Each year the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame adds a new class of athletes to its elite club. The same happened on Friday night – except that this group of inductees came in more shapes and sizes than any other: a race car driver, a burly defensive end, a defensive back, a recreational runner, a boxer and a tennis star. “It is the most diverse class in Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame history,” said Michael Rubenstein, the Hall of Fame’s executive director. “Without question, it is.” Six Magnolia State legends joined the state’s noble group on Friday night in the BancorpSouth Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame & Museum Induction Banquet at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Jackson. The Hall’s 49th class included the first race car driver (Lake Speed), the first recreational runner (the late Bob Coleman) and the second boxer (the late Henry Armstrong). Ken Toler, ranked No. 1 in the state in tennis for 40 consecutive years, is just the ninth tennis player to be inducted in a class that pushes the Hall over the 260-member threshold. Wrapping up the inductions were Allen Brown, a former Ole Miss defensive end who won two Super Bowl rings with the Packers, and the late Frank Dowsing, one of the first two black football players to play at Mississippi State. Brown and Dowsing increased the Hall’s football members to 126, nearly half of the membership. And when you think of race car driving? “You don’t think of the Hall of Fame,” said Speed, who won more than $5 million during an 18-year NASCAR career. “I always tell people that Mississippi is a unique place,” he said, “and if you haven’t spent time there, you wouldn’t understand.”(Clarion Ledger)(8-5-2010)
