This is Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame weekend in Natchitoches, with eight athletic giants set to be inducted Saturday night. University High product and former MLB player Daryl Hamilton is among the honorees.

CLASS OF 2008:

KARL “THE MAILMAN” MALONE -- (Basketball) Selected as an all-star 13 times in 19 NBA seasons, Malone ranks among the league’s all-time great scorers and rebounders. The Summerfield native scored 36,928 points (second all-time behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387) and pulled down 14,968 rebounds (sixth all-time) in 18 seasons with the Utah Jazz and one with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was also a member of the fabled USA “Dream Team” that won gold in the 1992 Olympic Games, and returned for another gold medal in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. A first-round draft pick of the Jazz in 1985, he averaged 25.0 points and 10.1 rebounds a game for his career. He averaged more than 20.0 points a game in 17 seasons -- all but his first and last seasons in the league -- with a career-high of 31.0 in 1989-90 and averaged in double figures in rebounds 10 times with a career-best of 12.0 in 1987-88. In 193 career playoff games, Malone averaged 24.7 points and 10.7 rebounds. He was the league’s MVP in 1996-97 and 1998-99 and was a two-time All-Star Game MVP. A rugged and powerful 6-foot-9, 250-pound forward, Malone played in 1,476 games (fourth in NBA history) and logged an amazing 54,852 minutes of playing time (the second-most in NBA history) and averaged 37.2 minutes a game for his entire career. He is the league’s all-time leader in free throws (9,787) and free-throw attempts (13,188) and ranks second all-time in field goals (13,528) and field-goal attempts (26,210). He also ranks 10th in career scoring average (25.0). During a legendary college career at Louisiana Tech, he averaged 18.7 points, hitting on 57 percent of his field-goal attempts, and 9.3 rebounds in 92 career games.

LEONARD MARSHALL – (Football) A two-time Pro Bowl defensive end, Marshall is a Franklin native who played defensive end for LSU from1979-82 and was a second-round draft pick of the New York Giants in 1983. He blossomed into a highly regarded pro player in 12 NFL seasons with the Giants (1983-92), New York Jets (1993) and Washington Redskins (1994). Marshall payed in 177 games and had 83 1/2 career sacks, two interceptions and two safeties. A two-time Pro Bowl pick in 1986 and 1987, he helped the Giants win two Super Bowls (XXI, XXV) and led the team in sacks twice, recording 15 1/2 in 1985 and 11 in 1991, He also had 12 sacks in 1986 when the Giants went on to win Super Bowl XXI. Despite ranking fifth all-time on the Giants' sack list with 79 1/2, Marshall also was a stout run defender. During his 10 seasons with the Giants, they ranked fifth or higher against the run five times and were in the league's top 10 in total defense seven times.

AENEAS WILLIAMS – (Football) A third-round draft pick of out of Southern University in 1991, after walking on to the Jaguars team out of Fortier High School, Williams earned a reputation as one of the NFL’s top cornerbacks during a sparkling 14-year NFL career with the Arizona Cardinals (1991-2000) and St. Louis Rams (2001-04). He was an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and four-time All-Pro pick in becoming one of the league’s top shutdown corners before moving to safety late in his career. He played in 211 regular-season games with 206 starts, seeing action in 183 consecutive games with 180 straight starts before a broken fibula in 2002 ended those streaks. He had 55 career interceptions, collecting at least four picks in eight of 14 seasons, and came up with six interceptions in postseason play. He led or shared the NFL lead among cornerbacks three times. Williams was named to the NFL Team of the 1990s at cornerback along with Deion Sanders, Darrell Green and Rod Woodson. Williams returned nine interceptions for TDs in his career, tying him for second-most in NFL history behind Woodson’s 12. He also returned three fumbles for touchdowns while recovering 23 fumbles. Williams set an NFL record in 2001 with two TDs on interceptions (both off Brett Favre) in the same playoff game. A week later, his interception of Donovan McNabb with 1:47 left sealed a win in the NFC title game and helped the Rams reach Super Bowl XXXVI -- which was played in his hometown of New Orleans. At Southern, he ranked second in Division I-AA with seven interceptions as a junior and tied for the national lead in 1990 with 11.

DARRYL HAMILTON – (Baseball) A speedy, left-handed hitting outfielder who didn’t play high school baseball at University High in Baton Rouge because it didn’t field a team (he played football and basketball), he went on to star at Nicholls State and played 13 seasons with Milwaukee, Texas, San Francisco, Colorado and the New York Mets. In 1,328 big-league games, he had a .291 career average with 1,333 hits and 454 RBIs. A quiet, unassuming player who possessed a great work ethic, he also had 163 stolen bases -- including a career-best 41 in 1992. An 11th-round draft pick of the Brewers in 1986, he played center field primarily, but also played the corner outfield positions and committed just 14 errors in 13 seasons for a .995 career fielding percentage. Hamilton batted .300 four times, hitting a career-high .315 with the Rockies and Mets in 1999. He batted at least .290 seven times. His best all-around seasons were in 1993 when he hit .310 with 161 hits for the Brewers and 1996 when he batted .293 with a career-high 184 hits in 148 games with the Rangers. At Nicholls State from 1984-86, he stole a school-record 140 bases with a career-high 52 in 1985 and led the team in runs all three seasons, finishing with 193 for his career. He also led the Colonels in hits in 1985 (77) and ‘86 (82) and topped the 1985 club in hitting with a .379 average.

TOMMY HENRY – (High School) Retired in 2007 after his 24th year as commissioner of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, Henry emerged as one of the most progressive high school athletic commissioners in the nation. During his tenure the LHSAA became a self-efficient legislative organization. Henry was named the LHSAA’s third commissioner in 1983 after having served as an assistant commissioner since 1976. Under his leadership, the LHSAA’ financial reserves grew from $40,000 to $1.5 million with corporate sponsorship endeavors helping set the pace. He founded the Superdome Classic football championships in his first year as commissioner and steered state championship events to many outstanding venues around the state. Prior to his tenure, many of the state championship competitions were held at high schools. Henry secured a major television contract for championship events. Among other administrative highlights, Henry upgraded the football and basketball officials programs establishing scouting and critiquing of officials; established a wild-card program in football, girls and boys basketball, and in baseball and softball; established hardship eligibility and appeals programs; and re-wrote the LHSAA handbook in 1991-92, the first major revision in the then 72-year history of the organization. He established a Scholar-Athlete program featuring all-state academic teams for several sports. He added boys and girls soccer as a state championship sports, along with track and field events for physically challenged athletes (wheelchair events). A native of Alexandria and a graduate of Bolton High School and Northwestern State, Henry was a teacher and coach at Bossier High from 1963-75, guiding one of the state’s top prep baseball programs.

GAYLE HATCH – (Weightlifting) Hatch and Skip Bertman are the only state residents to serve as head USA Olympic coaches. The USA men’s weightlifting head coach at the 2004 Olympic Games, Hatch was inducted into the USA Strength and Conditioning Coaches Hall of Fame’s inaugural 14-member class in August 2003, along with Baton Rouge’s Alvin Roy; and the USA Olympic Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame in April 2002. He received the NFL Strength & Conditioning Coaches’ Society “President’s Award” for his role in developing the profession at the 2005 NFL Combine. Hatch served as meet director of the 2000 USA Olympic Trials. In 2007-08, Hatch worked at LSU as basketball strength and conditioning coach after his program helped the 2006 Tigers reach the Final Four. The Baton Rouge resident has won 12 national Coach of the Year honors from USA Weightlifting. He has coached 43 national champion lifters who set numerous American and junior American records. Among his best-known athletes are 1984 USA Olympian Tommy Calandro and 1988 and 1992 USA Olympian Bret Brian. He has had athletes named to more than 50 USA teams competing internationally. Hatch also has helped shape the careers of several notable strength coaches in the college and professional sports ranks. LSU’s head strength coach, Tommy Moffitt, and Tennessee’s head strength coach, Johnny Long, both attribute their recent national football championships in part to the Hatch strength program. Hatch was a dynamic basketball player for Northwestern State in 1960-62 who was drafted to play professionally. While at Northwestern, Hatch led the Demons in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage before he was chosen by the Chicago Majors of the American Basketball League, forerunner of the American Basketball Association which eventually merged with the NBA. Hatch set a school record in his senior year by shooting 57.7 percent in 1961-62, a mark that ranks 10th in school history some 40 years later. Hatch established a school mark for scoring with 18 field goals made in a game against a 21-4 Kentucky Wesleyan team, missing only three shots in an amazing performance. He was elected to the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003. He is in six Halls of Fame, also included in the Catholic HS, Northwestern State athletic, Northwestern State alumni halls, and material on him was included in the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of the American Indian when it opened in 2005.

GERALDINE “JELLY” PIGOTT –The girls prep basketball coach at Dry Prong, Selma, Greensburg and Jena, she made an indelible impact on state prep history as the Lady Giants coach. She coached at Jena from 1952 to 1970, averaging 35 wins a year and losing no more than five games a season. Jena girls basketball became one of the state’s premier high school programs in any sport during her reign. In 34 years of coaching her teams never had a losing season, winning about 90 percent of their games. She had two one-loss seasons. Her teams won 29 district championships, six state titles and finished second three times, but no precise won-loss career record can be compiled. She is thought to have won 900+ games. Forty of her players, including all six starters one year, made all-state. The most games any of her teams lost in one season was seven. Piggott was a trend-setting strategist and a fierce competitor who demanded high standards from her players and students. She was one of the first girls coaches in the state to run a patterned offense and institute picks and rolls. Her teams did a flashy Harlem Globetrotters drill as part of its pre-game routine to excite fans and intimidate opponents. Her use of a rover revolutionized strategy in the defunct six-man girls game. She successfully weathered the transition from six-man girls basketball to the 5-on-5 modern style. She was the second girls basketball coach inducted to the LHSCA Hall of Fame (1980) a year after Edna Tarbutton was part of the first-ever induction class. A Northwestern State alumnus, she died in 1988.

BARBARA FAYE WHITE – (Women’s Golf) A Shreveport product, she was one of America’s top amateur players in the 1960s - a three-time Curtis Cup selection and a two-time member of the U.S. team in the World Amateur. She never lost a match (3-0-1 in singles, 4-0-0 in foursomes) in two Curtis Cup appearances and had to withdraw from a third because of pregnancy. She was second in the World Amateur individually in 1966 and helped lead the U.S. team to the Women’s World Amateur Championship. She was the medalist in the State Amateur six times. She was the Western Amateur champion in 1964 and 1966. She was the Broadmoor Amateur medalist and champion in 1964 and the medalist three times in the Southern Amateur, winning the 1967 championship and finishing second in 1963. She played on the LPGA tour in 1973-74 and won $3,500 in 1973 (including one second-place finish) and $4,000 in 1974. She was Louisiana’s outstanding woman athlete in 1964, her peak year when she won five tournaments in Florida, was medalist in the Southern Amateur, won the Western Amateur and Broadmoor Invitational and made the Curtis Cup team, not losing a match in the U.S. victory. She finished 18th that year in the U.S. Women’s Open. She is one of 10 players in U.S. history to go 4-0 in a single Curtis Cup match, doing it in 1966. She won her first tournament when she was seven years old and beat older boys for a city junior title. Twice collegiately, she reached the NCAA Championships, representing both TCU and Centenary. She was 64 when she died Oct. 15, 2004, but was retired from competitive golf since the mid-1970s. She designed and built Crooked Hollow Golf Course outside of Shreveport.