Released: October 20, 1999

Centre College inducts six into Athletic Hall of Fame

DANVILLE, KY - Centre College inducted six persons into its Athletic Hall of Fame during recent homecoming activities, including a Centre graduate who was the first director of athletics at the University of Kentucky.

The late William Walter Mustaine, Centre class of 1899, was the most historic of the figures inducted this year, and he was joined by a stellar group of athletes.

The youngest inductee, Shannon Collins Hodge, class of 1989, had some of the most impressive credentials. Hodge led the Centre women's basketball team to a Division III Final Four appearance in 1989, and her 2,000 career points stands as a school record for all basketball players, male or female. Hodge now is head coach at Crittenden County High School. As a Centre undergraduate, she earned all-America honors and made all-conference four times.

Louisville businessman Ray Hundley, class of 1985, also was inducted. He earned all America honors in 1984 as a linebacker after setting a record for single-game tackles (15). Centre won a conference title that year, and Hundley got one of his three awards as team MVP on defense.

James O. Buck of Jacksonville, Fla., was inducted as a three-sport athlete. The 1942 graduate was quarterback and co-captain of the Centre football team in 1941. He also lettered in basketball and track.

Mustaine was joined by two other posthumous inductees, both of whom created a sensation on the Centre gridiron. Elmer Hendren, a star at Danville High School before playing at Centre in the 1930s, became a Kentucky legend after the 1934 season, when he was the leading scorer in the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the Dixie Conference. Four years earlier, he had thrilled the town of Danville by scoring five of Danville's six touchdowns in a 40-6 victory over Harrodsburg. The game attracted what was then one of the largest crowds ever to witness a high school athletic event in Kentucky.

After graduating from Centre, Hendren earned a medical degree from the University of Louisville. He was interning as a doctor at City Hospital in Louisville when he died in an automobile accident in 1941.

The final inductee was Minos Gordy, who played on the famed 1921 Centre team. Gordy earned special respect as one of only seven players who continued at Centre after the resignation of head coach Charlie Moran in 1924. Partly due to Gordy's leadership and strength, that squad went on to went to a conference championship and defeated Alabama 17-0 in a year when the Crimson Tide was headed for the Rose Bowl. A fullback who was moved to offensive tackle, Gordy impressed his teammates by lifting the front end of Cadillac off the ground to prove his remarkable strength.

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Communications Office
Centre College
600 W. Walnut Street
Danville, KY 40422

Sports Information: Ed Rall
Telephone 606-238-5489