By: Alvin Hollins
FAMU Sports Administration
The Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Sports Hall of Fame enshrined its 40th class into the ranks of Rattler immortals during induction ceremonies on Friday, Sept. 25 at the Al Lawson Multipurpose Center and Teaching Gymnasium.
Founded by the late Hansel E. “Tootie” Tookes in 1976, the FAMU Sports Hall of Fame has some of the most notable names in American sports in its ranks: luminaries such as tennis pioneer Althea Gibson; College Football Hall of Famers Willie Galimore and Tyrone McGriff: coaches A.S. “Jake” Gaither and William “Billy” Joe; Pro Football Hall of Famer Robert “Bob” Hayes; and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Andre Dawson.
More than 400 persons attended the Friday evening affair, which opened with a “Red Carpet Parade of Rattler Legends,” recognizing current Hall of Famers during their walk into the arena.
This year’s “Magnificent Seven” class featured sharpshooting basketball performer John Andrews (1970–74), a two-time All-Conference pick, who averaged 17.8 points per game in his career; track and field All-American Kenneth “Kenny T” Thompson (1971–74), who ran on record-setting relay teams with Olympian Rey Robinson; football and track phenom Howard Huckaby (1985–89), one of the school’s greatest two-sport athletes, who set national records for punt and kick returns while helping lead the FAMU track team to a pair of conference titles as a sprinter; football All-Americans center Wally Williams (1989–92), who played 10 seasons in the NFL; and record-setting punter Vaughn Wilson (1985–88). Also current head athletic trainer Akima A. Dina (since 1994) and the late Latricia Allen Ledet, a Rattler cheerleader who was a founding member of the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars cheering squad (1995–98), were featured as supporters of athletics.
The Hall of Fame Weekend continued on Saturday, Sept. 26, with the annual President’s Breakfast, hosted by FAMU President Elmira Mangum, Ph.D., and the Hall of Fame steering committee, at the Hansel Tookes Recreation Center.
More than 100 former athletes, coaches, and athletic boosters were on hand for the event, which featured reflections from former athletic greats, and the presentation of two financial gifts to the University totaling $9,500 dollars: $8,500 from Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. in honor of Latricia Ledet, and $1,000 from the family of Hall of Fame baseball player Robert Jackson Jr.
The seven honorees were recognized during pre-game ceremonies in advance of the FAMU-Tennessee State game, before 18,020 fans at Bragg Memorial Stadium.