Hopkinsville High School Athletics Director Jacob Ezell announced the school’s fourth Planters Bank Athletic Hall of Fame class Friday morning.
Seven football players, four basketball players, a baseball player, a swimmer, soccer coach and an athletics contributor are among the 16-member class that will be inducted during a ceremony on January 10 at Tiger Gym.
Leading the way is former football coach Craig Clayton, who is the school’s all-time winningest football coach with a 195-99 record in two stints with the Tigers. He also coached in Tennessee and has 304 total wins in his career.
Tiger football players from the 60’s era including Rick Deason, Tony Ricks, Jessie Green, and Kenny Lee are joined by former grid stars Brian Dodd and Ricky Abren.
Deason and Abren went on to play at the University of Kentucky. Dodd was a multi-year starter at the University of Cincinnati. Abren was named to the All-SEC Freshman Team and Second Team All-America Freshman Team before injuries sidelined his career.
Lee and Green played for Western Kentucky University and Ricks, a four-sport star at Hoptown, went on to a stellar football career at Memphis State.
Jordan Majors, Tommy Wade, and Lamonte Ware are the three basketball players to be inducted this year. Majors is second all-time in scoring at HHS behind JaQualis Matlock, and Ware was a key member of the 1985 state champion team. Majors went on to play four seasons at Florida Tech. Ware played three seasons at Austin Peay State before enjoying a successful professional career in Australia.
Wade recently retired after a long career as an assistant basketball coach at the collegiate level. He won back-to-back NAIA Division 1 national championships at Oklahoma City and helped guide Kentucky Wesleyan to a Division-II National title. He also has coached at Oklahoma State, Jacksonville State, South Alabama and Murray State.
Wade played collegiately at Murray State and Southeast Missouri State before enjoying a professional career in Argentina.
Former Hoptown basketball coach Tim Haworth also is part of the newest hall of fame class. Haworth is the all-time winningest basketball coach at the school and currently coaches at Louisville Male High School. Haworth guided the Tigers to a 200-58 record in eight seasons and led Hoptown to five Region 2 championships.
Hopkinsville Lady Tigers soccer coach Jeff Addison, who is the all-time winningest coach in any sport at the school with 253 victories, also is part of the newest class. He is in his second stint as the girls’ soccer coach at Hoptown. During his first 18 years as coach, he led the team to 12 district championships and three region titles. Since returning to coach early in the 2021 season, Addison has guided the Lady Tigers to two district crowns.
Former Tiger baseball star Easton McGee also will be inducted in the fourth class. McGee is the only Christian County native to reach the Major League Baseball level and has pitched for the Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners. He currently is in the Milwaukee Brewers organization and played last summer with the Nashville Sounds.
McGee, the 2016 Kentucky Mr. Baseball, committed to play for the University of Kentucky but was drafted in the fourth round by the Rays in 2016. During his senior season at Hopkinsville, McGee pitched 68 innings and had a 1.24 ERA with 100 strikeouts. He allowed only 12 runs that season.
Lindsay Porter-Adele enjoyed a successful swimming career and Hopkinsville and still holds the school record in the 50-meter freestyle.
Another former coach on the list is Pete Rembert. Rembert came to Hopkinsville from Attucks High School and served as track coach and assistant football coach on the 1965 and 1966 Hopkinsville state championship teams.
The final member of the class is former WHOP Sports Director, General Manager, and long-time Hopkinsville High School basketball and football play-by-play broadcaster Mike Chadwell.
Chadwell began broadcasting Hoptown games in 1979 and wrapped up his career in 2000, a span of 22 seasons.
This year’s class will be inducted during a ceremony between the girls’ and boys’ basketball games against Christian County on January 10.
File Photos of Mike Chadwell and Jeff Addison
Easton McGee photo by Cindy Dougherty
Tommy Wade photo by Annistonstar.com