Oct. 16, 2016
THE FLATS – Georgia Tech football and basketball legends, Calvin Johnson and Jarrett Jack, as well as former major league infielder Eric Patterson and current PGA Tour player Nicholas Thompson, headline eight former Georgia Tech sports icons who were officially inducted into the 2016 Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in a ceremony Friday night at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center.
The 2016 class, one of the most accomplished collectively in the history of the Hall of Fame, also includes track and field All-Americans Lynn Houston Moore and Brendon Mahoney, baseball All-American Michael Sorrow and ACC tennis champion Jaime Wong.
The two-hour program, as usual, began with a parade featuring more than 50 members of the Hall of Fame previously inducted. Inspirational messages were given by all eight inductees and their presenters, some with prepared remarks and others extemporaneously, and the common theme throughout was a reflection the closeness of the Georgia Tech family, both while they were on campus and now 10 years, or more in some cases, later.
Wong, who helps run a tennis academy in her native Singapore, traveled halfway around the world to be at the induction, and also spent time with the current Yellow Jacket team Friday afternoon before the dinner. Thompson, an 11-year PGA Tour veteran who lives in Palm Springs, Fla., recently played in the Web.com Tour Finals in an attempt to regain his PGA Tour card returning home in between to protect his family and home from Hurricane Matthew.
Sorrow, who played on the Yellow Jackets’ first College World Series team in 1994, joined his father Mike, a pitcher at Tech in the early 1970s; into the Hall of Fame. Patterson, a former major league second baseman, has retired and returned to Tech, where he is completing requirements for his bachelor’s degree in management this fall.
Mahoney, who owns a crossfit gymnasium in San Mateo, Calif., was unable to attend the dinner because he has just begun training to join the U.S. Army Special Forces. But his parents and four of his eight siblings were there to accept on his behalf.
The evening was highlighted by the inductions of NFL superstar receiver Calvin Johnson and NBA veteran point guard Jarrett Jack. Johnson, who retired after last season and now devotes his time to projects involving his foundation, is competing in the current season of the ABC television program “Dancing with the Stars,” and was able to attend the induction in between tapings of the program. Jack, signed by the Atlanta Hawks in the off-season after having his 2015-16 season shortened by a knee injury, was supported by many of his Tech teammates, including NBA star Chris Bosh, and by nearly the entire Tech coaching staff from that time.
Track and field All-American Moore, married to one of Jack’s Final Four teammates, Clarence Moore, finished off the program with their five children and her parents and siblings in the audience.
These outstanding individuals also were recognized at halftime of Saturday’s football game 35-24 victory over Georgia Southern at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Honoring our new Hall of Fame inductees! #TogetherWeSwarm pic.twitter.com/C6bICTHerU
— Georgia Tech Sports (@GTAthletics) October 15, 2016
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