Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame Announces Preliminary Nominees for 3rd Inductee Class

Former Philadelphia Eagle greats Reggie White and Pete Retzlaff join all-time baseball greats Mickey Cochrane of the A's and Ed Delahanty and Chuck Klein of the Phillies on the list of preliminary nominees for the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame's Inductee Class III. They join former 76er Hal Greer, former Flyer Bill Barber, former Warriors Joe Fulks and Neil Johnston along with coaches Jack Ramsay, Rollie Massimino, Skip Wilson and Fred Shero. Nominees submitted by the public are combined with those proposed by the Hall of Fame's internal selection committee to form this list of preliminary nominees.

Area natives on the list of luminaries include baseball's Reggie Jackson, Mickey Vernon, and Roy Campanella; basketball's Earl Monroe, Lionel Simmons and Bobby McNeil; footballs Herb Adderly, Bucko Kilroy, Frank Reagan, Joe Klecko and Emlen Tunnel. Performers in other sports include boxings Tommy Loughran, George Benton, Sonny Liston, Lew Tendler and Jeff Chandler, track and fields Leroy Burrell, Kim Gallagher, Don Bragg, Mel Sheppard and Vicki Huber, golfs Johnny McDermott, Dorothy Porter and Helen Sigel Wilson along with Debbie Meyer (swimming), Elizabeth Becker (diving), Joe Burk (rowing), Willie Mosconi (billiards), Ora Washington (tennis), and multi-sport stars "Buck" Adelman and Walter Alfred Lenz.

As a fan-focused organization we are thrilled with the public participation in the nomination process this year, with more nominees from fans than the previous two years combined.” says Dr. Pete Georgelos, who handles the public nomination process for the Hall of Fame. Using our website, in-person appearances and via regular mail, the Philadelphia public responded with hundreds of nominations. We received a terrific collection, including such names as Rocky and Ben Franklin, who happens to be a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.”

Public nominations for Inductee Class III ended September 1. The top ublicly submitted nominations will be finalists, joined by 30 or so others to form the official ballot for the Halls third class. The election process begins in late-September when the ballot is mailed to the Hall of Fames voting body, consisting of area sportswriters, current Inductees and others from the local sports community. The results are tallied over the following eight to ten weeks. The Hall of Fames Selection Committee then meets in mid-December for its Selection Sunday, at which the third class of hall-of-famers will be finalized.

This list of nominees also includes a number of teams as well as candidates for the Hall of Fames Legacy of Excellence and Lifetime Commitment categories, which focus on off-the-field activities such as administrators, sportswriters, announcers and community-focused contributors. Teams, Lifetime Commitment and the Legacy of Excellence are outside the Hall of Fames election process. Some nominees for the Legacy of Excellence include John McAdams, James Gallagher, Gene Hart, Berl Rotfeld and Bob Vetrone.