Trio of K-State football players headline 2020 class for Kansas Sports Hall of Fame
A trio of Kansas-born former Kansas State football players who each had successful careers in the NFL headline the 2020 class of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, which was announced Wednesday.
Jordy Nelson, Terence Newman and Darren Sproles, along with seven others, will be inducted on Sunday, Oct. 4 at the Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane. The 10-member class boosts the total number in the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame to 307. Tickets for the induction ceremony will go on sale Aug. 1 and be available on kshof.org.
Nelson was a three-sport athlete at Riley County, where he won five state track championships, before joining the K-State football team as a walk-on and graduating as a consensus All-American wide receiver in 2008. Nelson was picked in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers and played 11 seasons in the NFL, where he won Super Bowl XLV with the Packers in 2010 and was also named a 2014 Pro Bowl selection.
Newman was a four-sport athlete at Salina Central, including an all-state football career and three state titles on the track. He lettered all four years with the K-State football team, including a 2002 season that saw him win the Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back and become a consensus All-American. Newman was selected fifth overall in the 2003 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys in a career that lasted 15 seasons and saw him earn two Pro Bowl selections.
Sproles was a two-sport athlete at Olathe North High, where he was a two-time all-state selection in football, before becoming an All-American running back for the Wildcats in his junior season in 2003. Sproles remains K-State’s all-time leading rusher for career and single-season yards and led the NCAA in all-purpose yards in 2004. He was drafted in the fouth round in 2004 by the San Diego Chargers and played 14 NFL seasons, garnering three Pro Bowl selections. He ranks fifth all-time in career all-purpose yards.
Other inductees are:
- Kym (Carter) Begel. A three-time state champion in the high jump, Begel set the national high school jump record at 6-2 1/4 in 1982 as a senior at Wichita East. That record still stands as the Kansas state record. Finished as a five-time collegiate All-American, split between Houston and LSU, before qualifying for the US Olympic team in the 1992 Olympics in the heptathlon. Begel was a three-time USATF Hepathlete of the Year.
- Casey Blake. A three-time baseball All-American selection at Wichita State from 1993-96. Blake was the Missouri Valley Conference MVP in 1996 and named to the MVC All-Centennial team. He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1996 MLB Draft and played 13 seasons in the major leagues with more than 1,100 hits, 600 RBIs and 167 home runs in his career.
- Heather (Leverington) Dotterer. Had an illustrious throwing career at Emporia State from 1998-02, which included five national championships, two NCAA Division II records and seven All-American honors. Went on to finish ninth in the 2000 US Olympic Trials before winning two gold medals in the shot put and discus at the 2018 US Transplant Games.
- Steve Fritz. One of the best all-around track athletes in Kansas history, Fritz competed on 10 US national teams in the decathlon with his crowning achievement coming in the 1996 Olympics when he finished fourth in the decathlon. He was a two-sport athlete (basketball and track) at Hutchinson Community College, where he was on the 1988 NJCAA championship basketball team, and at Kansas State, where he was a two-time All-American and later returned as an assistant coach for more than 20 years.
- Drew Gooden. One of the top Jayhawks to play under Roy Williams, Gooden was the co-National Player of the Year, Big 12 Player of the Year and a first-team All-American in the 2002 season that ended with KU in the Final Four. Gooden was the second player in KU history to total at least 1,500 points, 900 rebounds, 100 blocks and 100 steals in a career. He was picked fourth overall in the 2002 NBA Draft and played 14 seasons in the NBA with more than 8,600 career points.
- Adrian Griffin. One of the top basketball players from his era, Griffin was a two-time all-state selection at Wichita East in 1991 and 92 and led the Blue Aces to the state title in 1992. He went on to become a four-year letterman at Seton Hall, where he helped the team win a Big East title, before playing nine seasons in the NBA. He has been an assistant coach in the NBA since 2008, currently with the Toronto Raptors, where he won an NBA championship last season.
- Bill Morris. The 1957 Russell High graduate won the bronze medal in the 1964 Olympics in men’s trapshooting, while serving as a lieutenant in the Army stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia. He won the 1956 US Junior Trapshooting All-Around Championship and the 1963 US international-style championship in skeet shooting. He also tied the world record in international skeet with 297 out of 300 in 1963.
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