By T. Scott Boatright
Eleven former Grambling State University athletes will be inducted into the 15th Class of The Grambling Legends Sports Hall of Fame on July 8 inside the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center.
Jason Hatcher, Jesse O’Neal, Jimmie Roe, and Andre Robinson will represent the sport of football. They will be joined by former Grambling basketball stars Shrieka Evans and Kenneth Sykes; former baseball standouts Courtney Duncan and James Thompson; former golfer Richard Brown; former head track coach and longtime football assistant coach Ed Stevens, and philanthropist Thomas Moorehead, who will be inducted in the contributor category.
The 2023 Grambling Legends Sports Hall of Fame weekend festivities will include a 4:30 p.m. press conference on July 7 at the Eddie G. Robinson Museum followed by a “meet and greet” with the current and former inductees talking with the general public beginning at 5 p.m. in the Doris Robinson Hall of the museum.
At 6 p.m. on July 8, the Hall of Fame enshrinement dinner and induction will lead off with a “Parade of Stars” in addition to captivating video tributes of each inductee.
A variety of nominees were considered for the 2023 class in the categories of player student-athlete, and contributor. During the induction ceremonies special recognition will also be given to individuals and teams that have made significant contributions to college sports at Grambling State University, especially during the academic year of 2022-23.
INDUCTEE CAPSULES
During his collegiate career, from 1977 to 1981, Robinson became the first defensive player to be named as Grambling State’s Most Valuable Player and helped lead the G-Men to three straight SWAC championships.
Roe, played center for the Tigers and earned second-time All-Southwestern Athletic Conference accolades in 1974 and ’75 while O’Nea, A native of Crowley, played defensive lineman for the G-Men and was a fifth-round draft pick of the Houston Oilers in 1975 who moved to to play in the Canadian Football League from 1975 to 1979 during his career with the British Columbia Lions, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Saskatchewan Roughriders. He had one career interception as a Tiger-Cat in 1979.
Robinson was a standout linebacker who was named the Bayou Classic’s Most Valuable Player in 1980 during the Tigers’ 43-6 victory over the Southern Jaguars. The following year, he was a consensus All-American selection by the Associated Press, Kodak, The Sporting News and the Sheridan Press and also was named the SWAC’s Defensive Player of the Year.
He later served as a linebackers coach, defensive coordinator and interim head coach (2004) for the G-Men.
Hatcher started at tight end for the G-Men in 2013 and caught one pass for 14 yards and a two-point conversion before being gradually converted to defensive end midway through the season.
After the switch he earned a starting position, recorded 13 tackles, three sacks and one pass broken up. In 2004, as a junior, he played his first full season at defensive end and finished with 33 tackles,10 takedowns for losses and five sacks.
As a senior, Hatcher helped his team win the conference title with an undefeated record (9-0) and a co-Black college football national championship (11-1 overall), while having an outstanding year of his own, recording 65 tackles and 10 sacks, and being named an All-SWAC selection. He finished his college career with 111 tackles, 31.5 for losses and 18.5 sacks.
Hatcher was drafted in the third round (92nd overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. He played in Dallas until 2014, when he became a Washington Redskin for his final two seasons.
He finished his NFL career with 250 tackles, 34 1/2 sacks, nine pass breakups, one interception and five forced fumbles.
Sykes, a 6-4 shooting guard, was the SWAC Newcomer of the Year and a second team all-conference selection as a sophomore in 1992–93.He earned second-team all-conference accolades as a junior before being named the SWAC Player of the Year as a senior, averaging averaged a conference-leading 26.3 points per game as well as 4.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists.
He was selected in the 1995 Continental Basketball Association draft by the Yakima Sun Kings in the third round (42nd overall) and also played in the United States Basketball League for the Florida Sea Dragons.
Sykes eventually became an assistant men’s basketball coach at Grambling State and was the interim head coach for a brief time after the 2007–08 season ended. Today he serves as a high school coach at Woodlawn High School in Shreveport.
Evans was the NCAA Division I Women’s 3-point field goal leader in 1999-2000 and 2000-21 and also led Division I in steals in 2002. The 5-10 native of Lisbon connected on 391 of 1,297 long-range shots during her college career for a 31.9 3-point shooting percentage.
As a sophomore in 1995, Duncan was named to the All-Southwestern Athletic Conference Baseball First Team and was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 20th round of the 1996 Major League Baseball draft.
He played two seasons for the Cubs, going 3-3 with a 4.80 earned run average and 50 strikeouts.
Thompson was also a pitcher who occasionally filled in at first base, too. The Houston native both started and served as a reliever/closer for the G-Men in the early to mid 1980s..
In May of 2018, Brown became the first African American to earn PGA Master professional designation and his induction also makes him the first golfer to ever be inducted into the Grambling Legends Sports Hall Of Fame. Brown serves with the PGA of America in Frisco, Texas, in the Education Department, as a faculty member and has been a member of the PGA for 18 years.
Brown is a PGA member of the North Texas Section, who earned PGA Certified Professional status in 2017, and has been recognized as a U.S. Kids Top 50 Junior Instructor.
Stevens, who is a Rosamond, California, native, was the head coach of the GSU track and field team during the late 1960s and early ’70s. Stevens led his Lady Tigers to a Women’s Track and Field Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship in 1975.
He also served for 18 seasons as an assistant coach on the football staff of the late Tigers’ legendary coach, Eddie Robinson.
Moorehead, who served as GSU’s Spring 2016 graduation keynote speaker, earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1966. In 1971, he earned a master of social work degree from the University of Michigan, where he is six credits short of completing a doctoral degree in education to program.
His diverse career path led Moorehead to become a master entrepreneur, and in December 2013 he became the first African American awarded a Rolls-Royce franchise.
In 2004, Moorehead and his wife, Joyce Anne, formed a charitable foundation to support underserved communities in the Washington metropolitan area. The Foundation has provided more than $400,000 in scholarships for college- bound high school seniors and emergency grants to matriculating college students, as well as assistance to working families and non-profit organizations in the region.
For information about the Grambling Legends Sports Hall of Fame or to secure tickets ($80 each) and/or to purchase ads, contact Dr. Ruby D. Higgins at 318-243-7557 or via email at rubydhiggins@yahoo.com.
