NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Memphis Grizzlies and their president Jerry West highlight the sports figures who will be recognized this year by the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.
The hall will honor the Grizzlies as the Professional Team of the Year and induct 11 new members at a banquet Feb. 18, officials announced Wednesday.
West, head of basketball operations, will receive the hall's Outstanding Achievement Award for his contributions to the team's success. The Grizzlies finished last season with the franchise's first ever playoff berth. West was named NBA Executive of the Year.
The Male Amateur Athlete of the Year is shared by two collegians _ Memphis running back DeAngelo Williams and Vanderbilt golfer Luke List, who was runner-up in the U.S. Amateur Championship.
The Female Amateur Athlete of the Year is track star Josie Hahn, the first Vanderbilt athlete to ever earned a provisional qualifying mark for the U.S. Olympic team. She set school records in the pentathlon, heptathlon, high jump and javelin.
Cumberland University's baseball team, which won the NAIA national championship, is the Amateur Team of the Year.
The inductees include three people from the Memphis area - Betty Booker-Parks, a high school and Memphis State basketball star in the 1970s; Verties Sails Jr., head men's basketball coach at Southwest Tennessee Community College and Ed Murphey, a 1956 track All-American at the University of Tennessee and native of Brownsville.
The other inductees are Haywood Harris, sports information at the University of Tennessee; Susan Russ, Harpeth Hall School track coach; Dick Barnett, Tennessee State and NBA; Darwin Bond, track at Tennessee; Richmond Flowers, football and track at Tennessee; Bill Justus, basketball at Tennessee; John Overton, track at Yale; and Petie Siler, coach at Morristown High School.
Overton and Siler will be inducted posthumously.
