Four Stars to be inducted into SWAC Hall of Fame

BIRMINGHAM -- The dreams of four individuals who were stellar student-athletes in the Southwestern Athletic Conference will come true Thursday night when they become the newest inductees into the Southwestern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame.

Horace Moody Sr., a former football star at Southern University, Willie Totten, the former record-setting quarterback at Mississippi Valley State University, Essie Kelly-Washington, a former world record-setting trackster at Prairie View A&M University, and Doug Williams, the Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback at Grambling State University, will all be enshrined into the SWAC Hall of Fame Thursday. Their inductions bring to 112, the total number of individuals inducted into theHall of Fame since its initiation in 1992.

The SWAC Hall of Fame Dinner, scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m., will be held at the Richard M. Scrushy Center on Highway 280 in Birmingham. Entertainment will be provided by world renown Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly. Tickets to the black tie event cost $150 per ticket.

Moody, now deceased, graduated from Southern in 1947. He played football under the legendary Arnett W. Mumford from 1939 to 1942, lettering each of those seasons. While playing football, he also gained a reputation as an astute academician and leader on the Baton Rouge, La. campus.

After graduating from college, Moody went on to further his studies at New York University, where he received a master's degree in health and physical education administration. He also attended UCLA in 1949.

Mississippi Valley State's Totten was one-half of one of college football's most awesome duos when he teamed up with wide receiver Jerry Rice to nearly rewrite the NCAA's passing and receiving records books between 1982 and 1985. The Mississippi native passed for a record 12,685 yards during his stellar career and threw an incredible 139 touchdowns. His per game average was 317.1 yards passing per contest. During his junior season in 1994, his best season, Totten completed 63 percent of his passes (324 of 518) and threw a record 56 touchdown passes.

Among Totten's numerous honors were All-SWAC three years, SWAC offensive player of the year and All-America honors by several press agencies, including the Sheridan Broadcasting Network, the Sporting News and Kodak. Today, Totten is MVSU's offensive coordinator.

During her collegiate track and field career at Prairie View A&M, Kelly-Washington was one of the nation's top relay runners. She participated in such prestigious meets around the world as the Pan-American Games, the World Championships, the Goodwill Games and the U.S. Sports Festival. In Long Beach, Calif. in 1977, she teamed up in the mile relay with Debra Melrose, Angela Dudley and Patricia Jackson to set a world record which still stands today. At the prestigious Drake Relays, she was named most outstanding female performer in both 1979 and 1980.

Today's Kelley-Washington serves as the head women's track and field coach at Prairie View A&M. She served as head coach at the Pan American Games in 1999, as assistant coach at the 1997 World University Games and as an assistant coach for the USA Pan African team in 1994.

"My most memorable moment in track was when I had the privilege of carrying the torch for the 1978 Olympic Sports Festival in Colorado Springs," said Kelley-Washington. "It was the first time that a female was allowed to carry the torch."

Like Totten, when the name Doug Williams is mentioned, one automatically thinks "quarterback extra ordinaire." During his illustrious collegiate career at Grambling State, Williams was named to four All-America teams. During his career, he passed for 8,354 yards while completing 484 of 1,009 passes between 1974 and 1977. During his banner senior season, when he was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, Williams passed for 3,286 yards and threw 38 touchdown passes.

Williams was a first round NFL draft choice of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1978. Later, with the Washington Redskins, he reaped MVP honors at Super Bowl XXII. He's since gone on to serve as head coach at Northeast High School in Zachary, La. and as running backs coach for the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. As the current head coach at Grambling State, his team is 9-2 and will be participating in the HealthSouth SWAC Championship on Saturday, December 2.

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