Baylor to Honor Distinguished Alumni Jan. 21

The Baylor Alumni Association will honor four graduates during its annual Distinguished Alumni Banquet at 7 p.m. Jan. 21 in the Barfield Drawing Room of the Bill Daniel Student Center.
This year's honorees are Hall of Fame linebacker Mike Singletary, Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr., author and philosopher Robert Fulghum, and chief executive officer of Pearson plc, Margorie M. Scardino.
This award recognizes alumni who have excelled in their field and in their communities following graduation.
Singletary was recruited by Baylor's then-head football coach Grant Teaff in 1976. Singletary earned All-America honors three times and was named All-Southwest Conference four times. He twice won the Davey O'Brien Award as the best football player in the Southwestern United States and continues to hold numerous Baylor records including most tackles in a game (33), season (232) and career (662). Singletary was drafted in 1981 by the Chicago Bears in the second round of the NFL draft. He went on to earn 10 consecutive trips to the Pro Bowl and a Super Bowl championship during his 13 seasons. In 1996 Singletary was inducted into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame. He now appears 60 to 80 times a year as a motivational speaker at churches, universities and corporate conventions.
Sloan became president and chief executive officer of Baylor in 1995. Before coming to Baylor, Sloan taught at Hardin-Simmons University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and George W. Truett Theological Seminary. Prior to becoming president, he served as dean of the George W. Truett Theological Seminary for two years. Sloan has served as pastor and interim pastor for several churches in Texas, Oklahoma, New Jersey and Germany, and has published numerous theological articles.

Fulghum has published seven best-selling books including All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Words I Wish I Wrote and From Beginning to End. He has performed in two television adaptations of his work for the Public Broadcasting System and has been a guest speaker at numerous public events across the country. Fulghum currently has more than 15 million copies of his books in print in 93 countries around the world.
Scardino is chief executive officer for Pearson plc, an international media group whose primary business operations include Pearson Education, the Financial Times Group, the Penguin Group, Pearson Television and a 50-percent stake in The Economist magazine. She was ranked seventh on Fortune's "50 Most Powerful Women" in 1999. Scardino is on the board of directors of ConAgra Inc., America Online Inc., and a number of charitable organizations. Prior to 1985, she was managing partner in a Savannah, Ga., law firm and publisher and founder, with her husband, of the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper The Georgia Gazette.
For more information, call the Baylor Alumni Association at 710-1121.