T.C. Dean (2020) - Hall of Fame - Grand Canyon University Athletics

T.C. Dean

Induction:
2020
Class:
1959

When T.C. Dean became the first African American graduate at Grand Canyon in 1959, he laughed instead of crying at the commencement ceremony because of how seemingly impossible it was for him to attend college after growing up in segregated Phoenix in the early 1950s.

Five decades after graduating from Grand Canyon, Dean was brought to tears when he was inducted into the GCU Alumni Hall of Fame on March 6, 2020.

With the ceremony's only standing ovation at GCU Arena Hall, Dean was immortalized for being the University's first African American graduate, a record-setting Lopes basketball player and an Education graduate who became a teacher and administrator in Phoenix schools for 50 years.

"It was a long journey and no one knew here knew what I had to go through to get to where I am," Dean said after receiving the honor from GCU Interim Vice President of Athletics Jamie Boggs. "To God be the glory."

Dean, by virtue of Lopes coaching legend Dave Brazell recruiting him, paved the way for generation of African American scholars when he made the most of his opportunity in the classroom and on the court.

Dean's single mother cleaned homes and lived in the housing project to give Dean a chance that he seized. Dean played a season for Phoenix College, helping the Bears to a national fifth-place finish, before Brazell visited the Matthew Henson Public Housing Project to offer Dean a scholarship at Grand Canyon.

Dean lived 7 miles away but became a staple of the campus, whose students voted him as "Campus Favorite" for his senior year.

"A big, tall fellow with an easy, friendly smile, whose basketball handling made him a key man on the Antelope team – that's T.C. Dean," a full-page yearbook tribute read. "Big T's special ability, coupled with the good nature that makes him so well liked by everyone, will serve him well as he leaves Grand Canyon College."

Dean averaged 19.6 points and 13.8 rebounds as a sophomore, set a still-standing program record with 20.1 rebounds per game as a junior and used his senior season to lead the team with 18.3 points and 17.1 rebounds per game for the only undefeated season by an Arizona four-year college in the past 75 years.

Dean worked in the Phoenix Elementary School District, becoming the assistant principal for his former boyhood teachers, and has been dedicated to South Phoenix youth through work in his church and the community. He and his wife, Betty Jean, raised six children and he remains in the West Phoenix community and keeps a front-row seat at GCU basketball games.

After receiving his plaque, Dean acknowledged the large throng of supporters and was joined on stage by his daughter, Sherilyn, his church pastor and his physical therapist, Steve Haynes, who funded a GCU scholarship in Dean's name.

"He's a very familiar face to us who spends a lot of time here at the Arena," Boggs said. "He's also a treasured member of the Athletics family."

The GCU Alumni Hall of Fame class also included Pete Gorraiz, who recorded the first hit in Lopes baseball history and also had an accomplished career in education in Phoenix. The other inductees were Rex Collins, Rick Calcutt, Theresa Killingsworth, Shor Denny and Alicia Shields.