International Sports Hall of Fame Inductees for 2017:
International Sports Hall of Fame Inductees for 2017: www.SportsHOF.org
HERSCHEL WALKER-One of greatest football legends of all time
APOLO OHNO-8 Time Olympic Medalist Speed Skating
BILL KAZMAIER-World’s Strongest Man
LOU FERRIGNO-Body Building Champion & Movie Star
DR TOM ROSANDICH-Founder US Sports Academy
HERSCHEL WALKER
Herschel Walker -is a former professional American football player, bobsledder, sprinter and mixed martial artist. He earned consensus All-American honors three times and won the 1982 Heisman Trophy, and his professional football career was with NFL Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants… and the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League. As running back, he was the most sought after high school football player in the nation. He won the USFL (United States Football League) rushing title in 1983 and 1985. He set the professional football record for single-season rushing yards with 2,411 yards in 1985, His combined rushing numbers for the USFL and the NFL (13,787 yards) would place hi 5th All-Time on the NFL’s career rushing list. His combined all purpose yards for the USFL and the NFL (25,283 yards) would place him 1st All-Time on the NFL’s list. In 12 NFL seasons, Walker gained 8,225 rushing yards, 4,859 receiving yards, and 5,084 kickoff-return yards. for 18,168 total combined net yards, ranking him second among the NFL’s all-time leaders in total yardage as of his retirement. He is the only player to gain 4,000 yards three different ways: rushing, receiving and kickoff returns and is the only player to record an 84+ yard touchdown run and an 84+ yard touchdown reception in the same game (December 14, 1986). Walker is regarded as one of the top college running backs of all time. In 1999, he was selected to Sports Illustrated’s NCAA Football All-Century Team. On the Fox Sports Net show Sports List, Walker was named the best college football running back of all time and was selected as the third greatest player in college football history by ESPN. While still an active NFL player, Walker competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, as a member of the United States’ bobsleigh team. He also had an undefeated Mixed Martial Arts career with 2-0. A true legend in multiple sport disciplines.
APOLO OHNO
Apolo Anton Ohno is an American short track speed skating competitor and an eight-time medalist (two gold, two silver, four bronze) in the Winter Olympics. At the age of 14, he became the youngest U.S. national champion in 1997 and was the reigning champion from 2001–2009, winning the title a total of 12 times. In December 1999, he became the youngest skater to win a World Cup event title, and became the first American to win a World Cup overall title in 2001, which he won again in 2003 and 2005. He won his first overall World Championship title at the 2008 championships. Ohno’s accolades and accomplishments include being the United States Olympic Committee’s Male Athlete of the Month in October 2003 and March 2008, the U.S. Speedskating’s Athlete of the Year for 2003, and was a 2002, 2003 and 2006 finalist for the Sullivan Award, which recognizes the best amateur athlete in the United States. In 2007, competed on and won the reality TV show Dancing with the Stars.
LOU FERRIGNO
Lou Ferrigno is an American actor, fitness trainer, fitness consultant and retired professional bodybuilder. As a bodybuilder, Ferrigno won the IFBB Mr. America title and two consecutive IFBB Mr. Universe titles, and top placings at Mr. Olympia competitions and appeared in the bodybuilding documentary ‘Pumping Iron’. Following this, Ferrigno left the competition circuit for many years, a period that included a brief stint as a defensive lineman for the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League. Lou competed in the first annual World’s Strongest Man competition in 1977, where he finished fourth in a field of eight competitors. As an actor, he is best known for his title role in the CBS television series The Incredible Hulk and vocally reprising the role in subsequent animated and computer-generated incarnations. He has also appeared in European-produced fantasy-adventures such as Sinbad of the Seven Seas and Hercules, and as himself in the sitcom The King of Queens and the 2009 comedy I Love You, Man.
BILL KAZMAIER
Bill Kazmaier is an American former world champion powerlifter, world champion strongman and professional wrestler. During the 1970s and 1980s, he set numerous powerlifting and strongman world records, and won two International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Championships and three World’s Strongest Man titles. In the 1980s, Kazmaier became famous for his claim to be “the strongest man who ever lived” by equaling and surpassing spectacular and versatile feats of strength of famous strongmen of the 20th century. He is widely considered to be one of the all-time greatest competitors in strength competitions. Kazmaier officially became the first human to bench press 300 kg (661.4 lbs) (raw) in an IPF-sanctioned meet* and recorded his lifetime best three-lift-total of 2425 lbs (1100 kg), a powerlifting world record that remained unsurpassed for more than a decade. Kazmaier became one of the few lifters in history to hold world records in three of the four powerlifting events at the same time by setting a new deadlift world record at 402 kg (886.7 lbs) raw in competition. Kazmaier’s greatest fame came from his victories in the World’s Strongest Man contests, competing in six of them, where he dominated the competitions in 1980, 1981, and 1982, winning all by an exceptionally large margin. He was the first man to win the WSM title three times and remains one of only two men ever to win it three times in a row. Kazmaier is one of the five most successful competitors in the history of the contest. Because of his achievements in strength athletics and powerlifting, Kazmaier is seen by many as one of the strongest men ever. Kazmaier was voted “the third strongest man that ever lived”, just behind Mark Henry and Žydrūnas Savickas.
DR TOM ROSANDICH
Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich has had a long and storied career in the profession of sport dating to the early 1950s and is Founder and President of the United States Sports Academy for more than 43 years developing the #1 Sports Academy in the world. A highly regarded track coach, his athletes included numerous Olympic and world record holders. Among these were Bob Mathias, Olympic Champion and world-record holder decathlete, Josh Culbreath, world record holder in the 400 meter hurdles, Al Cantello, in the javelin and Bob Gutowski, in the pole vault. It is significant to note that the revenue generated through the international programs conducted by the Academy subsidized the education of literally thousands of American graduate students who obtained their degrees from the institution. The campus, which has won architectural awards for its beauty, also houses the American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA). Founded in 1984, ASAMA embodies the enduring connection between sports and art. Through tireless effort, Rosandich built the collection from a half dozen pieces into a world-recognized museum housing almost 1,900 pieces in all mediums whose estimated value is more than $12 million. It is thought to be the largest museum of the sport genre in the entire world. Dr. Rosandich founded the United States Sports Academy in 1972 in response to an inferior performance by the United States Olympic team in the 1972 Munich Games. Athletes were lacking quality coaching and training. offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs as well as certificate programs. Founded in 1972, the Academy has provided its sports programs to more than 60 countries around the world.
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