Brian Mitchell

[NewsCopy]

NATCHITOCHES - Two of the top performers in UL's athletic history have earned spots among the state's sports legends, with Brian Mitchell and Kim Perrot among eight athletic greats chosen for the 2007 induction class of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Mitchell, who rewrote UL's football record book before going on to a stellar 14-year NFL playing career, and Perrot, the Cajuns' all-time leading women's basketball scorer and an inspirational story in a too-short WNBA career, were chosen for the state's top sports honor by a 30-member LSWA panel that considered 126 candidates in 22 different sports categories. Joining Mitchell and Perrot, who will be inducted posthumously, as this year's inductees are football stars Pat Swilling and Stan Humphries, recently-enshrined Baseball Hall of Fame member Willard Brown, Southern Lab basketball coach Joel Hawkins, LSU track and field star and Olympic gold medalist Esther Jones, and Tulane basketball All-American and first-round NBA draft pick Warren Perkins. The eight new inductees will be honored June 21-23 during the 2007 Hall of Fame Induction Celebration in Natchitoches, home of the Hall of Fame since 1972. Also honored will be the 2007 recipients of the LSWA's Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism, the equivalent of Hall of Fame membership for sports media in the state, and the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award. Those honorees will be announced next spring. Their enshrinement next summer will increase membership in the state sports Hall of Fame to 253 men and women since the Natchitoches shrine was established 49 years ago. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

BRIAN MITCHELL— A standout quarterback at Plaquemine High School and UL-Lafayette, he went on to become one of the NFL’s greatest kick returners -- setting nine records while playing 14 seasons for the Washington Redskins (1990-99), Philadelphia Eagles (2000-02) and New York Giants (2003). Mitchell, a fifth-round draft pick, helped the Redskins win Super Bowl XXVI. When he retired in 2004, he held NFL career records for total kick return yards (19,013), combined kick returns (1,070), combined kick return touchdowns (13), kickoff return yards (14,014), punt return yards (4,999), kickoff returns (607), punt returns (463) and fair catches (231). He was also the leader in all-purpose yards (23,330) until Jerry Rice (23,546) passed him in 2004. In 223 career games, he averaged 23.1 yards on kickoff returns and 10.8 yards on punt returns -- returning four kickoffs and nine punts for TDs. He had kickoff returns of 101, 97, 94 and 89 yards and his longest punt returns went for 84, 78, 76, 72 and 71 yards. At the age of 34, Mitchell averaged a career-best 27.0 yards on kickoffs and also averaged 12.3 yards on punts. The breakdown on his 23,330 all-purpose yards were 1,967 (rushing), 2,336 (passing), 4,999 (punt), 14,014 (kickoff) and 14 (fumble). He was a Pro Bowl pick in 1995. At ULL from 1986-89, Mitchell became the first quarterback in NCAA Division I history to pass for 5,000 yards and rush for 3,000 yards, finishing with 5,447 and 3,335, respectively, with both setting school marks. Jake Delhomme surpassed him as the career passing leader, but Mitchell still holds the rushing mark. Mitchell led the Ragin’ Cajuns to four straight winning seasons and capped his career in 1989 by passing for 1,966 yards and rushing for 1,311. He rushed for a school-record 271 yards vs. Colorado State in 1987 and also recorded games of 232 and 214 yards. In all, he had 14 100-yard rushing games. He still holds school records for rushing TDs in a game (five), season (19) and career (47). KIM PERROT — Named to the LSWA’s 20-woman All-Century Team for women’s hoops, she starred at Louisiana-Lafayette in her hometown from 1986-90, played for Team USA and overseas and became a star in the first two years of the WNBA. She helped lead the Comets to back-to-back WNBA titles in her first two years in the league as the team’s starting point guard. Perrot inspired the Comets to their third title despite being stricken with cancer and passing away in late August 1999. She etched her name into numerous spots in the Cajun record book as well as the NCAA record book. Perrot stands as UL Lafayette’s all-time leading scorer (2,157 points), assists leader (654), steal leader (421), and ranks fifth on the rebounding list with 553 career boards. Still owns 26 school records and has registered six of UL Lafayette’s top seven all-time scoring performances. She registered 14 games in which she scored 30 or more points during her career, including a 58-point effort against Southeastern Louisiana that still ranks as the second-highest scoring performance in a single game in NCAA history. She owns the NCAA mark for most field goal attempts in a game with 40. Perrot ended the 1989-90 season as the nation’s leading scorer with a 30.0 average. She is listed in 11 different categories in the NCAA record book, including scoring in a season, scoring average in a season and steal average for a season and a career. The Comets retired her No. 10 jersey, the WNBA’s Sportsmanship Award is named in her honor and the children’s treatment center at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is named “Kim’s Place.” She was an all-state performer at Acadiana HS in Lafayette. The rest of the Bios

[NewsCopy]

Eight new Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame members will be enshrined: Pat Swilling (Saints) Brian Mitchell (Plaquemine, UL, NFL) Stan Humphries (Shreveport-Southwood, ULM, NFL), Recently enshrined Baseball Hall of Fame member Willard Brown, Louisiana’s all-time winningest high school boys basketball coach, Joel Hawkins of Southern Lab, Women’s basketball pioneer Kim Perrot of Lafayette-High and UL, Olympic gold medalist Esther Jones, who is LSU’s most decorated track and field athlete of all-time. Tulane basketball All-American and first-round NBA Draft pick Warren Perkins of New Orleans. Brown and Perrot will be honored posthumously. For ticket information and a schedule of events during the Hall of Fame Induction Celebration June 21-23, visit www.lasportshall.com on the internet. Banquet tickets are just $25 per person. The source of the story

[lcitsh]

This is wonderful, but I'm still wondering why Beryl Shipley isn't in.

[rhineaux]

_ This is wonderful, but I'm still wondering why Beryl Shipley isn't in. _

Didn't Perrot go to Acadiana, and not Lafayette???

[lcitsh]

_ Didn't Perrot go to Acadiana, and not Lafayette??? _

Yes.

[Rebel02]

This is wonderful, but I'm still wondering why Beryl Shipley isn't in.

LSWA will not put him in because of the whole Death Penalty thing, which is a crying shame.

[lcitsh]

_ LSWA will not put him in because of the whole Death Penalty thing, which is a crying shame. _

It's more than that, it's farcical. These members who believe they are protecting the integrity of the Hall from "less than worthy candidates" need to think about who's protecting the Hall from themselves.

[NewsCopy]

Several times in the years between 1986 and 1989, arguments would flare up when the USL football coaches held their meetings. Several of the Ragin' Cajun coaches wanted to put Brian Mitchell back deep, returning punts and kickoffs for the USL football squad. "I always told them you've got to be crazy," said Nelson Stokley, head coach of the Cajuns at the time. "Who were we going to put at quarterback if he got hurt?" Stokley made the right call, since Mitchell became one of the greatest two-way-threat quarterbacks in NCAA history. But the NFL's Washington Redskins and head coach Joe Gibbs also made the right call, since Mitchell broke more than a half-dozen of the league's special-teams records during a remarkable 14-year career. And Don Jones, his coach at Plaquemine High where it all began, said if he'd had it all to do over again, he'd put Mitchell in the secondary at key moments. "He would have been in there three plays and intercepted a pass," Jones said. "He could break on the ball better than anybody." Who was right? The rest of the story By Dan McDonald Louisiana Gannett News

[NewsCopy]

Many would agree, and some would argue, that Brian Mitchell and Kim Perrot are the greatest male and female athletes to ever hit the UL campus. There would be no argument, however, that both are Hall of Fame worthy, and both will take their place among the state's all-time sports greats next weekend when they are inducted as part of an eight-member class into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Joining Mitchell and Perrot, who will be inducted posthumously, as this year's Hall inductees are football stars Pat Swilling and Stan Humphries, recently-enshrined Baseball Hall of Fame member Willard Brown, Southern Lab basketball coach Joel Hawkins, LSU track and field star and Olympic gold medalist Esther Jones and Tulane basketball All-American and NBA first-round draft pick Warren Perkins. Mitchell, who rewrote UL's football record book before a stellar 14-year NFL playing career, and Perrot, the Cajuns' all-time leading women's basketball scorer and an inspirational story in a too-short WNBA career, were chosen for the state's top sports honor by a 30-member LSWA panel that considered 126 candidates in 22 different sports categories. Their selections were announced last December. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[RCAJUN90]

Can we clone Brian Mitchell? I loved watching him play. He was awesome.

[rhineaux]

_ Can we clone Brian Mitchell? I loved watching him play. He was awesome. _

Probably not a good idea, I think we all remember how that 'Dolly' thing turned out.