April 28, 2011
PORTSMOUTH, VA, The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and the new Class of 2011 inductees which includes former ODU Athletic Director Jim Jarrett will be inducted on Saturday, April 30th.
The new class features: Jeff Rouse, native of Petersburg, VA and 7-time NCAA Champion at Stanford University; Olympic Gold medalist and World Champion swimmer; Bill Littlepage, Bridgewater College alum and the winningest coach in Virginia AAA High School League history with 775 career wins; Dr. Jim Jarrett, led Old Dominion athletics in 28 National Championships and a reclassification to Division I in his 43-year career as Director of Athletics; Tiki Barber, 2nd all-time leading rusher in University of Virginia history and 10 year NFL career with the New York Giants, scoring 68 touchdowns; Johnny Newman, the all-time leading scorer for the University of Richmond and the veteran of a 16-year NBA career with 12,740 career points; Pernell "Sweatpea" Whitaker, native of Norfolk, VA and six-time World Champion boxer with a professional record of 41-3-1 with 17 knock-outs; Eugene "Pappy" Thompson, native of Bristol, VA, held a 50-year career as a journalist with the Bristol Herald Courier and 1982 inductee into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.
Hall of Fame President, Eddie Webb, says "The Class of 2011 is an example of the quality of athletes and coaches that are being produced across the Commonwealth. Each nominee's resume is recognized on a national or international level proving the point that the State of Virginia is one of the leaders in producing this nation's top competitors."
The 40th annual induction ceremony will take place on Saturday, April 30, 2011, at the Renaissance Portsmouth Hotel & Waterfront Conference Center, as the crowning event of Hall of Fame Weekend. For more information, call (757) 393-8031.
A closer look at the Class of 2011: Jeff Rouse, born in Petersburg, VA, started swimming at the age of 5 and set national age group records at age 11. He was named Swimming World's age group swimmer of the month in 1983 and named Rookie of the Meet at his first US National Championships. He has four US National Championships in the 100y Backstroke, 100m Backstroke and two-times the 4X100 Medley Relay. Rouse attended Stanford University where he was a 7-time NCAA Individual Champion swimmer. In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, he earned a Gold Medal in the 4X100 Medley Relay and a Silver Medal in the 100m Backstroke. In the 1996 Olympics, held in Atlanta, Rouse led the US Olympic swim team as Captain and took home the Gold Medal in both the 4X100 Medley Relay and the 100m Backstroke. He held the world record in the 100m backstroke from 1991-1999 where in that time, he won a Gold and Silver medal at the 1994 World Championships and 2 Gold Medals at the 1996 PAN American Games.
Bill Littlepage, born in Pleasant Hill, VA and attended Bridgewater College, is known as the winningest basketball coach in Virginia High School League AAA history with an overall coaching record of 755-320 (70.2%). He is one of only two coaches to ever win over 700 games at a VSHL school and is the 2nd winningest basketball coach in overall VSHL history. He spent 44 years as Head Coach at Hopewell High School and saw 26 VHSL Regional Tournament berths and 6 State Tournaments. His teams won the State Title in 1972 and were runner-up in 1986 and 1996. He had 18 District Championship years (11 regular season titles, 14 tournament titles) and 4 VHSL Regional Championships and 4 runner-ups. Littlepage was the recipient of numerous Coach of the Year awards at the district, regional, state and national level. In 1990, he was inducted as a charter member into the Virginia High School Hall of Fame, and in 1993 he was named National Coach of the Year by the National High School Coaches Association. In 1997, Littlepage was inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and in 1998, he was inducted into the Bridgewater College Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2004 he was inducted as a charter member to the Hopewell Athletic Wall of Fame.Dr. Jim Jarrett joined the Old Dominion University staff in 1967 as Associate Professor of Health and Physical Education and took over the Athletic Director position in 1970, where he remained until his retirement in 2010. During his 43-year career as Director of Athletics, the athletic program maintained a 91% student-athlete graduation rate. In 1974, Jarrett became the first Athletic Director in the Virginia to offer athletic scholarships to women. Over his term, the ODU Athletic programs won 28 National Championships, 18 of those in women's sports. He was a charter member of the NCAA Women's Basketball Committee and served as President of the CAA, the Sun Belt Conference and the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. He was named NACDA Southeast Regional Athletic Director of the Year, Norfolk Sports Club Man of the Year, and the Collegiate Director of the Year by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. In 2005, Jarrett was recognized with the Distinguished Service Award by the Virginia Sports Information Directors' Association and in 2007, he was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.
Tiki Barber, a native of Roanoke, VA and 1997 graduate of the University of Virginia, is the 2nd all-time leading rusher in Cavalier history. He was named ACC Player of the Year and 1st Team All-Academic in 1996. In the 1997 NFL draft, Barber was selected in the 2nd round by the New York Giants where he played running back for the duration of his NFL career (1997-2006). Barber led the Giants in rushing from the start of the 2002 season to the end of the 2006 season, making him the 22nd player in the NFL to rush for over 10,000 yards in his career. During his 10-year career with the Giants, he was selected to 3 Pro-Bowls, 2004, 2005 and 2006 and retired as the all-time reception and rushing leader with 327 carries for 1,662 yards, 10,449 rushing yards, 68 touchdowns (55 rushing, 12 receiving, 1 punt return), and 5,183 receiving yards. He started in all 16 games during the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Following his retirement, Barber served as a correspondent for NBC's Today Show and an analyst on Football Night in America/Sunday Night Football. Barber currently serves a football analyst for Yahoo Sports.
Johnny Newman, born in Danville, VA and 1986 graduate of the University of Richmond, led the Spiders in scoring from 1982-1986 and is the all-time leading scorer for Richmond with 2,383 points. Newman had a .532 career field goal percentage and an .800 career free throw percentage. He was named to 8 All-Tournament teams and was the MVP for the 1984 CAA Tournament. In 1986, Newman was drafted in the 2nd round (29th overall) by the Cleveland Cavaliers. In his 16-year career in the NBA, Newman was a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks, the Charlotte Hornets, the New Jersey Nets, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Denver Nuggets and the Dallas Mavericks. He totaled 1, 169 games in his career where he started for 512 of those. Newman averaged 16 points per game in the 1988-1989 season with the New York Knicks, leading the team to the Atlantic Division Title. He is a member of the Colonial Athletic Association Men's Basketball Silver Anniversary Team (1985-2010) and is a member of the 1991 University of Richmond Athletic Hall of Fame.
Pernell "Sweatpea" Whitaker, born and raised in Norfolk, VA, started his amateur boxing career at the age of 9. He had 214 amateur fights, winning 201, and 91 of them by knock out. He was the lightweight silver medalist at the 1982 World Championships, followed by the Gold Medal at the 1983 PAN American Games and crowning his amateur career with a Gold medal at the 1984 Olympics. During his career as a professional fighter (1984-2001), Whitaker became the World Champion in four different weight divisions. In 1989, Ring Magazine recognized him as Fighter of the Year and in 2002, ranked him at number 10 in their list of `The 100 greatest fighters of the past 80 years'. In 2006, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame with a professional record of 41-3-1 with 17 knock-outs. Whitaker is the former WBA World Light Weight Middleweight Champion, WBC World Welterweight Champion, the IBF World Lightweight Champion, the WBC World Lightweight Champion, the WBA World Lightweight Champion, the IBF World Lightweight Champion, the NABF Light Weight Champion and is respectfully recognized as "pound for pound" the greatest boxer ever.
Eugene "Pappy" Thompson, attended Virginia High School in Bristol, VA and started at Emory & Henry College in 1925 but left in 1928 to accept a job as a general reporter with the Bristol Herald Courier. He spent 50 years with the Bristol Herald Courier as a police and court reporter, sportswriter, sports editor and retired in 1979 as Executive Sports Editor. During his career, Thompson originated the "Football Edition" in Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee, a section that is now the annual fall feature of the Bristol newspapers. He wrote the SEC and Southern Independents preview for the "Football Roundup" for over 15 years and won several State awards for feature stories and sportswriting. He was also the Chairman of the Committee that brought Little League Baseball to Bristol and was twice awarded with the Boys Club Man and Boy Awards. Thompson was a member of the American Football Writers, the National Association of Basketball Writers, the National Association of Baseball Writers, The National Football Foundation and the Society for Research of American Baseball. Thompson is a charter member of the Emory & Henry Sports Hall of Fame, inductee in to the University of Tennessee Press Box Hall of Fame, 1982 Inductee into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. Eugene Thompson passed away on April 27, 1988.
About the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame & Museum Since 1972, the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame & Museum has been proud to honor Virginia's contributions to the world of sports. We are the Commonwealth's official hall of fame, and one of only 16 throughout the nation. Our mission is to honor athletic excellence and serve as a nonprofit educational resource centered on health, math, science and character development programs, while inspiring visitors through sports history and interactive entertainment. For more