Topic: News: Gayle Hatch Inducted in to Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Gayle Hatch Inducted in to Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame

Basketball great Karl Malone, football Pro Bowl stars Leonard Marshall and Aeneas Williams, and former state high school sports commissioner Tommy Henry are among the eight members of the 2008 induction class for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame as selected by an elite panel of state sports media.

2004 USA Olympic weightlifting coach Gayle Hatch, 13-year major league baseball standout Darryl Hamilton, legendary Jena High school girls basketball coach Geraldine "Jelly" Piggott and women's golf great Barbara Fay White Boddie are also among the 2008 induction class. Boddie and Piggott will be enshrined posthumously.

Voting was done by a 30-member committee under the auspices of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, the parent organization of the Hall of Fame. Media from around the state considered 131 nominees from 21 different sports categories and were limited to eight inductees by LSWA rules governing selection since the Hall was established in 1958.

The 2008 Induction Celebration is June 19-21 in Natchitoches, home since 1972 to the Hall of Fame and the site for the soon-to-begin construction of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame museum. The induction celebration begins with a Thursday afternoon press conference and kickoff reception and includes community outreach activities, a free kids sports clinic on Saturday morning, a Friday afternoon golf scramble, two more receptions open free to the public, and the Saturday evening induction dinner and ceremonies at the Natchitoches Events Center.

Tickets will go on sale in April, said Hall of Fame executive director Doug Ireland.

Malone, a native of Summerfield in Claiborne Parish just south of the Louisiana-Arkansas border, became an All-America basketball star at Louisiana Tech. He ranks among the game's all-time greats after 13 NBA All-Star selections in 19 pro seasons, ranking as the second-leading scorer (36,928 points) and sixth-best rebounder (14,968) in NBA history with career averages of 25.0 points and 10.1 rebounds.

"The Mailman" was a member of the Olympic gold-medal 1992 USA "Dream Team." The muscular 6-foot-9, 250-pounder averaged at least 20 points per game in 17 NBA seasons, including a career-best 31.0 in 1989-90. He was named the league's Most Valuable Player in 1996-97 and 1998-99, and was twice the All-Star Game MVP.

Williams, a New Orleans native and Southern University football standout, emerged as one of the NFL's top cornerbacks during 14 pro seasons (1991-2004). He was an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and a four-time All-Pro pick, playing in 211 career regular-season games with 55 career interceptions and earning a spot on the NFL Team of the 1990s.

He returned nine interceptions for touchdowns, tying him for second in NFL history, and also returned three fumbles for scores among his 23 career recoveries. A walk-on at Southern, Williams had 18 interceptions in his final two seasons, leading the nation's Division I-AA ranks with 11 as a senior in 1990.

Marshall, a Franklin product, was a standout defensive end at LSU from 1979-82 who made two Pro Bowl appearances in a 12-year NFL career, playing all but the last two seasons with the New York Giants. He helped the Bill Parcells-coached team win two Super Bowls (XXI, XXV).

A second-round NFL Draft selection in 1983, Marshall played in 177 games and had 83 ½ career sacks, two interceptions and two safeties. Making the Pro Bowl in 1986 and 1987, he was also regarded as a stout defender against the run as the Giants ranked in the NFL's top 10 in total defense seven times and in the top five vs. the run five times in his career.

Henry, an Alexandria native, guided the Louisiana High School Athletic Association for 24 years until his retirement in 2007 and is recognized as one of the nation's more progressive prep athletic commissioners. He operated the Superdome Classic football championships since his first year as commissioner, steered the LHSAA into a self-sufficent legislative organization on solid financial footing thanks largely to sponsorships obtained by Henry, and overseen state prep competition during the rapid development of girls sports.

Hatch, from Baton Rouge, was a basketball star at Northwestern State who became one of the nation's preeminent experts in strength and conditioning training. One of the inaugural inductees in the USA Strength and Conditioning Coaches Hall of Fame in 2003, Hatch has also been recognized by the NFL and the Smithsonian National Museum for his significant role, with his philosophies utilized by national champion college football programs at LSU and Tennessee while helping develop 43 national champion lifters.

Also a Baton Rouge native, Hamilton was a speedy, left-handed hitting outfielder who emerged as a slugging and base stealing machine at Nicholls State before 13 major league seasons. In 1,328 big league games with Milwaukee, Texas, San Francisco, Colorado and the New York Mets, he posted a career .291 batting average and 163 stolen bases, including 41 in 1992. He works in MLB's Commissioners Office today.

Boddie, a Shreveport product, was one of America's top female amateur golfers in the 1960s, sparkling in international competition. She was a three-time Curtis Cup selection and twice played for the USA team in the World Amateur, finishing second individually in 1966 to lead America to the team title. Boddie is one of 10 players to go 4-0 during a Curtis Cup competition, also accomplishing that feat in 1966.

Piggott coached girls basketball at Dry Prong, Selma, Greensburg and achieved her greatest prominence at Jena. With the Lady Giants, she coached from 1952 until the mid-1970s, averaging 35 wins a season and losing no more than five games in any season. In 34 years of coaching, her teams never had a losing season while capturing 29 district championships, six state titles and three state runner-up finishes. Although precise records are not available, she is believed to have won more than 900 games, and she was the second girls basketball coach inducted in the Louisiana High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame (in 1980) behind Edna Tarbutton, who already is in the Louisana Sports Hall of Fame.

The 2008 induction class will raise to 260 the number of state sports greats enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Recipients of the LSWA's Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism, the equivalent of Hall of Fame membership for sports media members, will be announced in early 2008, along with the winner of the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award given to a renowned sports administrator.