The Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame releases the ballot for newest class of inductees. Fans may vote for their favorites online.
The Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame recently released the ballot for its 14th class of inductees.
The Hall of Fame invites input from fans to voice their opinions. Fans may submit their selections at phillyhall.questionpro.com
The Hall’s ballot committee narrowed the field to 39 outstanding selections, representing achievement in 14 different sports.
The ballot is in the hands of the Hall’s voting body, which numbers over 230 individuals.
To ensure that classes represent recent as well as historic accomplishment, the ballot consists of heritage nominees and those with the majority of their careers within more recent history.
The more contemporary nominees are Al Holbert (auto racing); Bill Bradley, Billy “White Shoes” Johnson, Deron Cherry, Randall Cunningham and Ron Jaworski (football); Bill Melchionni, Bo Ryan, Earl Strom, Mike Bantom and Rene Portland (basketball); Bob Boone and Darren Daulton (Phillies); Bob Rigby (soccer); Charlene Morett (field hockey/lacrosse); Cherie Green Brown (lacrosse); David Berkoff and Jane Barkman (swimming); David Reid (boxing); and Eric Desjardins and Tim Kerr (Flyers).
The heritage nominees are Adele Boyd (field hockey); Benny Bass and “Philadelphia” Jack O’Brien (boxing); Bob Johnson, Gavvy Cravath, Granny Hamner and Harry Davis (baseball); Donald Lippincott and John Baxter Taylor (track and field); Frank Spellman (weightlifting); Irene Guest (swimming); James Juvenal and John Kelly Jr. (rowing); Jimmie Wilson (baseball/soccer); Larry Foust and Ray “Chink” Scott (basketball); Truxtun Hare (football/track and field); and Vic Sears (football).
Biographies for the 2017 nominees can be found at phillyhall.org/2017bios.pdf
The 2017 inductee class will be announced on June 15.
The induction ceremony and reception are set for Nov. 2.
The Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame is open to athletes, coaches, media, administrators and other contributors in all areas of professional, college, amateur, high school and youth sports. Candidates must have been born in or performed in the Philadelphia area.
The Hall of Fame is based at Spike’s, a trophy and awards shop at 2701 Grant Ave.
The pub-lic is in-vited to view the Hall of Fame gal-lery at Spike’s on Sat-urdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or by appointment. ••
