NATCHITOCHES – Graduate N Club Hall of Fame distance runner Maryalyce Walsh Cox will be recognized as the Exchange Bank Demon Great of the Game as the Demons' football team plays host to Sam Houston State Saturday afternoon at Turpin Stadium.  
 
Cox will be recognized during a timeout in the first quarter of Saturday's 3 p.m. game. She was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2013 after a remarkable career as a cross country and track and field competitor from 1991-95.
 
A magna cum laude graduate who is now an attorney, Walsh Cox still holds school records in the 3000 (10:22.16), 5000 (17:45.86) and 10,000 (37:05.93) during her track and field career. The Humble, Texas, native is the first and only Lady Demon to reach the USA Cross Country Championships, finishing third in the 1991 junior nationals at Boston.
 
She is the first athlete from a sport other than football to receive the Great of the Game recognition in the two-year history of the feature at every NSU home football game.

Pro Football Hall of Fame member Jackie Smith, who helped the 1962 Demons win the Gulf States Conference championship, and College Football Hall of Fame inductee Gary Reasons, a three-time All-America linebacker from 1981-83, were the first two Exchange Bank Demon Greats of the Game this season. They were recognized at NSU's first home game Aug. 28.  All-America defensive end John Kulakowski, a Graduate N Club Hall of Fame member who won All-America honors in 1987, was recognized as the Great of the Game last Saturday at homecoming.
 
The Demon Great of the Game, presented by Exchange Bank and Trust of Natchitoches, spotlights some of the most outstanding performers in the 107-year history of NSU football. Exchange Bank has been a key supporter of NSU Athletics throughout its long history as the oldest financial institution in Natchitoches.