Simmons Says: More Await call from the Hall
From left, Jennifer Wilson, Jimmy Walker and Raymond Martin all got the call from the Warren County Sports Hall of Fame Saturday.
Before I even get started, let me make one thing clear: I am a member of the Warren County Sports Hall of Fame committee. Well, I was. And I think I still am - at least I want to be.
So, with that out in the open really, I want to make it clear that anything I'm about to say isn't me pointing a finger at somebody else - it's pointing back at me too.
Saturday's Warren County Sports Hall of Fame ceremony was a reminder of just how much incredible sports history exists in this community. It was also a reminder that those of us entrusted with preserving and celebrating that history need to step up our game. If there was any doubt, Hall of Fame coach Ronnie Brown made it clear.
“The committee has a lot of work to do. There are athletes out there that, by golly, should be here. Now, for next year, please don't overlook them,” pleaded Brown during introductions of Greg and Phillip King, two guys who were getting into the Warren County Sports Hall of Fame years after they were inducted into college Hall of Fames (UT Martin and Bethel College, respectively, in case you were wondering).
And while some athletes blossom after leaving Warren County, or come to town with an athletic history already set in stone, the majority of these great players and coaches cut their teeth here. So if they’re going to be honored elsewhere, it’s usually a safe bet they deserve the recognition here too.
I spent Saturday listening to eight very different stories, some I’d heard before and others I hadn’t. And, without question, you start realizing how much Warren County meant to everybody on the Park Theater stage.
Jessica Grayson talked about growing up in Warren County before basketball took her to Austin Peay and ultimately into a coaching career that now has her at West Virginia. More importantly, she talked about the people who helped her get there and made it clear she viewed her induction as an honor shared by everybody who invested in her.
“No matter where life has taken me, Warren County will always be home,” Grayson said. “Thank you for raising this small-town girl.”
That hit home in a powerful way from a Lady Pioneer who - as many people pointed out over the last few years - should’ve been in the Hall a long time ago.
As we honored Charles “Slim” Ingalls, a guy who didn't need to score a point to become part of Warren County sports history, the weight of waiting also hit home. Did he deserve the honor? Unquestionably. Would it have been more impactful if he would’ve been there to accept it himself? Absolutely.
Slim always showed up for Warren County - again and again and again. He walked to games. He encouraged kids. He believed in teams when, frankly, they weren't very good and probably believed they were going to win anyway.
“Believe in yourself.” It’s a phrase that is synonymous with Warren County sports. I, like many others, would’ve loved to hear it straight from Slim at the Hall of Fame induction.
Look, I can go on and on. Saturday WAS a great day. It was everything you’d want from a celebration: the venue was great, the cookies were good, the people were honored and humble, the support was tremendous. And the stories resonated, especially when you got the brothers rolling.
Greg and Phillip King went in together - though Greg wasn’t able to attend. Phillip stood there and talked about growing up competing with Greg everywhere they could find a ball and a place to play. He talked about the coaches who influenced him and how Greg ultimately helped point him toward coaching.
Then came the Walkers.
Jamie “Cat” Walker has pitched in the major leagues. He pitched in a World Series! There are fields around here named after him. His jersey and picture are on the wall at Patrick Ramsey Field. Anybody who has ever picked up a baseball in Warren County over the last 30 years knows Cat Walker and knows he was in the World Series.
Yet when talking about his brother Jimmy, Cat said one of the greatest experiences of his entire professional career was getting Jimmy onto the field to throw batting practice for the Buffalo Bisons.
Think about that. Jimmy Walker spent years throwing BP to Warren County hitters. Then, for a couple of days, professional baseball players got to experience what generations of Pioneers already knew.
That’s a Hall of Fame story. And there were more.
Andy Link's daughter Jena introduced her dad and told everybody about a kid who used to wait for his older brother to finish baseball practice so he could take the shoes off his brother's feet and wear them for his own practice.
Raymond Martin talked about playing basketball in a completely different era: no 3-point line, no shot clock and no dunking. And still, he was averaging more than 20 points and 14 rebounds a night for Warren County. Something tells me that point total would have skyrocketed with dunking because Raymond towered over everybody at the table Saturday - he still looked like he could secure a double-double in a backyard BBQ game today.
And Jennifer Wilson's story was another reminder of how quickly sports history can change.
Betty Wood joked that when Warren County hired Frank Wilson to coach basketball locally in 1996, somebody must have known there was a pretty good player coming in the deal. Jennifer helped change the trajectory of the Lady Pioneer program, then went to Trevecca and became a four-time All-American with more than 2,000 points.
Those are great stories and I think that was why Brown made his point.
Are we doing enough with them?
There are so many of those stories still out there and we - whether you want to put it just on the committee or encompass all of the sports fans of Warren County - have to work on finding them and preserving them. I’ve said for years in committee meetings that my expertise of local sports really doesn’t begin until the 2000s - but the funny thing about that is we’ve yet to induct any athlete who participated in sports in that time period.
We’ve honored many coaches, but we’ve yet to get around to some of the talented Pioneers and Lady Pioneers who made it happen too. And I know people will say, “Well, there are so many people missing from a long time ago.” Well folks, 2000 was over a quarter of a century ago. As much as it pains me to say it: That was a long time ago too.
A Hall of Fame shouldn't, and can’t, simply exist for one afternoon when we induct another class, take pictures, hand out plaques and then start thinking about who goes in next. Or, even worse, be something that pops up every other year for a day and then fades into the darkness.
It should be the keeper of Warren County sports history. It is!
We've now got generations of athletes, coaches and contributors represented in this Hall of Fame. There are people on that membership list whose accomplishments happened long before many of us, including me, were born. There are others we watched ourselves. Some are still coaching. Some are still teaching. Some are gone.
Their stories shouldn't disappear with them. That's where I think we have to get better.
And again, we means me too.
We should be finding better ways to preserve biographies, photographs, statistics, newspaper clippings, videos and stories from our Hall of Famers. When somebody wants to know why Lester Strode is in the Hall of Fame, there ought to be somewhere to find out. The same should be true for Danny Martin, Patti Womack Clarke, Ronnie Brown, Jamie Walker or any of the other members.
Twenty years from now, somebody shouldn't have to hunt through a box in somebody's attic to learn why Jessica Grayson, Phillip King or Jennifer Wilson was inducted in 2026.
We should also be asking how we make induction into the Warren County Sports Hall of Fame feel like one of the biggest honors this community can give an athlete, coach or contributor. Because it is.
That doesn't mean Saturday wasn't special. It was. Many people behind the scenes, chief among them Tanarra Grissom, moved heaven and earth to make sure we could finally bring in the class of 2024.
And if you needed any more proof of how special it was, the speeches proved it. There were people talking about parents who are no longer here. Brothers were talking about brothers, daughters introducing their fathers and coaches talking about players, followed by players talking about coaches.
It brought about laughter, tears and stories that maybe would’ve been forgotten forever if not for the banquet.
That's exactly why I left thinking we can do more.
I'm not interested in criticizing the people who have spent years volunteering their time to keep the Warren County Sports Hall of Fame alive. Without them, there wouldn't be a Hall of Fame to improve. Heck, if not for Security Federal unearthing this back a decade ago, we’d probably just be starting from scratch again in a few years, then see that fizzle out and die too.
Right now, I'm interested in building on what they've created. Maybe that's better promotion, more involvement from our existing Hall of Famers or finding ways to tell their stories throughout the year.
Maybe it's creating a stronger permanent historical presence where people can actually see who is in the Hall and understand why - though, man, that would be quite an undertaking. But, as Jimmy Walker noted when he was talking about restoring trophies and history at WCHS, it’s worth it.
And, of course, maybe there are ideas none of us on the committee have considered yet. We are willing to hear those too.
Saturday was a success for a lot of reasons, but its enduring success may be that it showed once again Warren County sports history isn't lacking. The list of qualified Hall of Famers in our area isn’t lacking and the stories they can tell definitely aren't lacking.
Now it's on those of us currently entrusted with the Warren County Sports Hall of Fame to make sure the way we preserve, present and celebrate that history rises to the same level as the people whose names are already in it.
I'm on that committee. So I'll start with myself. We can do better.
With Hall of Famers this good, we should.
