Three legends from ‘bygone era’ to be inducted into Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame
Three native Kentuckians from “the bygone era” have been selected as the 2020 class of the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame.
The announcement was made Thursday by the Louisville Sports Commission, owners and operators of the KSHOF.
Comprising the 43rd KSHOF class are:
▪ Pete Browning was one of the most dominant hitters in the early days of major league baseball in the late 1800s and namesake of the Louisville Slugger baseball bat.
A Louisville native, Browning was a star for Louisville’s major-league baseball teams in the 1880s and 1890s. He won three batting titles and had a career batting average of .341.
Browning’s most lasting fame, however, likely owes to his preference for custom-made bats. In 1884, with Browning ensconced in a slump, John Andrew “Bud” Hillerich made a bat for him.
Browning went out and got three hits the next day. From that incident, the Louisville Slugger bat and its manufacturer, Hillerich & Bradsby, were born.
Browning died in 1905 at age 44.
▪ Anna May Hutchison was a record-setting sidearm pitcher in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) during the World War II era.
Also a Louisville native, Hutchison was a star pitcher in the AAGPBL, made famous in the movie “A League of Their Own.”
She played five seasons with the Racine Belles (1944-48) and the final year (1949) with Muskegon. A converted catcher, Hutchison in 1946 threw a no-hitter, led the league with a 26-14 record and guided her team to the postseason championship by pitching in eight of the 10 postseason games and recording three wins.
The following season, she set records for most wins (27), most shutouts (12) and most innings pitched (360), and pitched two 19-inning games.
Hutchison died in 1998 at age 72.
▪ Clarence “Cave” Wilson was a prep and collegiate basketball star at all-Black schools and at the time of his retirement in 1964, the longest-tenured player-coach for the Harlem Globetrotters.
A Horse Cave native, Wilson turned down the chance to play professional baseball in the Cleveland Indians chain. Instead, he traveled the world playing and coaching the Globetrotters.
In an era of racial segregation, Wilson led Horse Cave’s African-American school to consecutive undefeated seasons, back-to-back Kentucky Black high school titles and 65 consecutive victories before a loss in the finals of the first National All-Black Basketball Tournament.
After earning his degree and starring as a basketball player at Tennessee A&I (now Tennessee State), Wilson played with the Globetrotters from 1949 through 1964.
At the time of his retirement, Wilson had the longest continuous tenure of any team member in Globetrotters history.
Wilson died in 1996 at age 70.
The Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame Bygone Era Selection Team — comprised of KSHOF members Donna Murphy, George Tinsley and Jim Host — made this year’s selections.
Due to COVID-19, there will be no Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame banquet for the class of 2020.
The Hall of Fame hopes to return to its regular selection process for 2021.
