Albert “Junior” Lee of Cross Plains was an NAIA All-American in cross country as a freshman and voted outstanding track man in 1970 and 1971. He was recruited by legendary Howard Payne track coach J.H. “Cap” Shelton after breaking the state mile record in high school. As a senior in 1971, Lee was the Border Olympics’ most valuable performer, winning the mile, 880-yard run, pole vault and finishing second in the three-mile run. He also won the George P. Ivy Fighting Jacket Award and was named outstanding male physical education major. After graduation in 1971, he worked as a teacher and coach in San Angelo for several years and then at the Comanche Peak nuclear plant in Glen Rose. He continued to compete in running events and was a frequent master’s winner at races in Texas. Lee said he patterned himself after Olympic miler Frank Shorter, and beat Shorter in a 5K event in Fort Worth in 1994 at the age of 46.