By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
GRAMBLING — Grambling State University has more than its share of sports legends, as one of the country’s most storied athletic programs.
Saturday night, 12 more will be officially designated at the annual Grambling Legends induction banquet, already sold out, inside the Frederick C. Hobdy Assembly Center.
The Legends’ Class of 2024 includes the A-Team of football standouts Glynn Alexander, Aldrich Allen, Scotty Anderson and Herman Arvie, along with Arlester Brown, a World War II Purple Heart winner after playing running back for the Tigers.
Basketball stars Napoleon Johnson and Elsie Dillard are being honored, along with Michael Cummings and Robert Williams from baseball, and track and field competitors Ainsley Armstrong and Gail Emmanuel. Former World Famed Grambling Tiger Marching Band director Larry Pannell will be spotlighted in the contributor category.
Festivities begin today with a press conference followed by a 5 p.m. “meet and greet” session in the Doris Robinson Hall at the Eddie G. Robinson Museum, said longtime event coordinator Dr. Ruby D. Higgins.
Alexander was a 1969 All-American while playing defensive back, wide receiver and kick returner for Robinson. He played in the NFL for Buffalo and became an accomplished attorney and businessman in his hometown of New Orleans.
Allen was a two-time All-America middle linebacker in 1978-79 and was the leader of the Tigers’ vaunted “Four Amigos” linebacking corps.
Anderson set Grambling’s career receiving records in 2000, finishing with 195 catches for 3,334 yards (17.1 average) and 35 touchdowns. The first-team Associated Press All-American played seven professional seasons, the first three in the NFL with Detroit.
Arvie, an All-American offensive lineman, helped Robinson’s Tigers win the 1989 Southwestern Athletic Conference title and the 1992 National Black College Championship. A fifth-round 1993 NFL Draft pick, he played four seasons with the Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens franchise.
Armstrong was an All-American sprinter at Grambling who represented his native Trinidad and Tobago in the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games.
Brown, who became a Shreveport educator and founded the still-functioning Shreveport Teachers Association Credit Union, was a football halfback alongside Tiger legend Tank Younger before being injured in World War II. He returned to Grambling and earned a bachelor’s and two masters’ degrees, then a degree in divinity, eventually leading him into the ministry along with later service as a security volunteer in the Clinton White House.
Cummings was a four-year All-SWAC baseball pick and a Small College All-American for a Tiger team that was ranked No. 1 nationally. Chosen in the 1969 MLB Draft, he played in the big leagues as a shortstop and centerfielder for Boston and Atlanta. Williams was a teammate, a two-time All-SWAC performer, an honorable mention All-American and a member of the 1967 NAIA All-Tournament team.
Dillard was a versatile guard and forward for the Lady Tigers basketball team who earned academic honors, including the SWAC Female Student-Athlete of the Year, and was featured in Ebony Magazine as an outstanding scholar-athlete in 1990.
Emmanuel, also from Trinidad and Tobago, competed for her country in the 1984 Olympics and was an NCAA Indoor and Outdoor All-American in the 400 meter dash, including a national runner-up finish for the Lady Tigers.
Johnson was an All-American post player for Hobdy’s Tigers, twice earning All-SWAC honors, before a lengthy pro career that began in the NBA with Dallas but carried him into great success in the international game.
Pannell, a Shreveport native, is a former member of the World Famed Grambling Tiger Marching Band and a 1973 Grambling graduate who became part of the band’s leadership in 1990 and moved into the director’s position soon afterward. He led an array of noteworthy performances, not only on the field but in movies, and in the 1998 Super Bowl.
Shreveport native Kenny Simpson, a 2021 Grambling Legends inductee for his remarkable basketball career for Hobdy and in the pro ranks overseas, summed up the honor that will be bestowed Saturday night.
“Grambling’s athletic history is filled with greatness,” he said. “It stands among the greatest legacies in college sports. To be identified as one of the Grambling Legends is a breathtaking distinction. The Class of 2024 adds great accomplishments as competitors and as successful graduates who have been impactful in their communities and even on the national scale.”
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com