JACKSON – Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame executive director Bill Blackwell called the six-member class of 2020 a diverse group. And indeed it is with a high school baseball coach, a professional golfer, an athletic director, a sports stadium architect, a pro football player and a pro basketball player.
The class was announced at a press conference Monday at the Hall of Fame. The induction ceremonies and banquet will be August 1, 2020 at the Jackson Convention Center.
The newest Hall of Fame members in alphabetical order:
— Jerry Boatner, the winningest baseball coach in Mississippi history, with 1,202 victories and 14 state championships at West Lauderdale. He also won eight state titles in slow pitch softball. He was named to the Mississippi Association of Coaches Hall of Fame in 2002.
— Pete Brown, the first African-American to win a PGA golf tournament. Brown was born in Port Gibson, but grew up in Jackson. He joined the tour in 1963 and won the 1964 Waco Open. Brown also won the 1970 Andy Williams/San Diego Invitational in a playoff with Tony Jacklin. He passed away in 2015 at the age of 80.
— Antonio McDyess, a native of Quitman and star basketball player at Quitman High School. McDyess was a two-time all SEC player at Alabama who was the second player chosen in the 1995 draft. In a 15-year NBA career, he averaged 12 points and 7.5 rebounds per game while playing mainly as a power forward at 6-9. He twice averaged more than 20 points for the Denver Nuggets.
— Janet Marie Smith is a graduate of Jackson's Callaway High School and Mississippi State who has designed sports stadiums throughout the country. She designed Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles, helped transform the 1996 Olympic Stadium in Atlanta into Turner Field for the Braves, oversaw expansion of Boston's Fenway Park and is currently heading up expansion and improvements to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
— Larry Templeton served as Mississippi State athletic director from 1987 to 2007 and has been assistant SEC commissioner since 2007. During his tenure as AD, he hired Sylvester Croom as the SEC's first African-American head football coach.
— Patrick Willis was an outstanding linebacker at Ole Miss from 2003 to 2006 and with the San Francisco 49ers from 2007 to 2014. He led the SEC and the NFL in tackles and received the Butkus Award as the top college linebacker in 2006 and the top NFL linebacker in 2009. Willis was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame this year.
