Patrick Donahue
Editor & General Manager
It was a night and ceremony a long time in the making — and in one of the great writing cliches of all time, a good time was had by all. There had not been a Liberty County Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony since December 2019, and there was a full house Thursday night at the Liberty County East End Complex for the 17th annual ceremony — which is a little bit of misnomer since we didn’t have one for three years.
But the Hall of Fame is 20 years old and by the indications from Thursday, it is going strong.
Full disclosure warrants that I tell you gentle readers that I am a member of the Liberty County Athletic Hall of Fame committee. I was on at the beginning and was asked to return to it once I returned. Actually, I don’t remember getting a choice in this the second time around. As if I would have said anything except yes.
Since COVID-19 brought the Hall of Fame’s actions to a halt, we extended the timeline from five years to seven years since an athlete’s last competition in Liberty County to be considered. That allowed us to honor those who otherwise might not be the same recognition because of the number of tremendous players who have come from here more recently. It has been a while since I had been to one of the Hall of Fame banquets. We talked about the early days, when Charles Shuman would be ringing the bell if someone had gone over their allotted time. But if we had done that Thursday night, maybe we don’t get Eddie Smith’s tale of pole vaulting over water moccasins or Warnella Wilder’s stories of her parents always being in the stands whenever she played or refereed a game or the emotions in Raekwon McMillan’s voice when the NFL linebacker talks about the women who helped rear him. Personally, I was glad we paid tribute to those committee members who are no longer with us and have gone to their heavenly reward since the last banquet — Sam, Clifford, W.L. and Big Shu. It was also amazing how much they did behind the scenes to get everything ready for the banquet. Thankfully, we still have some folks on the committee, Jimmy Martin, Chuck Smith, Kenny Howard, Ray Gross, et al., who have taken to heart that which is emblazoned on the Montreal Canadiens locker room — “To you from failing hands we throw the torch; be yours to hold it high,” a passage from the great poem “in Flanders Field.”
There’s the old adage about a duck on the water and how smooth and calm everything looks on the water, but down below the surface, that duck is paddling like hell. Getting ready for the banquet felt a little like that.
But it all come together tremendously well through the efforts of the rest of the committee, especially Genese Baker Lane and her exquisite and thoughtful final touches.
The evening ran a little long but it was still great to see people I hadn’t seen in a long time. To hear their stories and to hear what a moment like Thursday night means to them is why we started the Hall of Fame in the first place. As Karl Riles pointed out, we honored Bradwell Lions and Bradwell Tigers, and Liberty County Tigers and Liberty County Panthers.
There are plenty of athletes who will merit and get consideration from the committee in the years to come, even those from years past who haven’t been nominated. The window for nomination will open later this fall. We welcome nominations from the community for possible inclusion.
And we hope to see another good crowd next year.