The Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame today announced the names of ten inductees to be enshrined at its annual banquet on Saturday, May 19, 2012, at the Renaissance Hotel in Nashville.
It is with a great deal of pleasure that I am announcing the 2012 Class of Inductees for the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame said Bill Emendorfer, president of the state-wide sports organization. “This year we have one of the most diverse classes of all time. It is not a typical class dominated by football players and basketball players but this year we have professionals from NASCAR, fishing, tennis and golf. Plus we have a true American War hero who has a Tennessee football background. This is truly a unique class.” For additional information please contact the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame @ 615-242-4750, email lpowell@tshf.net or go online www.tshf.net. The class is composed of the following distinguished Tennesseans:
Rick Insell
Coach Insell, a 1977 graduate of Middle Tennessee, built a dynasty at Shelbyville High School, where he guided the Golden Eaglettes to a record 10 TSSAA Class AAA state championships and two USA Today National Championships (1989, 1991) as he compiled a sparkling 775-148 worksheet during his 28-year tenure. Insell was named USA Today National High School Coach of the Year in 1989 and 1991 and he also has been named Converse National High School Coach of the Year on two occasions (1990, 1992). Rick Insell is currently the Women’s Head Basketball Coach of the MTSU Blue Raiders where he coached them to their third consecutive tournament title.
Insell’s teams holds the Tennessee state records for consecutive wins with 110, consecutive state titles with four (1989-1992), most state championships for a coach with 10. During his time in Shelbyville he made sure his players get the job done in the classroom as evidenced by his teams receiving the TSSAA Distinguished Award for Academic Success from 1989-2000, an award based on team GPA. The lowest cumulative GPA at Shelbyville during this stretch is 3.4 and the highest is 3.98.
Insell’s Shelbyville team received a special invitation to the Oval Office by President George Bush for academic and athletic achievement and his teams also have been honored in the United States Senate and House of Representatives, the Tennessee State House and Senate and by two Tennessee Governors.
James Marsalis
James “Jim” Marsalis (born October 10, 1945 in Pascagoula, Mississippi) was a college standout at Tennessee State University where he earned many honors including Senior of the year in 1968. and professional American football player. A star at Tennessee State, he played nine professional seasons as a cornerback from 1969-1977 for the Kansas City Chiefs where he was drafted in the first round, and was awarded Rookie of The Year.
He played for the New Orleans Saints in 1977 and 1978. He started in Super Bowl IV for the American Football League’s Kansas City Chiefs, defeating the Minnesota Vikings in the last World Championship game played between the AFL Champions and those of the National Football League. Jim went to the Pro-Bowl in 1970 and 71. As a football coach Jim was a secondary coach at Middle Georgia College.
Gene Bartow
In 1977, Gene Bartow was at the top of the college basketball world. He was one of only three coaches to take two different programs to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament and as the successor to legendary coach John Wooden at UCLA he had posted the best winning percentage in the history of the program with a 52-9 record after his first two years.
But his next move stunned basketball fans everywhere. Bartow left Los Angeles for Birmingham—and the chance to build a new program from scratch as the athletic director and head basketball coach at UAB.
Success came quickly. Bartow’s first team posted a 15-11 record; his second advanced to the postseason with a trip to the National Invitational Tournament (NIT); and his third won 23 games en route to the NCAA Tournament, which started a string of seven straight tournament appearances, including a trip to the Elite Eight in 1981. In the first eight years of the program, UAB produced three All-Americans.
By the time Bartow retired from coaching in 1996, he had led UAB to nine NCAA Tournament appearances, five NIT appearances, and six conference championships. He was succeeded as head coach by his son, Murry, a former UAB player and assistant coach. In 1997, the on-campus arena at UAB was renamed Bartow Arena in honor of the man who did so much for the program. He remained as athletic director until 2000.
With 647 career wins and 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, Bartow ranks in the top 20 on the list of winningest NCAA Division I basketball coaches. He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1989 and will be inducted into the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in November 2009.
Bill Dance
Raised in Lynchburg, Tennessee, Dance planned to become a doctor, like his father Joseph Bowers and grandfather before him, but changed his mind after happening upon a grisly motorcycle accident in the early 1960s. He then turned his focus to competing in bass tournaments. A fishing lure manufacturer that sponsored him suggested he should start a TV show to promote the product. The program originally began on an ABC affiliate in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968.
Tournament Information: 23 National Bass Titles; Bassmaster Classic Qualifier 8 out of 9 years and finished 2nd in 1973. Three time B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year – 1970, 1974 & 1977. Of 78 total B.A.S.S. entries, finished 64 times in the money. 7 wins, 8 times runner up, 6 third place, 40 top ten finishes (51% of tournaments entered) and 51 top 20 finishes (65%). In first 11 tournaments, was only out of the top 7 once. Won 7 of the first
Tim Jackson
Tim did not begin playing competitively until age 17. He Is currently the president-elect of the Tennessee Golf Association; A member of the Memphis Sports Hall of Fame, and the Southern Golf Association Hall of Fame.
He will be inducted into the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame in November. A business entrepreneur, he is a certified public accountant. Once was a president of Automotive Fleet Resources. At one time has held partnerships in hotels and apartments; partner in CPA firm (Barton and Jackson) into late 1990s. Today is a real estate developer. Jackson defeated Tommy Brennan, 1up, to win the 1994 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship.
He reached the quarterfinals of the 1994 U.S. Amateur championship. In the 2001 U.S. Mid-Amateur he beat George Zahringer, 1 up, with a birdie on the 36th hole. He played in more than 35 USGA Championship, reached at least the quarterfinals at six U.S. Mid-Amateurs.
Gibby Gilbert
C.L. “Gibby” Gilbert II (born January 14, 1941 in Chattanooga) is an American professional golfer who has won tournaments on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour.
His father started him in golf at the age of 13. He attended the University of Chattanooga. He turned pro in 1965 and joined the PGA Tour in 1967. Gilbert had dozens of top 10 finishes on the PGA Tour and three victories. Gilbert’s best finish at a major was a T-2 at the 1980 Masters, when he and Jack Newton finished four strokes behind the champion.
Gilbert has had a lifelong interest in helping young people develop their golf skills. Since 1973, he has made annual appearances for the Tennessee PGA’s Junior Golf Academy at Fall Creek Falls.
Zan Guerry
The 62-year-old Guerry’s stellar net career, which includes more than 25 national championships in singles and double and three All-American seasons at Rice University (1969-71). Mr. Guerry was inducted into the Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame in Athens, Ga.
Guerry’s hall of fame net resume includes winning national titles in five decades starting with Boys’ 11s Singles in 1960 and most recently a national Senior Father-Son crown with Jeff Guerry. One would be hard pressed to match Guerry’s run of national gold balls (emblematic of a national championship) for singles titles won in the 11s, 14s, 16s 18s, 35s, 40, and 45s, along with numerous doubles titles.
Other highlights including winning a singles match at the French Open (1969) as well as at Wimbledon (1973) and posting two wins at the 1977 U.S. Open before losing to Jimmy Connors.
David Walker
Not every school can claim a living legend on its campus, but the students and faculty of East Tennessee State University can. David E. Walker, who most often answers to “Coach,” has been at ETSU for 45 years. During Walker’s tenure as head coach at East Tennessee State, eight different men have served as president of the United States, while ETSU has seen six presidents and nine athletic directors. Walker has been busy in his 45 years at the helm of the Buccaneer program, producing 30 All-Americans along with countless other track and cross country stars in the Atlantic Sun, Southern, and Ohio Valley conferences.
In 2006, Walker’s squad made some noise in its first season in the Atlantic Sun Conference, claiming the inaugural A-Sun Conference Men’s Indoor Track & Field Championship in Johnson City, Tenn. Five Buccaneers garnered conference titles at the indoor meet, with Walker adding to his hardware by receiving the Coach of the Year Award.
During his tenure, Walker has developed a number of world-class runners, including Kevin Johnson, a nine-time All-American; Seamus Power, a five-time All-American; and Robert Rovere a four-time All-American. Walker also coached Ray Flynn, who became one of the five top milers in the world; and Neil Cusack, the 1972 NCAA cross country national champion and the winner of the Boston Marathon in 1974. Since 1969, Walker’s men’s teams have won 22 conference championships, finished second seven times and third once. His squads have finished in the top-10 11 times.
During Walker’s illustrious career the ETSU’s women’s program has won three Southern Conference Championship titles. While he has been head coach, the ETSU program has produced All-American distance runners Kim Bird, Michelle Gregg, and Catherine Berry. Additionally, the program has seen the development of All-American Shelli Clendenon in the heptathlon and All-American Angie Barker, an Indoor NCAA Champion in the shot put. Walker has not only coached athletes with impressive track records, he has an outstanding record himself. Walker has earned some 20-plus Coach-of-the-Year honors and been named District Coach-of-the-Year 10 times.
Brig. General Austin Conner Shofner-Posthumous
Austin Shofner was born in Chattanooga and raised at an ancestral home in Bedford County, Tenn. He graduated in 1937 from the University of Tennessee, where he lettered in wrestling and football.
Brig. Gen. Austin Conner Shofner, the marine who got word to the outside world of the infamous Bataan Death March of 1942 after he engineered the first and only successful American team escape from a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. The desperate plight of the prisoners, as reported by General Shofner’s 10-man group, led to changes in Allied strategy and tactics in the Pacific that were credited with saving the lives of thousands of servicemen. For his exploits then and as a guerrilla leader afterward, he was decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross by Gen. Douglas MacArthur. In prison camp he remembered the axioms of football that had been drilled into him at Tennessee. One seemed especially made for his situation: Play for the breaks, and when they come your way, score.
Jeff Byrd-Posthumous
Jeff Byrd, who grew up on the flatlands of central North Carolina, moved to the mountains of Tennessee in mid-career and turned himself into a NASCAR superstar of sorts. Byrd arrived at Bristol Motor Speedway to take the helm of the race track in 1996 and, in 2003, was named its president. He was part of the Winston mafia, that core group of bright young people who worked for the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. from the 1970s to 1990s and helped transform NASCAR racing. Several – Byrd among them – would advance from public relations and management careers in Reynolds’ sports marketing division to leadership roles at NASCAR speedways. He was the face and heart of the track