Florida Sports Hall of Fame Induction Weekend at Cypress Gardens

You heard it here first: The 2008 Class of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame was just announced and the ceremony will be held on Saturday, August 16 at Cypress Gardens. Stay tuned right here for more information as the event gets closer. This year’s induction ceremony will be extra special as the 2007 and 2008 classes are inducted. The event is open to the public and ticket information will be available soon. Here is a list of the inductees:

2007 Class
Bill Buchalter was a sportswriter for more than 30 years with the Orlando Sentinel. He is a University of Florida graduate who primarily covered high school sports. He holds awards of distinction from the Florida Athletic Coaches Association, and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association, and he is a previous inductee in four Halls of Fame: Florida Track; Golden South Classic; Central Florida Sports; and Florida Citrus Sports.

Chandra Cheeseborough is a Jacksonville native and attended Ribault High School where she won the 100- and 200- yard state title from 1975-1977, setting national records in both. She won a silver medal in the 400 meters, and a history-setting gold medal in each of the women’s 4×100 relays (400m and 1600m) at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 (both races were held less than one hour apart). She also won the golf medal in the 200 meters at the 1975 Pan American Games. Currently, she is planning to serve as an assistant track coach for the 2008 U.S. Olympic team and is a member of the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame.

Hulk Hogan is a Tampa native and is perhaps the most recognizable performer in pro wrestling history who also became a mainstream personality through his roles on television and movies - including a notable role as Thunderlips in ”Rocky III.” Hogan was chiefly responsible for resurrecting professional wrestling in the 1980’s and won the WWF’s Wrestlemania in 1984 and won the title seven years in all. Known by his given name, Terry Bollea, he pitched Little League baseball, attended St. Petersburg Junior College and the University of South Florida, and wrestled his first professional match in Fort Pierce on Aug. 9, 1977.

Michael Irvin was most recently selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in February. Irvin attended high school in Fort Lauderdale, and helped lead the University of Miami to the 1987 national championship. He played professionally with Dallas, where he was an integral part of three Super Bowl championships, and set an NFL record with 11 games of 100 or more receiving yards.

Tino Martinez was a former Jefferson High standout and one of the top-fielding first basemen in Major League Baseball throughout the 1990s. He began his 16-year major-league career with the Seattle Mariners in 1990 and ended with the New York Yankees in 2005. His career also included stints with the St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Martinez was a two-time All-Star (1995 and 1997) and also helped lead the Yankees to World Series championships in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000. He compiled a career batting average of .271 with 339 home runs and 1,271 RBIs.

2008 Class
Otis Birdsong led Winter Haven High School to the Class 4A state title in 1973, averaging 32 points per game. At the University of Houston, he was a consensus All-American in 1977 and led his team to a NIT runner-up finish. He was named the Southwest Conference Player of the Decade for the 1970’s and went on to play in the NBA for the Kansas City Kings, New Jersey Nets and Boston Celtics. He scored more than 14,000 career points and was a four-time All-star.

Darryl Dawkins was a prep All American center at Maynard Evans High School in Orlando where he led the Trojans to the 1975 state championship. He was the first player to bypass college and enter the NBA draft, where he was taken by the Philadelphia 76ers later in 1975. “Cohocolate Thunder”, as he was often called, also played for the New Jersey Nets, Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons before joining the Harlem Globetrotters. Dawkins went on to coach in the USBL and ABA.

Hubert Mizell has one of America’s deepest, most spectacular resumes as a sports journalist. For more than 40 years, he wrote for large newspapers including the St. Petersburg Times and also served as a featured analyst for Associated Press based in Miami and New York. Born in Georgia, he was raised in Jacksonville. Hubert’s list of assignments has been stunning, including 10 Olympics, 32 Super Bowls, 25 baseball World Series, 30 NCAA basketball Final Fours, 9 Wimbledon tennis championships, 22 Kentucky Derbies, 23 Daytona 500s, 25 different college football bowls and 40 Masters plus 50 other major golf championships. He was named national sports columnist of the year in 1982 from among America’s largest newspapers and eight times was voted Florida Sports Writers of the Year. Mizell is a member of the College Basketball Writers Hall of Fame.

Start making your plans to go now. I know I will be there with my yellow Hulkamania t-shirt and foam Hulkster finger. It is going to be a special event that you won’t want to miss! For tickets and more information call Polk County Sports Marketing at 863.534.2500.