Centenary Golf Legend Selected For Induction Into Hall of Fame

Hal Sutton

SHREVEPORT, La. — Golf great and Centenary College Alumnus Hal Sutton was among eight inductees for 2009 selected for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

All-Pros Marshall Faulk, William Roaf and Michael Brooks, women's basketball coaching trailblazer Sonja Hogg, world champion motorcycle racer Freddie Spencer, innovative LSU athletic trainer Marty Broussard and Carrice Russell Baker, the state's winningest all-time girls high school basketball coach, complete the Hall's 2009 induction class.

Sutton emerged as one of the finest golfers of his generation. The Shreveport native and Centenary College product won the 1980 U.S. Amateur, the 1983 PGA, the 1998 Tour Championship and in 2000, The Players Championship when he outdueled Tiger Woods. Sutton played on four Ryder Cup teams and was the non-playing captain of the USA's 2004 Ryder Cup team.

They will be enshrined Saturday, June 27 in Natchitoches to culminate the June 25-27 2009 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Celebration. Broussard will be honored posthumously.

A 30-member Louisiana Sports Writers Association committee selected the 2009 inductees. The panel considered a record 132 nominees from 21 different sport categories.

This summer's inductions will be the Hall of Fame's golden anniversary induction class. The initial three inductees — baseball's Mel Ott, world champion boxer Tony Canzoneri and LSU football great Gaynell Tinsley — were enshrined in 1959 after their election a year earlier.

The eight new inductees will raise the total of Hall of Fame members to 269 men and women enshrined since then.

About Centenary College of Louisiana

Centenary College is a private, four-year arts and sciences college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Founded in 1825, it is the oldest chartered liberal arts college west of the Mississippi River and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Centenary is one of 16 colleges and universities constituting the Associated Colleges of the South and is regularly rated as one of the top colleges in the South. In 2008 Centenary College celebrated 100 years in the Shreveport and Bossier City communities.