COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Three former student-athletes who ranked
among the very best in their sports, and one of the Athletic
Department’s most successful coaches, are the four people who
will be enshrined into the Tennessee Tech Sports Hall of Fame in
November as the school honors its athletic legacy with the 38th
annual induction ceremony.
The 2012 Hall of Fame Class will be honored during Homecoming weekend, Nov. 2-3. The induction will take place at the Hall of Fame Dinner Friday evening, and the group will also recognized at the Homecoming football game Saturday, Nov. 3, against Eastern Illinois.
Two of the former athletes to be honored come from the football program, and one is from the women’s basketball team. The coach selected headed up the Tech men’s and women’s tennis teams. This year’s inductees are:
- Ken Fults, a four-year member of the Tennessee Tech football team who was part of the historic Golden Eagle squad that took home four consecutive Ohio Valley Conference titles, from 1958-61. A two-time all-OVC selection, Fults was a third-team all-America pick as a senior.
- Janet Holt, a 2002 graduate who led the TTU women’s basketball team to four OVC championships and two NCAA appearances. She was a three-time OVC Player of the Year, four-time all-OVC, Kodak all-Region pick and CoSIDA Academic All-American.
- Grant Swallows not only established numerous records while serving as quarterback of the Golden Eagle football team from 1999-2002, he was an all-OVC honoree, won the league’s Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award, the Robert Hill Johnson Award and the Sonny Allen Leadership Award, and was selected CoSIDA Academic all-district. He was the first person ever chosen as both Tech’s Male Athlete of the Year and Man of the Year.
- Randy Smith served successfully at Tennessee Tech, first as a student-athlete and later a both an administrator and coach, retiring from those roles in 2006. His coaching career includes four Ohio Valley Conference Tennis Coach of the Year honors, two with the men’s team and two with the women’s team. His list of responsibilities as an administrator continued to grow during his 11 years. At his retirement, he was Associate Athletics Director for Operations, Facilities and Capital Projects.
In-depth information on each of the four inductees will be announced in October as the ceremony approaches.
Tickets to the Hall of Fame Dinner and the Homecoming football game are available by calling (931) 372-3940, or through the Athletics ticket office in Eblen Center. Reservations must be made for the dinner, and tickets are $25 each.