Six with KU ties headed to Kansas Hall of Fame

By Staff Reports     Jun 8, 2016

Four former Kansas University student athletes, a former assistant basketball coach and longtime broadcaster Bob Davis will be inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame on Oct. 2, the KSHOF announced Wednesday.

The 12-member class will be enshrined during ceremonies at the HOF in the Wichita Boathouse.

The Kansas contingent: Davis, Bill Bridges (men’s basketball), Tamecka Dixon (women’s basketball), Bill Dotson (track & field), Scott Huffman (track & field) and former KU assistant men’s basketball coach Lafayette Norwood.

The other six class members are: Steve Anson (Kansas State and Washburn baseball), Jerry Kill (national football coach of the year from Cheney), Deandra Doubrava-McBride (Emporia State track and field), Jaime Mendez III (Kansas State football), Austra Skujyte (Kansas State track and field) and George Sweatt (Pittsburg State and Negro League World Series Champion). Anson, Bridges and Sweatt will all be honored posthumously.

Here’s a look at the Hall-bound Jayhawks:

Bill Bridges

Bridges, originally from Hobbs, N.M., was a three-time All-Big Eight Conference selection. Bridges collected more than 1,000 points and rebounds during his three-year Kansas career. In 1961, Bridges was named a first-team All-American. Following his collegiate career, Bridges was selected by the St. Louis Hawks in the 1961 NBA Draft. Bridges played 13 NBA seasons with the St. Louis/Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors, where he totaled more than 11,000 career points and rebounds. Bridges was a three-time NBA All-Star in 1967, 1968 and 1970.

Bob Davis

Iola-born and Topeka-raised, Davis is a graduate of Topeka West High in 1962 and Washburn University in 1967. Davis began his broadcasting career at Fort Hays State University in 1968. In 1984, Davis moved to Lawrence to be the Voice of the Jayhawks, a position he held until 2016. During that span, Davis called eight Jayhawks’ Final Four appearances, including two national championships in 1988 and 2008, and six KU football bowl games. From 1997 to 2013, Davis also called baseball games for the Kansas City Royals. Davis was named the Kansas Sportscaster of the Year 14 times and was a two-time recipient of the Kansas State High School Activities Association’s Oscar Stauffer Sports Broadcasting Award.

Tamecka Dixon

A native of Linden, N.J., Dixon was a two-time All-Big Eight/Big 12 selection in 1996 and 1997. Dixon was also named the conference player of the year both seasons and earned All-America honors in 1997. Dixon led the Jayhawks to four NCAA Tournament appearances, scoring more than 1,600 points and totaling more than 330 assists in her KU career. Dixon was drafted in the first round of the 1997 WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks and was named a three-time WNBA All-Star during her professional career with the Sparks, Houston Comets and Indiana Fever. Dixon also won two WNBA Championships with the Sparks.

Bill Dotson

Concordia native Dotson broke fellow Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inductee Glenn Cunningham’s 28-year-old high school mile record before graduating from Concordia High in 1958. Dotson then enrolled at KU, where he became a two-time All-American and the first KU athlete to break the four-minute mile mark in 1962. Dotson won five Big Eight Conference track titles, three indoor titles and two outdoor, and won the Big Eight Conference title in cross country in 1961. Dotson set three American records in the mile during his career.

Scott Huffman

Quinter native Huffman won the high school state championship in the pole vault at Quinter in 1983, then walked on at KU, where he perfected what became known as the “Huffman Roll” pole-vault technique. Huffman won the 1986 Big Eight Conference outdoor and the 1988 Big Eight Conference indoor championships and was named an indoor All-American in 1986 and 1988. In 1994, Huffman entered his name in the American record books when he cleared a record 19 feet, 7 inches. Huffman was a three-time USA Track and Field National Champion following his career at KU, and he competed in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, finishing 13th.

Lafayette Norwood

Wichita native Norwood, a graduate of Wichita East High in 1952, Norwood attended Cowley College for two years before completing his degree at Southwestern College in 1956. In 1969, Norwood made history when he was named the head basketball coach at Wichita Heights High and became the first African-American coach in the Wichita school district. Norwood led the Falcons to a 109-56 record and a state championship in 1977 before being named an assistant coach for fellow Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inductee Ted Owens at KU in 1978. In 1981, Norwood was named the head basketball and golf coach at Johnson County Community College.

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