Louisiana Hall of Fame amounts to home for inductees
The recurring theme of Saturday’s Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame induction wasn’t hard to find, and it means more to this year’s group than to any of the previous 49-inductee classes.
Several of the eight honored Saturday night with the state’s highest sports honor spoke of home, whether it be coming home for the award or being honored by the state they call home. This year, for the first time, the eight inductees know that they will have a permanent home in the not-too-distant future.
The capacity crowd of over 600 at the Natchitoches Events Center celebrated the induction of basketball standout Karl Malone, football greats Leonard Marshall and Aeneas Williams, baseball star Darryl Hamilton, coaches Jelly Pigott and Gayle Hatch, golfer Barbara Faye White and high school commissioner Tommy Henry during the banquet that culminated three days of Hall activities.
“Anytime you come home, you always know you’re going to get a good meal,” said Williams, a New Orleans native who played 13 NFL seasons and was an eight-time All-Pro. “But you get a lot more than that. It’s so humbling that people thought enough of what I did to do something like this.”
Williams carried on the home theme when he had his father Lawrence present him for induction, a first in Hall history. Shortly after, Marshall was presented by his wife and daughters, another Hall first.
“All this comes back to home,” said Marshall, the Franklin native who was twice named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year while with the New York Giants. “To get into Canton, would be one thing. But to be honored and respected by the people at home, there’s nothing better.”
White, who passed away in 2004, chose home over a professional golf career. The former U.S. Amateur champion and two-time Curtis Cup team winner went into golf course management rather than pursue the LPGA after a storied amateur career.
“You heard the stories of her golf career,” said son Peyton Boddie, who accepted on behalf of her family. “But raising three kids was her biggest task. She goes down as a great golfer, but this award is topped by the Hall of Fame effort in raising us.”
Pigott raised two generations of girls’ basketball teams at Jena, where she averaged 35 wins a year and won six state titles. More than two dozen former Jena Lady Giants were on hand Saturday to honor the late coach, with Donna Hawthorne Seale accepting the honor on Piggot’s behalf.
“Here we are, 38 years since her final coaching season and 20 years since her passing, and this group carries on with a part of her,” Seale said. “This group carries on the tenaciousness, compassion and teamwork that she instilled in us.”
While Pigott was a mother figure to her teams, Malone credited his mother for all of the accomplishments in his Hall of Fame basketball career at La. Tech and in the NBA.
Henry, who served 24 years as LHSAA commissioner, was introduced by former coach and state representative Billy Montgomery.
“A dean at Northwestern one we had several meetings with once said we’d never amount to anything,” Henry said. “I guess he was right. Billy went on to be a state legislator, and I’m unemployed.”
Both made an impact on Louisiana, as did all of the inductees. Williams, Marshall and Hamilton now live elsewhere, while Henry, Hatch and Malone reside in the state.
“There just isn’t any great place to live and grow up than Louisiana,” said long-time LSU coach and previous Hall of Fame inductee Dale Brown, who introduced both Hatch and nationally-known orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews, the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award winner.
“We’re so fortunate to be here and have people like Gayle Hatch here. He is absolutely the John Wooden of weight coaches in this country.”
Andrews was joined in the special award category by Ed McHale and R.L. Stockard, honored with the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism.
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