Elton Brand Named Duke Athletics Hall of Fame
DURHAM, N.C. – Duke University will enshrine eight new members into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, September 21, announced by Vice President and Director of Athletics Kevin White.
Slated for induction are Elton Brand (basketball), Katie Chrest Erbe (lacrosse), Candy Hannemann (golf), Lindsey Harding (basketball), Bob Harris (broadcaster), Ryan Jackson (baseball), Randy Jones (football & track) and Shelden Williams (basketball).
Brand, a native of Peekskill, N.Y., helped the Blue Devils to a two-year ledger of 69-6 with two ACC regular season championships, one ACC Tournament crown, an appearance in the 1999 NCAA championship game and final Associated Press national rankings of No. 3 in 1998 and No. 1 in 1999. His second and final season at Duke was highlighted by National Player of the Year honors from seven outlets along with first team All-ACC, ACC Player of the Year, first team All-America, first team ACC All-Tournament, ACC Tournament Most Valuable Player, All-NCAA East Regional and All-NCAA Final Four citations. For his 60-game collegiate career, Brand averaged 16.2 points and 8.9 rebounds per game while shooting 61.2 percent from the field. The No. 1 overall selection in the 1999 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls, Brand enjoyed a 17-year professional career that included co-Rookie of the Year (2000), NBA All-Rookie (2000), All-NBA (2006; 2nd team), NBA All-Star (2002 & 2006) and NBA Sportsmanship (2006) accolades. In 1,058 career games with the Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks, he posted career averages of 15.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per contest.
Erbe, a native of Hampstead, Md., is the first member from the Blue Devil women’s lacrosse program to be enshrined into the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame following a storied career headlined by the 2005 Tewaaraton Trophy, an honor presented annually to the nation’s top player. From 2003-06, she helped Duke to a four-year ledger of 61-18 with three ACC regular season championships, one ACC Tournament title and four NCAA Tournament berths including two appearances in the Final Four. A two-time All-America pick, Erbe was the 2003 ACC Rookie of the Year and went on to garner ACC Player of the Year accolades in both 2005 and 2006. As a junior, she guided the Blue Devils to the first ACC Tournament crown in program history and was named the event’s Most Valuable Player after totaling five goals and three assists in wins over North Carolina and Virginia. The first player in ACC history to garner Rookie of the Year, Player of the Year and Tournament MVP honors, Erbe established the program’s single-season record for total points with 96 in 2005 and graduated as the school’s all-time leader in both goals (216) and points (287). She went on to help the United States to the 2009 Federation of International Lacrosse world championship.
Hannemann, a native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, enjoyed a spectacular career on the links from 1999-02, helping the Blue Devils to four ACC championships and a pair NCAA titles in 1999 and 2002. In 2001, she received the Honda Award, an honor presented annually to the top player in the nation, after winning three of her five career individual titles including the NCAA crown by posting a four-day score of 75-72-69-69=285 before capturing the championship in a playoff at the Mission Inn Golf Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. One year later, Hannemann propelled Duke to the ACC crown by claiming medalist honors with a three-round, even par total of 216 at the Salem Glen Country Club in Clemmons, N.C., and then shot a team-low score of 68 in the final round of the NCAA championship as the Blue Devils won the second national title in program history. Following her senior season in 2002, she received an All-American Scholar citation from the Women’s Golf Coaches Association and the four-time All-ACC and two-time All-America selection finished her career with 28 top-20 finishes, 23 top-10 showings and 16 top-5 placements along with a 74.26 stroke average in 112 career rounds. Hannemann’s eight-year career on the LPGA Tour was highlighted by six top-10 finishes.
Harding, a native of Houston, Texas, earned both National Player of the Year and National Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2007 to complete a career that included 128 victories against just 12 losses, three ACC regular season crowns, two ACC Tournament titles and four trips to the NCAA Tournament with a pair of appearances in the Final Four. The three-time All-ACC and two-time All-America selection also received ACC Player of the Year accolades in 2007 and was the recipient of the Mary Garber Award, an honor presented annually to the top female student-athlete in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Harding, a three-time member of the ACC’s All-Defense unit and two-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year honoree, graduated as the school’s all-time leader in assists (579) and closed her tenure with career averages of 9.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.9 steals per game. On January 20, 2008, Harding’s jersey No. 10 was hoisted to the rafters of historic Cameron Indoor Stadium to celebrate her accomplishments. After being selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 WNBA Draft by the Phoenix Mercury, Harding played nine seasons with six organizations, was an WNBA All-Star choice in 2010 and later participated in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, representing Belarus.
Harris, a native of Albemarle, N.C., spent 41 years as the Voice of the Blue Devils, broadcasting Duke football and men’s basketball games from 1976 until his retirement in 2017. A four-time North Carolina Sportscaster of the Year pick by the National Sports Media Association in 1988, 1991, 2011 and 2017, he retired as the longest-tenured play-by-play announcer in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference and is a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame (inducted in 2006) and the Stanly County Sports Hall of Fame (1993). Harris closed his football broadcasting tenure at Duke having called 471 consecutive games with the streak beginning on September 11, 1976, with Duke’s season-opener at Tennessee and concluding on November 26, 2016, with the season finale at Miami. Additionally, he completed his remarkable career having called 1,392 Duke basketball games and his tenure with the Blue Devils featured 13 NCAA Final Four events with 10 championship games including all five of Duke’s national titles in 1991 (Indianapolis), 1992 (Minneapolis), 2001 (Minneapolis), 2010 (Indianapolis) and 2015 (Indianapolis). Harris also broadcast 16 ACC Tournament championship game victories for the Blue Devils in 1978, 1980, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2017.
Jackson, a native of Orlando, Fla., helped the Blue Devils to three 30-win campaigns including a school single-season record 39 victories in 1993 and capped off his career with National Player of the Year honors in 1994. In the award-winning season, which included first team All-America and ACC Player of the Year citations, the two-way star batted .378 with 22 home runs and 63 runs batted in while pitching a team-high 91.2 innings and posting a 7-5 record with five complete games along with four saves. Led by Jackson, who equaled an NCAA record by homering in eight consecutive games and enjoyed the second-longest hitting streak in school history at 34 games, Duke posted a 16-8 record in ACC play in 1994 to finish in a tie for second place in the league standings, marking the program’s best conference finish since 1961. The three-time All-ACC selection finished his collegiate career with a .322 batting average with 187 runs scored, 277 hits, 56 doubles, 42 home runs and 183 runs batted in to go along with 21 wins and 11 saves on the mound. A seventh round pick of the Florida Marlins in the 1994 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, Jackson made his MLB debut on March 31, 1998, and played four seasons in the big leagues as an outfielder with the Marlins, Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers.
Jones, a native of Winston-Salem, N.C., produced record-setting performances in multiple sports at Duke before earning international prestige as a member of four United States Olympic teams. On the gridiron, Jones amassed 2,835 all-purpose yards as a running back and return specialist from 1987-90, was a member of Duke’s ACC championship squad in 1989, led the Atlantic Coast Conference and ranked seventh nationally in kickoff return average (28.25) in 1990 and finished his career as the school’s all-time leader in kickoff returns for touchdowns (3). Competing as a sprinter with Duke’s track and field program, Jones broke the school’s 36-year old record in the indoor 60-meter dash in 1992 with a time of 6.74, eclipsing the previous standard of 6.84 set by fellow Duke Athletics Hall of Famer Dave Sime in 1956. In addition, Jones finished his career with the second-fastest outdoor 100-meter time (10.38) in Blue Devil history. He then earned a roster spot on four consecutive U.S. Olympic bobsled teams in 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006, garnering a silver medal in the four-man event in Salt Lake City in 2002.
Williams, a native of Forest Park, Okla., was a two-time National Defensive Player of the Year honoree while helping the Blue Devils to a four-year record of 116-23 with a pair of ACC regular season titles, three ACC Tournament championships and four appearances in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 including one berth in the Final Four. A three-time All-America and three-time All-ACC choice, he averaged 13.9 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.0 blocked shots and shot 57.2 percent from the floor during his tenure while becoming the first player in NCAA history to register 1,750 points, 1,250 rebounds, 400 blocked shots and 150 steals in a career. After establishing the school single-season record for blocked shots with 137 in his final campaign as he served as a team captain, the two-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year honoree graduated as Duke’s all-time leader in both rebounds (1,262) and blocks (422) and had his jersey No. 23 raised to the rafters of Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 28, 2007. Williams, who recorded the third triple-double in school history with a 19-point, 11-rebound, 10-block performance against Maryland on January 11, 2006, went on to log a six-year career in the NBA after being drafted with the No. 5 overall pick by the Atlanta Hawks in 2006.
The group will be inducted at the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame ceremony on September 21 in Cameron Indoor Stadium and, the following day, be honored at halftime of Duke’s football game against N.C. Central at Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium.
There are currently 138 members in the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame, dating back to the inaugural ceremony in 1975.
Voting is conducted by the Hall’s enshrinees along with members of the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame committee. Nominations for the Class of 2020 may be submitted online at GoDuke.com beginning in September, 2019.
