Florida Sports Hall of Fame 2024 Induction Full Press Conference by Alan Alford Sports Talk Show!

sponsors Orlando Health and Orlando Pride for making this year's event possible um to give you some background the Florida Sports Hall of Fame was founded in 1961 by the Florida Sports writers and sports casters Association as a way to recognize celebrate and honor the great athletes out of the state of Florida uh we do that every year with an ENT tryment Ceremony this year we are back in Orlando we haven't been here for five years so um we're happy to be back in Central Florida and celebrating the um just a tremendous class this year um quick overview this year's class is eight inductees covering six different sports it includes a seven time NBA Allstar a Super Bowl winner a two-time Women's World Cup champion a 14 time NCAA track and field Championship coach who had 15 athletes in the recent Olympics and Paris a World Golf Hall of Fame member a five-time National Cheerleading Coach our first ever athletic trainer who spent nearly 50 years caring for athletes at the University of Florida and in all SEC and NFL linebacker who played at our own Winter Park High School the uh this year's event will be held October 15th I'm well we've got two nights of events one is October 15th a Tuesday we'll be here uh in the west Club of the stadium and it'll be a VIP party celebrating these incoming class as well as other Hall of Famers who are able to attend and then then that is hosted by Orlando Health and then on Wednesday we will have the star studed insturment dinner at the Kia Center where we will um induct this great class and uh also a special uh note this year our MC for the event is actually a Hall of Fame member Pam Oliver from Fox Sports who was inducted in uh 2022 she has agreed to MCR event so let me uh introduce who we have here today um starting on let's see ear left yes ear left we've got uh Scott Hutchinson a defensive lineman for Doug dick East Florida Gator football team from 1974 to 1977 senior team captain in all SEC selection he was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the second round 38 overall of the 78 NFL draft he spent three years with Buffalo before playing a season with the Bucks and finished his career back here in Orlando with the United States football leagues Orlando Renegade where he led the team in quarterback sacks to his left our right is uh Jan Stevenson she is was LPGA Rookie of the Year in 1974 she won three major Championship events and 16 LPGA Tour events 10 wins on the LPGA Legends tour most recently in 2021 uh she was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2019 and apparently that's one of three that she's a member of soon to be for and uh she has established a Jan Stevenson's Crossroads foundation for Wounded Warriors that's she spends a lot of time on that these days and then to her left is William barnan Floyd who is fresh office trip to Dublin with the uh Florida State seols he was a member of their 1993 National Championship team uh Premier fullback in the 94 draft selected first round by the San Francisco 49ers where he was the first rookie to score three touchdowns in a playoff game and also scored a touchdown for San Francisco in their Super Bowl win that year and he's currently a color anist with color analyst with Florida State for their football program and then at the end of the table there we have UCF Linda G she was a standout athlete at Oakridge High School in cheerleading track and gymnastics she's four letter fouryear letter winner as a UCF cheerleader and is in her 41st year as coach of ucf's nationally recognized cheerleading team which includes cheerleaders the Night Moves dance team and Nitro the UCF mascot they've won five national championships under her they've finished top three in the country in 30 of the last 31 years and have ear top 10 finishes 29 times pretty impressive so with that I'd like to open this up for any questions you may have of them or me or anyone else here and then we can set up some individual one-on-one interviews as needed for following this just your reactions your reactions to the Cy reactions to uh being inducted I think it's a great thing I never expected it especially it's as old as I am but uh I'm I'm happy to be invited and involved in it in this uh great thing but it's been being a part of all these great athletes so looking forward to it yeah I'm very excited you know I felt like I've been a part of Florida for so long I mean I I moved here in ' 92 and um actually I I moved here for for for for bad reasons I had I had just got a divorce and I wanted to change up my my scenery because I lived in Arizona and um and I wanted to move to a new coach with with uh lead better and so uh Ian Baker fet and Wayne Grady and all the Aussies all live down here and they said it's more like Australia you're going to like it so I came down visited stayed with each of them till I I drove them crazy and I finally bought a house at eorth and and uh and loved it and it felt more like Florida in fact I didn't even go back to Australia as much once I see it through Jam real quickly um did you introduce Greg Norman when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame a few years back I did yeah Greg couldn't be here and so and his daughter was going to but she couldn't make it either so I I thought there was a story there yeah so yeah was all Aussies used to always come here and and um you know between Lake Nona and Alworth we felt like we really we definitely a big Aussie contingency here in Orlando fabulous sorry William go ahead worri um so reaction for me I was you know I was ecstatic for the simple fact that I always felt like the best athletes in America come from the state of Florida so I was born here you know born here in Jacksonville uh lived in Tallahassee from the time I was about 7 to 10 years old when I first fell in love with Coach B in Florida State and from that point at 9 years old I just you know did everything possible to make sure that I could get back to Tallahasse and uh be a part of what he was doing and and you know it worked out you know everybody calls him you know the saint I call him the prophet because everything he told me came true he said I land NFL I help him win his first national championship and I get my degree and that's really what my mom wanted so um for me it was just a great time and you know I can't wait for the ceremonies and you know being dug in with all these great athletes and you know um all the other great athletes that are already in so thank you Linda yes um definitely such an honor and um to what William said um you know if you have followed any of the sports and Athletics in Florida you know that um there are so many great coaches and so many great athletes so to have an opportunity to be included among that group is a tremendous honor and of course I'm really glad with um you know FSU and and Florida up here to be able to represent our Knights did you have a question Alan yes thank you chair yes this is Alan from the Allen alred SP show so for somebody who's never been to Florida or don't know too much about Florida can you each tell somebody who's thinking about coming to Florida what's the advantage you have by being an athlete here in the State of Florida well I've had most of my career here in Florida and I played for the bills for four years and guess what Florida's a lot better so actually too I was out in Wyoming uh just this past week and there's people out there that were complaining that the natives that it's too hot and it's 75 degrees there no humidity no rain no nothing I said why don't you come on back to Florida and get off the plane and see how you you'll like it here but no I think Florida's got like like William was saying we got some of the best athletes here some of the best hot colleges and high schools so I think this is a Destin ation for a lot of people that that would like to come here and stay so that's I've been a native forever and I'm still here I didn't stay in Buffalo well I think um obviously the the weather is a big factor you know whether it's hot or cold I mean you can play any sport no matter what um doesn't matter what time of the year and uh it's kind of reminds me a bit of of Australia where you know they want to how we have so many athletes from a from a a country that has 30 million people but it's because we have weather all the time whether it's hot or not you can still practice and play and you have unbelievable access here in Florida you have the best schools and the best golf courses so you and the best coaches so you really have it all um I say we're athlete that want to come here and you know especially if you have aspiration for you know young kids growing up and being athletes um you get the training every you know out of the womb you're an athlete down here in the State of Florida you know so no matter what sport you play um you have some of the greatest that have ever done it right here so you aspire to be like some of those guys that came out of your high school or that came out of the college that you like in the State of Florida then you get to see them you know doing their thing professionally so um I think it's a great motivator for young athletes whether it's tennis you know you have something there cheerleading you have something there football golf you know I mean name every sport you'll find a really and getting it done taking care of your business in that sport certainly what Jan said um is key and that's the fact that you can train year round so if you're an athlete in any sport especially if it's an outdoor sport having an opportunity to be out there golfing or playing football or running track or whatever it is that you're doing you have the chance to do that year round and then um you know very few of us have an opportunity to do what these folks here have done which is to play um Prof Al and be able to earn a living doing that most of them are going to have to go on and have a backup plan which is an education and uh because of the dynamic um economy in the State of Florida they're going to have an opportunity to make connections with businesses through internships and U parlay that into a career so that's something that the State of Florida certainly offers awesome any okay Linda you're the second from the University of Central Florida I believe Michelle Acres stall is the only other one so congratulations thank you another female I think oh yes female yes um I think we had coach Clark Tori Clark was also that's true that's true and William Duos from soccer I think yeah and this questions for William that along those lines you were the last first round draft pick to be taken as a fullback what are your thoughts on the Bucks taking a chance on you as the last fullback um well first I had to say it was the ners first that policy um but wow you know I kind of feel like um you know I should be in the dictionary with a picture next to me you know like the Tyrannosaur you know it's extinct you know the pullback position um not a whole lot right now the running back position is kind of the value on that is kind of you know up and down on that as well but certainly nobody's drafting a first round pullback for quite some time so I I look back on it I look at it as a great accomplishment you know that um the ners thought enough for me to take that pick you know with the 28 pick and uh made me a first-rounder um but yeah it's kind of crazy now to look at you know where the fullback position was and how the fullback was utilized when I was playing as the poos to now so very interesting but yeah very gracious for that pick so what else I'll ask another one yeah so oh thank thank you thank you thank you okay and for Scott you know now that they the Bucks are bringing back the creamsicle I you know uniform what does that mean to you for you to see it now more regularly well that I played with I was a Kem sickle when I was there but I don't I I I think it's great for it to come back and and wear the jerseys so people like myself can remember back in the day K was there and uh you know kind of brings brings the memories back and it's yeah I I I like the idea so I won't be there but I'll be there at heart yeah and for question valinda is nowadays you know our generation a lot different if you had you know coaching kids now what would you say the biggest difference now as opposed to back then well attention spans do have a tendency to be a little bit shorter but um I think that you know in order to be successful in anything in life for any kind of sustained Excellence at anything you know you've got to change with the time the only the only consistent thing is is change and so as a coach I've definitely had to be open to doing that and um you know I've been really fortunate to have a great support staff um of coaches and we have had some amazing athletes that have come through our program um people that as proud as I am of what they accomplished while they were athletes with us um I'm even more proud of the the you know citizens that they' become and how they've contributed um and and given back to the Florida Community yeah that's awesome and talk about golf J you know some of the favorite golf courses here in Florida that you played on oh there's so many great golf courses yeah and even new ones you know there's a new one have Farms just up the road that's uh is um going to be really pretty awesome um so there's always so many great golf courses here you know obviously TPC I trained under Pete Dy so of course I I like his work and of course you know you you can't beat TPC and that famous iconic 17th hole um just it just always comes you know down the stretch it's such an important part of the of the event but the golf courses in this area are really if you can play here and we all the pros all talk about it if you could chip Florida grass and Florida Bermuda you can chip anywhere in the world and I know that that um Phil mikkelson hated to come to Florida because he couldn't chip the and he's great he was the greatest shipper of all time and he had so much trouble with Florida Bera cuz it is tough and uh so if you can chip here you can chip anywhere in the world yes and along those lines with golf e c a frustrating sport just because just the nuances of it what are your best uh you know advice to somebody who's playing a sport to just stay level well you know I'm I'm really into technique and the thing is nowadays we're so lucky because we have Compu computers and the kids can don't have to like hit as many golf balls I mean we used to you know before it was like trial and error so you'd be hitting balls you know all day long to make to figure out what was wrong now with the computers it's you know you can you don't even have to practice that much you can you've got the computers you've got your simulators you've got your bull speed um your track men so you you can pick it up very quickly and be really good very fast but you you must have a good coach um I got a question for everybody but first uh uh brick Hatcher immediate past president um you know I mean here coaching up Linda since I'll be like this Linda coaching up Ginger here and everything but um first thank you to Orlando Health and Orlando Pride for being the sponsor for this year event and my question is for the group is what does it mean to be inducted in the city of Orlando where some of you live some of you have your competitions some of you still work and stuff what does that mean to be have it uh here in Orlando well for me i' I've been a native here for quite a while and I think being here in my hometown that it's very good award for me because for one I don't think anybody would remember who I was Back 40 years ago so but it's it's quite an honor to be here I mean it's the best place to probably be in the State of Florida to hold this I know you guys rotate all around the state but this is Central so so it's uh you get a qu probably probably got a good turnout here this year hopefully so I'm I'm here I'm Central Floridian up well I I love Central Florida too and um and this is the first place obviously I moved to so it's it's got uh you know really special ties for me my family they're coming in two weeks and all they want to do is obviously do the Disney in the SeaWorld so that I'll be here quite a bit but it's um it has everything to offer and and and it's a big city without being a big city I like that feel um that's why it feels so much like Australia and um so I love it because you've got everything that you need you've got the Beauty and the golf and the water and so it's it's a great place to to live and I plus I have so many friends and family here still that it'll be great for them to come and share because usually when I get an award it's it's you know out of the country or or somewhere else so it's nice to have the friends and family here um I guess for me my first well my first experience with Orlando was probably 1989 90 when Florida used to play Georgia in the Citrus Bowl Florida Georgia game um I'll never forget we went into that game you know halftime went in like 14 and nothing and all of us had our girlfriends out there and we thought the game was over and next thing you know um Georgia comes back and Garrison Hurst has a I think he ran for black almost 200 yards so that was my first experience in in Orlando and I came back here um to live and the transition between going from the Niners to the Panthers we thought this would be a great place to come we can fly everywhere we want to fly all around the country and you know great airport good city so we've been here since 99 so we are we're a part of Orlando now my kids graduated to school from here my grandbabies live in Winter Park um hopefully I get to see them a little bit later today but having it here in Orlando and I think like you say Jan family friends get to come see you you know probably going in something that's to me is just like winning the Super Bowl it's that special to me so I'm glad that my family will be able to be a part of it family friends yeah absolutely same same here um obviously having been at UCF for such a long time I have so many incredible memories um as our University went through the steps of moving from division 3 division 2 onea and 1A in football and um just making the Trek down on the East West Expressway headed toward the football stadium for almost 30 years that was our home stadium there it wasn't even the Citrus Bowl back in the early days it was just the Tangerine Bowl so um just lots and lots of great memories and um as William and Jan have mentioned you know having family here it'll provide an opportunity for not just my immediate family but also my UCF family to be able to be there to celebrate and um just really looking forward to October and just uh remind the group and I know Kyle's here with the great Orlando Sports commission and all the great work they do uh just and everybody else with the media Orlando was recently voted the number one sports town in the country or world so Sports Business Journal voted Orlando the number one destination for attracting and hosting events in the country but we're here because of you thank you and William I'll be remiss if I didn't ask you you know you're I think you're the only Super Bowl champion in here but talk about the ring and winning that Super Bowl oh wow um well actually for about 14 months I thought that all I was going to do was win championships CU of course I was 93 we played Nebraska and in the Orange Bowl for the national championship um stayed in the Marriott right there by the airport came back the very next year that play San Diego in the Super Bowl and stayed in the z satic z sack Hotel I felt like I was in the same room almost it was crazy so Sur Real playing for the national championship coming right back to play for a Super Bowl staying in the same place so it was kind of you know destined but again all friends and family were able to see that you know and come down and enjoy both games so um for me that's what it's all about you know you you know people help you get up so you know to a certain point and you looking back man I want to bring everybody with me everybody who had a part of it so that's why I so special to be here in Orlando and that's why I was so special to win a championship in you know in college and the pros in Miami right here in the State of Florida awesome who got you guys involved in athletics gotot all the way down who got you started introduce you to sports she I you know my my brother my older brother did actually he played football I used to watch him come home after practice and I was like was 40 years younger than him and I just watched him how he how he maneuvered and held himself and stuff so I want to do that I want to do what he's doing you know and so I went out I was a tall guy I played a lot of baseball thought maybe baseball was going to be my way through through through high school and then started growing a little bit more and more so the coaches kind of we want you out on the football field so turned out I got out there I played multiple positions no one really knew which one it was going to be but so I kept getting bigger and bigger so they started out as a fullback and Lineback and and up as a lineman so um that's pretty much how I got started and and just the ball kept rolling and another level through high school then college and you know made it to the pros so awesome I accomplished quite a bit for what I didn't think I was going to do a well my father was a professional Cricket player um it wasn't much money in those days so they had to actually have another job and so when I was born he said I want her to be a professional athlete um and so that's pretty much how I I started off with swimming then we did tennis and then I liked golf so we said you can't change Sports anymore otherwise you it'll be too late so I was nine so he said you've got to stick with golf so I stuck with golf until I was like 13 and then I decided I wanted to be a professional surfboard writer and um because of all the cute boys and the surf boards but my father um he tricked me and said if you can break your handicap to scratch before you turned 13 I was 12 at the time um I'll buy you a surfboard for Christmas which was 3 days before uh my birthday was 3 days before Christmas so I worked all winter well summer here but our winter was our golf season so that I could get a surfboard and when I broke I broke my handicap the day of my of my birthday and he goes I guess you'll have to have you want a surfboard for Christmas when no no no I need a sand wedge so so we solved the whole problem so that was it after that um for me I think it was uh my mom literally I remember like before I could I was old enough to play organized Sports I was always kind of bigger kids so I can play with even though I wasn't old enough to play so she just let me play I think I was about uh 8 years old and she just took me to the field cuz I was a very active kid as you can imagine I was very very active and uh she wanted to get me out of the house and I she just took me to the football field and told me to get out and go play and it was as simple as that get out and go play and I've been playing ever since I guess I don't know but that's what started my mom literally took me out I guess she had already talked um to my my little league coach my first coach coach Gilstrap and um was like I'm dropping them off and you know get some of that energy out of him for me that's what it was that's what she held my entire life you know as hey if you don't handle business you can't play football and if I couldn't play football I thought I was going to you know die literally so Mom that's awesome awesome well Jan like you um it was uh it was my dad my dad was just a huge sports fan had been um an athlete in high school and it was something that he just always valued and held in high esteem and regard and um so it was a way I think for the two of us to connect was through Sports through Athletics and I feel like I was really fortunate in coming into sports during a time that was kind of magical for um young women and that was um we were receiving some of the benefits of Title 9 I know title 9's just celebrated its 50th anniversary and for me I graduated high school here at oakd High School in 1979 and that was when um title was moving into affecting Sports and so we were finally seeing some opportunities there there was a lot of interest from young girls during that time and um and then for me much like like this last summer we had the Olympics in 76 and that was um just a time that um you know the Olga corbetts and um Nadia comich those um iconic names in gymnastics and you just wanted to be like them and so that was what really drove me to focus on [Music] gymnastics awesome yes and then today with each one of you prospective athletes how connected are you today's game like going to to a football game or going out to a golf course how connected you to keeping up with today's events I don't usually go to the games anymore and you can watch every one of them on TV t a couch and a refrigerator yes I just don't I I I started doing that right after I got out but I'm like this is no I'm not coming up here I mean I support them in other ways but I'm I'm not going to be in the stands it's it's just too much I can stay at home or at my local Tavern so well I I watch as the golf all the time I mean I'm I'm a golfaholic um I don't play that much I practice a lot um again like you talked about was technique but um I teach the military now um the wounded and the disabled um they found that golf was really important for them to get out and um and have the camaraderie so once a month they come out to the golf course that my manager and I own and um and it's in the foundation's name so they come out and I give them lessons and and teach them and then they get to go play and if they come back three times and they like it then we get them AA golf clubs so that's kept me really busy aome um wow you got me with that that's pretty cool right there that's long want to be like you and I grew up on that seriously know you when you talk about the Vets um to me it's always amazing me that you know they're like oh man great game William you know you're a great player whatever whatever and I'm thinking to myself dude I would not be doing what I'm doing if you didn't do what you did you know so that always kind of strikes when you talking about ents now my bad go back no no don't just U you keep up with the game you come out oh yeah so for me it works out pretty good because um I've been doing radio with Florida State I've been on the the broadcast with the team since coach balon's last year so coach balon's last year was my first year with the radio broadcast and that's why I was actually at UCF and um you know for my husband Alan and I our our whole lives have been woven into the fabric of the university and so um you know it's been more than just a job it's it's been a way of life for us and um I think I have a pretty unique um experience um in that in the last you know 40 some years I have pretty much been at just about every single iconic moment um that UCF Athletics has experienced um just incredible Bowl wins and um playoff games and NCAA tournaments and I have had a front row seat to all of it so it has been an amazing um Journey watching all of this take place and we're you know we're not done yet UCF just moved into the Big 12 last year and this is just the beginning awesome I was going to say the last couple of game that I match just came I came to stands and came came here to watch the Lions and so that was fun I did so I have gone but this is the first time I've been to to a soccer match it's a lot more interesting here than it is watching on TV awesome awesome ask question any other questions well thank you again everyone for coming thank you all for your time this morning we really appreciate it um like I said earlier if anybody wants to do any one-on ones we can set you up in the room next door just just let us know and we'll get that set up okay thank you thank you thank you