Nick’s note: TheDerisoReport.com continues a series on 2009’s inaugural honorees into the Grambling Legends’ Hall of Fame, to be inducted this week:
The complete list …
FOOTBALL: Willie Brown, Buck Buchanan, Willie Davis, Henry Dyer, Lane Howell, Charlie Joiner, Willie Joseph, Ernie Ladd, Leglian “Boots” Moore, Bo Murray, Willie Young, Tank Younger.
BUCHANAN, who Grambling coaching legend Eddie Robinson called “the finest lineman I have seen,” became the first African-American to be selected No. 1 overall in a pro football draft — going to Kansas City in 1963. He had been a letterman and NAIA All-America defender at Grambling, helping the program to its first-ever Southwestern Athletic Conference title in 1960. He played in two Super Bowls, winning one. Two years after his 1990 induction to the Pro Hall of Fame, Buchanan died from lung cancer at the age of 51. Posthumous College Football Hall of Fame honors followed in 1996.
DYER, Grambling’s leading runner in both 1963 and the SWAC title season of ’65, was the school’s first documented 1,000-yard rusher. He was named first-team All-SWAC at fullback from ’63-65, and scored 30 times in his final two years. His NFL career lasted from 1966-72, and included stops with the Rams, Redskins, Bengals and Cardinals.
HOWELL, a two-way lineman for Eddie Robinson, was the first of three brothers to star for Grambling, beginning in 1960. GSU also won its first SWAC title with Lane up front, establishing a 23-5-2 mark between 1960-62. He played pro ball with the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants between 1963-71.
JOSEPH’S nickname name — “Automatic” — says it all: Over the 1947-49 seasons, he established a 48-point school record for career points by a kicker that still stands. Grambling wouldn’t lose more than three games in a season over that span.
MOORE helped Grambling to its seminal 21-6 win over Southern University in 1947, a first-time-ever moment that Robinson always said put the program on the map. Later toured with the Harlem Globetrotters.
MURRAY, then a redshirt sophomore, was a critical piece of Grambling’s 1955 undefeated team, helping the Tigers won the Orange Blossom Classic on scoring runs of 75 and 8 yards. He also kicked the extra point on his winning TD, beating Florida A&M 28-21.
YOUNG was a two-time All-Southwestern Athletic Conference first-team offensive guard in 1964-65, as Grambling won its second SWAC title. He played 11 seasons, from 1966-76, for the New York Giants.
YOUNGER, despite playing from 1945-48, still holds GSU record for career points with 369. His 86-yard blast against Morgan State in 1946 also remains the school’s longest non-scoring run. In all, Younger scored 60 touchdowns — at the time a collegiate record, and still tops at Grambling — during his storied career under Robinson. Named black college player of the year in 1949, he was the first Grambling player inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame, in 1973. Induction into the GSU hall followed in 1982. Significantly, Younger went on to become one of the highest-ranking early black pro executives ever. He entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000, but died just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
BASEBALL: Tommy Agee, Ralph Garr.
AGEE hit .389 in 1962 at Grambling, including 38 RBI, before signing a major-league contract — where his pro career lasted until 1973, including a stint at centerfield for the legendary 1969 champion New York Mets. Played in 1,129 pro games, where he stole 167 bases, hit 130 homers and 27 triples, added 433 RBI and boasted a career average of .255. Credited by Coach Wilbert Ellis with one of the longest home runs ever at the old Grambling baseball field.
GARR hit .582 as an outfielder for the 1967 Grambling team that won 33 of 34 games, losing only to Sam Houston State in the NAIA playoffs. GSU had only lost 10 total games over Garr’s previous three seasons on the squad, as he built a career collegiate batting average of .421. Garr then had a celebrated pro career, leading the National League in hitting in 1974, while batting .353 for Atlanta. He only hit lower than .299 once between 1971-77 in the big leagues.
BASKETBALL: Charlie Hardnett, Robert Hopkins, Willis Reed, Helen Richards-Smith, Hershell West.
HARDNETT, a legendary power forward, averaged 17 rebounds a game over one legendary season on campus. He was the leading scorer on the Grambling squad that went 32-4 and won the NAIA national title in 1961 under Fred Hobdy. Later, scored nearly 2,000 points over 165 NBA games.
HOPKINS is already in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, with his uniform on display at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He played three sports at Jonesboro High School (later Jackson High School), averaging over 30 points a game in basketball, and the team never lost a home game during his four years. Hopkins scored 3,759 points in 138 basketball games at Grambling State University for a 29.1 average, the national record for 47 years. He played four seasons with the NBA’s old Syracuse Nationals, and coached at six colleges and with the NBA’s Seattle franchise.
WEST helped Grambling to an NAIA national title in 1961, still the only men’s basketball championship ever won in Louisiana. Later mentored Larry Wright, a future NBA champion. “The best pure shooting guard we’ve ever had,” the late coaching legend Fred Hobdy once said of West.
TRACK: Stone Johnson, Richard Stebbins.
JOHNSON, so fast he won the 1960 NAIA national 200-meter title, was a wingback and punter (averaging 36 yards per kick) on Grambling’s first SWAC title team. He also competed as a sprinter in the Olympics, before suffering a neck fracture during an NFL preseason game. He died 10 days later.
STEBBINS, a running back speedster who excelled in track events, competed with “Bullet” Bob Hayes in U.S. Olympic events in the 1960s.
COACHES AND ADMINISTRATORS: Fred C. Hobdy, Ralph W.E. Jones, Collie J. Nicholson, Eddie G. Robinson.
GET IN THE GAME:
For more on the Grambling Legends’ Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, to be held July 18 at the Civic Center in Monroe, visit www.gramlingsportshof.com.
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