by Doug Ireland
Every August, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame selection committee goes through the process of choosing eight competitors’ ballot inductees for the following year’s class. It’s a privilege, and a curse.
Myself and the other 39 members of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association committee – including locals LaMar Gafford, John Marcase, Phillip Timothy and Bob Tompkins, and Cenla exports Garland Forman, Dan McDonald and Raymond Partsch — can’t make a wrong choice. There’s greatness throughout the ballot. But at the same time, as elated as we are when the voting finishes, there’s frustration and disappointment at who doesn’t get chosen. Because if they’re on the ballot, they are truly competitors who made great impact on the state’s sports scene.
On Sept. 11, the Class of 2025 will be announced, eight greats chosen from a 34-page ballot with 150 candidates from 29 different sports categories. Consider those odds for a second. Three quarters of a century ago, when the Hall of Fame was first proposed, it was decided that membership should be granted to only the elite – so much so that some years, nobody might be inducted. That never happened, and it won’t. But you get the idea.
There are a lot of names on the ballot you know. Some will get chosen sooner or later, others will not. But to give you an idea of the scope of the candidates considered, here’s a “super six” of lesser known nominees, all who are deceased, and none who were elected this year. One is from Cenla and you may have heard of him; the others are probably new to you.
Today’s challenge: review this random sample subset from the 2025 ballot — remarkable, but pretty obscure, Louisiana sports figures. Just for fun: which two would you choose to induct? I suggest they are all worthy.
G. SHELBY “BUDDY” FRIEDRICHS JR. — A New Orleans native and investment banker, he was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in November 2019. He won the first Olympic gold medal for the U.S. in 1968; the only other U.S. Dragon medals in the Olympics were bronze in 1964 and 1972. He was the North American champion in 1965-67, Canadian champion in 1966 and World champion in 1967. A Dragon class skipper, he won the North American Dragon championship in 1970 for the fourth time before retiring from international competition. He is in the Intercollegiate Sailing Association Hall of Fame, the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame and the Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame. Born 2-15-
1940 in New Orleans (died 3-20-1991 in New Orleans).
ABE HAWKINS — Rode Lecomte to victory over Lexington at the Metairie Jockey Club in 1854 one of the most celebrated match race rematches in turf history and in 1866, at a time when horse racing was arguably the most popular sport in America, the New Orleans Times hailed Abe Hawkins as “probably the best rider on the continent.” In 2024, Hawkins was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame by its historic review committee after being enshrined in the Fair Grounds HOF in 1997. A slave who grew up on Duncan Kenner’s Ashland Plantation in Darrow, Louisiana, Hawkins was arguably the first black professional athlete to gain national prominence. He rode for Kenner until becoming a free man in 1864, then for Robert A. Alexander. By 1865, Hawkins was rated the foremost black jockey and second-best athlete in America behind white jockey Gilbert Watson Patrick. Hawkins won over Patrick, who was known as Gilpatrick, in a match race before 25,000 spectators in New York City. Hawkins had two 1866 wins — the Travers Stakes aboard Merrill and the first Jerome Stakes aboard Watson. He died in 1867, eight years before the first Kentucky Derby. He rode every great horse of his era and after Emancipation went north to Saratoga, where he had much success and gained considerable fame and fortune. Hawkins is credited with popularizing the style of riding jockeys use today — the American seat, or riding forward. He came down with lung disease in 1867 and died on May 4, 1867, after returning to Ashland. Hawkins was buried in a brick tomb under a giant oak overlooking the training track there. His exact birthdate is unknown.
PAUL MORPHY – Regarded as arguably the most influential sportsman in the world in the antebellum era, Morphy was the first-ever international sporting champion from the U.S., and the first player to be considered World Chess Champion. A New Orleans native and Tulane graduate (1857), Morphy became the first U.S. Champion immediately following his graduation in 1857, winning the first American Chess Congress winner. A year later, he toured Europe, and defeated all the important Old World players other than British master Howard Staunton, who dodged him. Morphy thus became acclaimed as the unofficial World Chess Champion and perhaps the most famous sportsman on Earth. He returned home in 1859, retired from chess, and launched his law career. His games are still studied, and he remains regarded as one of the legends of the sport, according to Valdosta State historian and author Thomas Aiello.
ABNER POWELL — Powell, a baseball pioneer of the late 1800s and early 20th century, contributed more to the early development of professional baseball in Louisiana than any other figure in history. His playing career was distinguished; his lasting fame is that of an accomplished baseball executive and innovator for the national game. Connie Mack and Grantland Rice wrote that Powell had contributed more to the early days of baseball than anyone alive at the time, while famed New Orleans writer and sportscaster Hap Glaudi wrote that Abner was “The Father of New Orleans Baseball.” A Pennsylvania native, he played in the majors from 1884 to 1886 and managed for 18 more years in baseball for several organizations. Powell arrived in New Orleans in 1887 and became a player, captain, manager and owner of the New Orleans Pelicans, the first professional baseball team in New Orleans. Powell is credited with creating, or refining, several baseball innovations — including Ladies Day, the tarpaulin, the raincheck and detachable ticket stub — as well as the Knothole Club in which kids were let into the ballpark free one day a week. He formed the Southern Association in 1900 and the league was one of the most successful in the country for 60 years. He frequently organized games throughout the state, as far north as Shreveport. In 1889, he was credited with arranging games with the nationally-known African-American team, the Pinchbacks, who toured the country and drew thousands of fans. He is a member of the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame and in 2019 was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. … Born 12-15-1860 in Shenandoah, Pa. (died 8-7-1953 in New Orleans).
EDDIE “TOUCHDOWN” TOWNSON – One of the most publicized football players of the late 1920s at Glenmora High School and then a star of the 1930s Centenary College teams. He once scored eight touchdowns in a game; Townsend had 41 in a single season and 99, then a national record, in his prep career. Counting placekicks, he scored 600 points. He was featured in Ripley’s “Believe It or Not.” While at Centenary in 1931, 1932 and 1934, he played on teams that were 23-7-1. Victims included Ole Miss twice, Texas twice, Texas A&M twice, LSU (1-0-1), TCU (1-0-1) and Baylor three times. There were two ties with Arkansas. Townson made all-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The SIAA consisted of 32 teams. Inducted in the Centenary Hall of Fame in 1997, he died in September of 1999.
JOHN RICHARD WRIGHT — A New Orleans native, he was the second black player signed by a major league baseball team when the Brooklyn Dodgers picked him up just weeks after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with the same team in 1945. He had a 12-8 record for two Dodgers farm teams in 1946, but never made it to the majors — instead toiling for most of his career in the Negro Leagues and for his U.S. Navy team during World War II. He was the ace of the pitching staff for the Homestead Grays in the 1940s. His pro baseball career began in 1936 with the New Orleans Zulus, and he became a member of the Newark Eagles pitching staff the following year. In 1941, he joined the Grays, for whom he contributed to Negro World Series titles in 1942 and 1943. He was the ace of the 1943 pitching staff, posting a 14-4 record and 2.55 ERA. A member of the East All-Star team that year, he also had two shutouts against the Birmingham Black Barons in the Negro World Series. According to baseball-reference.com, Wright was 28-21 with a 3.53 ERA in the Negro Leagues. At the height of his career, Wright was inducted into the Navy in 1944. He went 16-4 with the Great Lakes Naval Station’s black baseball team that won the Midwest Servicemen’s League championship. On Sept. 13, 1945, he led the Floyd Bennett Air Station team of Brooklyn, N.Y., to the Third Naval District Commandant’s Cup championship, striking out 16 batters in a 6-1 win at Ebbets Field. Born 11-28-1916 in New Orleans.
That’s just a fraction of the burden the LSWA voters bear each August. And it’s what makes induction in the Hall of Fame a truly magnificent honor. Come see what it’s all about at the museum in downtown Natchitoches.
