The Utah Sports Hall of Fame is an athletics hall of fame in the U.S. state of Utah. The Utah Sports Hall of Fame Foundation, organized in 1967 as The Old Time Athletes Association, was founded "to celebrate and preserve Utah's storied sports heritage." [1] The charter class of 18 members was inducted in 1970 and included Jack Dempsey, Gene Fullmer, and Frank Christensen. Other inductees include professional basketball player Fred Sheffield (1975), [2] Major League Baseball pitcher Kent Peterson (1977), [3] and rodeo champion Earl W. Bascom (1985). [4]
In 2015, the hall inducted former Major League Baseball pitcher Kelly Downs, former Olympic marathoner Ed Eyestone, former National Football League quarterback Scott Mitchell, Olympic gold medalist wrestler and wrestling coach Cael Sanderson, and former college basketball player Wayne Estes. [5]
The fall 2016 class, inducted on October 18 in Salt Lake City, comprised women's college basketball coach Elaine Elliott, former National Basketball Association player Devin Durrant, philanthropist Jon Huntsman Sr., volleyball player Annette Cottle, and NCAA steeplechase champion Farley Gerber. [6]
In May 2019, the organization opened a museum in 99 West on South Temple at City Creek Center in Salt Lake City. [7] [8]
The Salt Lake Bees are a Minor League Baseball (MiLB) team that plays in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, the team will begin play at Daybreak Field at America First Square in 2025. The team previously played its home games at Smith's Ballpark from its opening in 1994 until the end of the 2024 season. Formerly known as the Salt Lake Buzz from 1994 to 2000 and the Salt Lake Stingers from 2001 to 2005, the team adopted the Bees moniker in 2006. Since their inception in 1994, they have been a part of the PCL, including the 2021 season when the league was called Triple-A West.
Gerald Eugene Sloan was an American professional basketball player and coach. He played 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) before beginning a 30-year coaching career, 23 of which were spent as head coach of the Utah Jazz (1988–2011). NBA commissioner David Stern referred to Sloan as "one of the greatest and most respected coaches in NBA history". Sloan was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.
James H. Gardner was an American college basketball coach, known for his tenures as the head coach at Kansas State University and the University of Utah. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Ronald Bruce Boone is an American former professional basketball player. He had a 13-year career in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA). Boone set a record for most consecutive games played in professional basketball history with 1,041 and claims to have never missed a game from when he started playing basketball in the fourth grade until his retirement. Boone is the current color commentator on Utah Jazz broadcasts.
Philip Donald Johnson is a former college basketball player and a former basketball coach. He played college basketball at Utah State University and Weber State, and has coached collegiately at Weber State University.
Chariton Arnold Ferrin Jr. was an American professional basketball player, executive, and college athletics administrator. He played college basketball for the Utah Utes and earned All-American honors four times. He won an NCAA championship in 1944, when he was named the NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player (MOP). They added a National Invitation Tournament (NIT) title in 1947. Ferrin played professionally with the Minneapolis Lakers in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and National Basketball Association (NBA). They won league titles in 1949 and 1950.
Earl Wesley Bascom was an American-Canadian painter, printmaker, sculptor, cowboy, rodeo performer, inventor, and Hollywood actor. Raised in Canada, he portrayed in works of fine art his own experiences of cowboying and rodeoing across the American and Canadian West. Bascom was awarded the Pioneer Award by the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2016 and inducted into several halls of fame including the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1984. Bascom was called the "Cowboy of Cowboy Artists," the "Dean of Rodeo Cowboy Sculpture" and the "Father of Modern Rodeo." He was a participant member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Lewis Feild was an American professional rodeo cowboy. He specialized in bareback bronc riding and saddle bronc riding and competed on the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) circuit. He was the All-Around World Champion from 1985 to 1987 at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR). He was also the Bareback Riding World Champion from 1985 to 1986. The ProRodeo Hall of Fame inducted him in 1992 in the all-around category.
Bill "The Hill" McGill was an American basketball player best known for inventing the jump hook. McGill was the No. 1 overall pick of the 1962 NBA draft out of the University of Utah, with whom he led the NCAA in scoring with 38.8 points per game in the 1961–1962 season.
Ernest Lowell "Dick" Romney was an American football, basketball and baseball player and coach, track athlete, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach and athletic director at the Agricultural College of Utah, now Utah State University, from 1918 to 1949, compiling a career college football record of 128–91–16. Romney was also the head basketball coach at Utah Agricultural from 1919 to 1941, tallying a college basketball mark of 224–158. He served as the commissioner of the Skyline Conference from 1949 to 1960. Romney was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1954 and was elected to the Helms Athletic Foundation and Hall of Fame as a football coach in 1958.
John Gordon Rhodes was a professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1929 to 1936. He played for the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and Philadelphia Athletics. Listed at 6 feet 0 inches (1.83 m) and 187 pounds (85 kg), he batted and threw right-handed.
Bingham High School is a public high school located in South Jordan, Utah, United States. It is one of eight high schools in the Jordan School District. Teacher/pupil ratios are budgeted at 1 to 27.3, with actual class sizes varying. The school's name and mascot are derived from its proximity to the Bingham Copper Mine.
Daniel Earl Mortensen is an American former professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in saddle bronc riding. He competed in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) and won seven world championships; six in saddle bronc riding and one all-around.
The 1957 Utah Redskins football team was an American football team that represented the University of Utah as a member of the Skyline Conference during the 1957 college football season. In their eighth and final season under head coach Jack Curtice, the Redskins compiled an overall record of 6–4 with a mark of 5–1 against conference opponents, winning the Skyline title. Home games were played on campus at Ute Stadium in Salt Lake City.
The Bull Riding Hall of Fame, located at Cowtown Coliseum in the Fort Worth Stockyards in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, is a hall of fame for the sport of bull riding. It is incorporated as a non-profit organization in the State of Texas, and created to "recognize, memorialize, and applaud the bull riders, bullfighters, bulls, stock contractors, events, and individuals who have made a historic contribution and attained stellar performance in the sport." Membership is open to fans worldwide.
The Maine Sports Hall of Fame is sports hall of fame in the U.S. state of Maine. According to the hall, it was founded in 1972 to serve two main purposes:
The Ogden Gunners was the final moniker of the minor league baseball teams based in Ogden, Utah between 1900 and 1928. The Ogden Gunners played the 1926 to 1928 seasons in the Class C level Utah–Idaho League. The Gunners were preceded by Ogden teams in the 1901 Inter-Mountain League, 1902 Utah State League, 1905 Pacific National League, Union Association (1912–1914) and the 1921 Northern Utah League, winning three championships and a league pennant.
Annette Cottle is a former volleyball player and coach. She played collegiately for BYU and Utah State.