 to 2016, Baylor University from 2017 to 2019, and the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). Rhule played linebacker at Penn State from 1994 to 1997.
David Christopher Aranda is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at Baylor University, a position he has held since 2020. He previously served as the defensive coordinator at LSU, Wisconsin, Utah State, Hawaii, Delta State, and Cal Lutheran.
The 2019 Baylor Bears football team represented Baylor University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bears played their home games at the McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas, and competed in the Big 12 Conference. They were led by Matt Rhule in his third and final season as the program's head coach.
Devin Duvernay is an American football wide receiver and return specialist for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Texas and was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the third round of the 2020 NFL draft. Duvernay has earned Pro Bowl honors twice and was a First-team All-Pro in 2021 for his play as a return specialist.
Denzel Mims is an American football wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Baylor. He was selected by the New York Jets in the second-round of the 2020 NFL draft.
The 2021 Big 12 Championship Game was a college football game played on December 4, 2021, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It was the 20th edition of the Big 12 Championship Game, and determined the champion of the Big 12 Conference for the 2021 season. The game began at 11:00 a.m. CST and aired on ABC. The game featured the conference's regular season champions, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, and the runners-up, the Baylor Bears. Sponsored by soft drink company Keurig Dr Pepper through its flagship Dr Pepper brand, the game was officially known as the Dr Pepper Big 12 Championship Game.
Jalen Pitre is an American football safety for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Baylor and in 2021, he was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and a consensus All-American.
Riq Woolen is an American football cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at UTSA and was drafted by the Seahawks in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL draft. Woolen made the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 2022.
