The Scott County Sports Hall of Fame announces the ceremony to induct its 2020 class of honorees has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now in its sixth year of having recognized former athletes, coaches, and supporting personnel who excelled in their sports or greatly contributed to athletic programs in local schools, the 2020 class was originally scheduled to be inducted on April 25 at Roosevelt State Park in Morton.
“We held out as long as we could, hoping to complete this year’s installation but it became clear with all of the health precautions due to COVID-19, holding this year’s ceremony on the original date was not going to be possible,” said Frank Edmondson, president of the organization. “We tried to salvage the occasion by postponing until July 25, but recent developments with the virus pandemic have made that impossible.”
The ceremony’s cancellation, however, will not mean there will be no Class of 2020, Edmondson said. This year’s class will be officially inducted next year at the same time with the Class of 2021.
“We regret that the Class of 2020 will not get their own ceremony as the previous five classes, but they will get their deserved spotlight and recognition. It just will not be in the way we originally envisioned,” Edmondson said. “With next year’s ceremony, we should be back on track going forward.”
When they are inducted, 10 honorees will take their place in the Hall of Fame, bringing the total membership to 77 all the way back to the first class which was inducted in 2015.
The 2020 class members, including one posthumously, will be inducted:
Shelia Dupree, Forest; Ken Bramlett, Forest; Sandra Freeman, Forest; the late Rodney Stowers, Forest; Edgar Simpson, Morton; Shay Hodge, Morton; Rex Keeton, Morton; McKinley Kincaid, Morton; Truman Moore, Sebastopol.
Additionally, Tommy Lee of Forest will be inducted as a recipient of a lifetime achievement award for his 50 years of service as the announcer for Forest High School football games.
“This is all about our honorees and giving them one more opportunity to shine and for us to say, ‘thank you’ for the contributions they made during their athletic careers,” Edmondson said. “This will also mean that next year’s ceremony, with two classes going in, will be almost as big as the first one.”
The first class included 25 members as a means of having a strong debut. “We felt the need to be more inclusive in the first class,” Edmondson said, adding that subsequent classes have included significantly fewer members.
Many businesses, organizations, government entities, and individuals have participated or assisted in one way or another for the financial support of the organization’s events, Edmondson said.
“We appreciate the support of all of the businesses and others who were planning to participate in this year’s ceremony. That support will simply be carried over to the next ceremony,” Edmondson said. “We could not continue doing any of this without the help and support of our sponsors who have stepped up to be a part of this organization’s mission.”
The Hall of Fame selection process will also begin again in the fall to select the Class of 2021 as originally planned. The public is welcome to submit nominations. Once a nominee is submitted and declared eligible, he or she remains in the pool for consideration for future classes.
“We strongly encourage everyone who thinks they know someone who should be in the Hall of Fame to fill out a nomination form whether they think their person has been nominated or not,” Edmondson said.
More information is available at the website: www.scottcountysportshalloffame.org.
