These sports legends are headed for the Polk County Sports Hall of Fame
The newest inductees were enshrined in the Polk County Sports Hall of Fame Tuesday at the RP Funding Center.
Barney Barnett, Jeff Sikes, Chris Richard, Steve Pearce and Terrence McGriff officially donned their Hall of Fame Jackets following hefty and heartfelt speeches to officially cement themselves as the Hall of Fame Class of 2023 at the Polk County All-Sports Awards banquet.
The annual Hall of Fame banquet began in 2000 and has been held every year except for 2020 when COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the event.
Annually, the event also includes the Circle of Champions that honors individual and teams what won state or national titles, presenting the awards to the All-Sports winners and The Ledger’s athletes and coaches of the year.
And of course, the highlight of the night was the induction ceremony.
Barnett is best known for his professional career at Florida Southern from 1969 to 2019 providing scholarships and contributions to benefit all athletic and club sport programs. He also has directly donated to the basketball, baseball, softball, golf, soccer and volleyball programs. What’s more, both lacrosse teams and the softball and soccer teams compete at the Barnett Athletic Complex.
The 80-year-old Barnett said he was stoked for winning the award.
“I’m honored to receive this award tonight,” Barnett said. “I was lucky that my parents both loved sports. I was exposed at a very early age to sports. If I was going to do anything with my father, it was going to go to sports. That’s just the way it was.”
Born in a sports family in Raleigh, North Carolina — his father played for Lakeland baseball — Barnett was raised in Lakeland. He played baseball and made it to the Lakeland All-Star Little League team.
In 1969 he started his internal audit position at Publix Super Markets where he worked until 2019.
Local product takes Warner to new heights
Lake Wales native Jeff Sikes is ranked 10th all-time winningest coaches and has the third most wins among active coaches in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ history as the skipper of Warner, which was a top 10 program this past year.
His sustained excellence at the program speaks for itself.
“It’s an honor to be here tonight. It’s an honor to be selected by an institution like the Polk County Sports Hall of Fame,” Sikes said. “Anything related to Polk County is special to me.”
That’s because he was born and raised in Lake Wales and graduated from Lake Wales High School in 1978. He excelled at baseball and went on to play for the University of Kentucky.
After returning home upon graduation, he accepted a coaching position at Warner, where eventually the program would earn a reputation of one of the more consistent NAIA baseball programs in the nation.
Chris Richard goes from small town to playing in the NBA
Chris Richard was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2007 before playing with the Chicago Bulls and ultimately in China. His professional contributions to the game enshrined him in the Hall of Fame.
“I thank everyone for nominating me for this prestigious award," Richard said. “… I want to spend most of the time thanking my parents because without them, I definitely wouldn’t be here today.”
While Richard is from a sports family, he had an interest in the clarinet at Kathleen High School where he wanted to be in the marching band.
But his sports family goaded him into playing ball, eventually becoming Polk County’s Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Basketball and the Gatorade Florida High School Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year in 2003.
After graduation, Richard went to the University of Florida where he was instrumental in the team winning back-to-back national championship.
His professional career then took off.
Local MLB player makes triumphant comeback
After bouncing around six major league teams, Steve Pearce was named the 2012 World Series MVP as a member of the Boston Red Sox — Pearce’s favorite team growing up.
His resilience and skill got him in the Hall of Fame.
“First off, I want to thank my wife. We were together before I made it to the Big Leagues; she took care of me,” Pearce said. “Then I'd like to thank my parents. I love you guys.”
His passion for baseball started In Polk County where he competed at Lakeland High School as a top player. He would go on to play at the University of South Carolina before being drafted in 2005 by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Twelve years into his career he hit .333 with three home runs in the 2012 World Series with the Red Sox.
A lack of basketball experience didn’t stop Terrence McGriff
Terrence McGriff for 21 years coached basketball at Bartow High, building a championship program.
He then started the Lakeland Fire youth basketball program with two friends in 1997. Fast forward, and McGriff dons a Hall of Fame jacket.
“I accept this honor to give glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who commissioned me to serve His community,” McGriff said.
McGriff didn’t play basketball at Kathleen but was drawn to the game at a local Boys and Girls Club. He attended Florida Southern when get got his opportunity to coach Kathleen as a junior varsity coach. The program won a state title in 2001.
The next year McGriff coached Bartow, where he instilled his virtues of life and basketball. In 2010 he led the program to its first state championship in 22 years. In all as a coach, he has racked up 11 district titles, and six region titles. Bartow won the championship in 2020 and 2021.
“The success we’ve had in Bartow is a collective effort,” he said.
The All-Sports Award winners were:
Charles Richardson Commissioner’s Award for Perseverance: Henderson Taylor (Lakeland basketball)
Bernie Little Sports Executive of the Year: Dan Talbot
Female Amateur of the Year: Peyton Battilla
Male Amateur of the Year: Rolijah Hardy (Lakeland football)
Professional Athlete of the Year: Derwin James (Chargers safety)
Female Collegiate of the Year: Jackie Stoller (Florida Southern)
Male Collegiate of the Year: Joseph Taylor (Southeastern)
Male Collegiate Team of the Year: Southeastern indoor track
Female Collegiate Team of the Year: Florida Southern lacrosse
Male Prep Team of the Year: Lake Wales football
Female Prep Team of the Year: Lakeland Christian Soccer
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: These sports legends headed for the Polk County Sports Hall of Fame
