Skip to content
Eagles
Link copied to clipboard

Allen, McGraw head Phila. Hall of Fame class

The 2010 Class of the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame is an eclectic mix of the legendary and little-known, the famous and forgotten, people and places, and even a veteran sportswriter.

The 2010 Class of the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame is an eclectic mix of the legendary and little-known, the famous and forgotten, people and places, and even a veteran sportswriter.

The Hall's seventh group of inductees, announced during a lunchtime news conference Wednesday at the Sheraton Society Hill, is topped by a pair of former Phillies, Dick Allen and the late Tug McGraw.

At the other end of the recognizability chart are the late Hobey Baker, a World War I hero who won national titles in football and hockey with Princeton, and Elizabeth Becker, a two-time Olympic diving gold-medalist in 1924 and '28.

It includes Eagles (Mike Quick and the late Tom Brookshier), a 76er (Bobby Jones), and a Flyer (Ron Hextall), an MVP from the Philadelphia Athletics (Bobby Shantz), a Pro Football Hall of Famer (Leroy Kelly), a former heavyweight boxing champion (the late Jersey Joe Walcott) and a women's basketball pioneer (Marianne Stanley).

Others who will be inducted during the organization's annual banquet on Nov. 11 are the late Bill Hyndman, golf's two-time U.S. Senior Amateur champion; and Jim Phelan, who at Mount St. Mary's coached more games than anyone else in college basketball history (1,354).

Longtime Philadelphia Daily News basketball writer Phil Jasner, who has covered the NBA and the 76ers full-time since 1981, will receive the Legacy of Excellence Award. And the Lighthouse Boys/Soccer Club, the 113-year-old Kensington organization that produced some of America's earliest soccer heroes, will be honored with the Lifetime Commitment award.

Allen, a three-time all-star in his nine Philadelphia seasons and one of the most enigmatic athletes to perform in this city, attended the session and appeared genuinely moved.

"I don't know how to accept honors personally," he said. "But it's been a long, hard road getting here."