The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame has announced its 2020 induction class and the headliner is Alabama coach Nick Saban. The former LSU football coach won 75-percent of his games and the 2003 national championship during five seasons in Baton Rouge. Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Chairman Doug Ireland says Saban’s impact on LSU football is immense.
“He changed the LSU football program into an elite powerhouse nationally and it’s started a crest that has not really subsided this century,” said Ireland.
Two former NFL pro bowlers are also part of the 2020 class. Former Ragin Cajun and Chicago Bear Charles Tillman and former Saints superstar wide receiver Joe Horn. Ireland says Horn had a colorful and unlikely 12-year NFL career.
“For a guy that didn’t play four-year college football and was working in a restaurant in North Carolina when he saw Jerry Rice’s instructional video and launched ultimately his pro career in the Canadian league,” said Ireland.
Eight-time Mr. Olympia world bodybuilding champ Ronnie Coleman of Bastrop and Harlem Globetrotters star Sweet Lou Dunbar of Minden are also part of the class. Vivian native Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame will also be inducted for his contribution to the sportsman’s paradise.
“He really had a modest beginning with just a very small business making duck decoys and that grew to a multi-million dollar business,” said Ireland.
Also in this year’s lineup, two hoops stars with Kerry Kittles, a New Orleans native that played 8 years in teh NBA, and Louisiana Tech Lady Techster legend Angela Turner, who was part of four consecutive national championship game appearances with victories in 1981 and 1982. The 2020 induction celebration will be the last weekend in June in Natchitoches next year.
