Country star’s crush leads to appearance at Baylor by Lady Bears’ newest fan

About 30 years ago, Trace Adkins — then a freshman walk-on football player at Louisiana Tech — developed a crush on his school’s all-American senior point guard, a scrappy young lady from Hammond, La. But he never got up the nerve to approach her, and eventually they went their separate ways.

Adkins became a country music star, charting more than 20 singles and recording three number-one hits. That little point guard, you may have guessed, is Kim Mulkey, now head coach of the Baylor Lady Bears. Over the past year, Adkins has mentioned his crush on Mulkey at several concerts in his introduction to one song.

[WATCH: Adkins talk about Mulkey at a concert last spring || A recap of Adkins’ visit to Baylor]

One thing led to another and the two have reconnected, leading Adkins to come to Waco and perform the national anthem before Saturday’s game vs. Texas A&M. The record-tying crowd of 10,627 got two shows for the price of one, enjoying Adkins’ excellent rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before watching the Lady Bears pound A&M 71-48 and send the Aggies back to College Station for the final time having lost nine of their last 10 games to Baylor.

Adkins said after the game that he hopes to catch the Lady Bears again at the Big 12 Tournament next month in Kansas City.

Sic ’em, Trace!