LITTLE ROCK — Minnesota Twins center fielder Torii Hunter, Auburn Coach Tommy Tuberville, former NBA forward Michael Cage and Oaklawn Park owner and President Charles Cella will be among 12 inductees into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in February.
Other members of the hall's 50th anniversary class are: from baseball, Gaylen Pitts; basketball, Todd Day and Tracy Webb; coaching, John Prock; football, the late Jon Richardson and Bruce James; the outdoors, Jerry McKinnis; and thoroughbred racing, the late Cal Partee Sr. They will be inducted Feb. 22 at Alltel Arena in North LittleRock.
By then, Pine Bluff 's Hunter might be with a new team. He is eligible for free agency with a loaded resume after 11 seasons with the Twins. An All-Star in 2002 and 2007,Hunter has won six consecutive Gold Gloves. He is coming off one of his best seasons, hitting .287 with 28 home runs and career high in RBI, at-bats, runs, hits, doubles and total bases.
Hunter was a four-sport athlete at Pine Bluff High School and was named to the high school national team for baseball by USA Today in 1993, the same year he was named to Baseball America's All-America team and was Arkansas' Gatorade Player of the Year.
Tuberville, a Camden native and former Southern Arkansas safety and golfer, is one of the top college football coaches in the country. His nine years at Auburn have included a 2004 team that went 13-0 and won the SEC and Sugar Bowl. That year, he was named national coach of the year by numerous organizations, including the American Football Coaches Association and The Associated Press. His 2007 Tigers ( 5-3, 3-2 SEC) are ranked 22nd in the Bowl Championship Series standings and 23rd in the AP and coaches polls.
Cage starred for the udefeated West Memphis High School team of 1979-1980. After becoming San Diego State's all-time leading scorer and rebounder, Cage played for five teams over 15 seasons in the NBA - the Los Angeles Clippers, Seattle SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets. He won the league rebounding title with the Clippers on the final day of the 1987-1988 season, grabbing 30 rebounds in the last game - he needed 28 - to edge Charles Oakley. For his career, he averaged 7.3 points and 7.6 rebounds.
Day, the University of Arkansas' all-time leading scorer with 2,395 points, starred for Nolan Richardson's Razorbacks from 1989-1992 and played in the 1990 Final Four. He was an All-Southwest Conference and All-SEC selection and left school holding eight UA records. He spent eight years in the NBA, playing for five teams, and came out of retirement tohelp the Arkansas RimRockers to the American Basketball Association championship in 2004-2005.
Webb helped Batesville's girls to the 1983 state championship, played for the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks from 1983-1986 and was their first All-SWC selection. She left school holding most of the steal and assist records.
A fourth-generation racing executive who has been president of Oaklawn Park since 1968, Cella is also a prominent thoroughbred owner who won a 1995 Eclipse Award with his colt Northern Spur, the Male Turf Horse of the Year.
Partee's colt Lil E. Tee won the 1992 Kentucky Derby despite being a 17-1 long shot. Partee is the only owner from Arkansas to have won a Kentucky Derby. A native of Stephens, he died in 1999 at 89.
Richardson was the first black scholarship football player for the Razorbacks and lettered from 1970-1972. He died in 2002 at 50. Richardson starred in football and baseball at Little Rock's Horace Mann High School before joining the Razorbacks. When he finished playing for Arkansas in 1972, he ranked eighth on the school's all-time rushing list with 1,237 yards and scored 19 touchdowns. He also broke the school record with 501 yards in kickoff returns in his final collegiate season.
Also representing the Razorbacks' football program is James, an All-America defensive lineman in 1970 who was MVP of the 1971 All-American bowl. He was All-SWC in 1970, played in back-to-back Sugar Bowls and was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1971.
Prock was Harding's football coach for 24 years and produced 14 All-Americans. He won Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference titles in 1972 and 1976 and had 63 players named All-AIC. He retired after the 1987 season with a record of 114-123-7.
Pitts, a Mountain Home native, managed the Arkansas Travelers to a Texas League championship in 1989, the same year he was voted Texas League Manager of the Year. He spent five years as third base coach and bullpen coach for the St. Louis Cardinals.
McKinnis is one of the pioneers in television coverage of outdoor sports. He was host and producer of The Fishin' Hole and has a Little Rockbased company, JM Associates, that produces numerous television shows for ESPN.
For ticket information, call the hall of fame office at (501) 663-4328.
Sports, Pages 33 on 10/28/2007