The 43rd Arizona Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony will honor the late golfer Heather Farr, USA Olympic diver Michele Mitchell, NBA All-Star Lafayette “Fat” Lever and Arizona business leader and nationally recognized entrepreneur Karl Eller.
The event will be held Thursday, May 9, at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, in the Virginia G. Piper Theater.
Each year, the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame honors athletes, coaches, administrators and others who have made significant contributions to sports in our state. This year’s honorees include:
Farr, who died of cancer in 1993 at age 28, was born in Phoenix and was an All-America golfer at Arizona State in 1984 and '85 before joining the LPGA Tour at age 20. She played in her first LPGA event at age 14.
Mitchell, a Scottsdale native, was a four-time All-American at the University of Arizona and a two-time U.S. Olympic diving silver medalist who was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1995.
Lever was a standout guard at Pueblo High School in Tucson before developing into a second-team All-American first-round NBA draft choice at Arizona State. He had an illustrious career for the Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets, ranking sixth all-time in career triple-doubles and earning two All-Star Game appearances. He is one of only three players in NBA history to have 15 or more points, rebounds and assists in a single playoff game.
Eller played football and basketball at the University of Arizona before becoming a prominent business leader in the field of outdoor advertising. He was a founding investor in the Phoenix Suns and was also influential in launching the Fiesta Bowl and helping lure the Cardinals to Arizona from St. Louis. In 1999, Arizona named its business college the Eller College of Management.
Tickets for the induction ceremony, featuring cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and a silent auction, can be purchased by visiting www.PhoenixSports.org.
The event will be televised by FOX Sports Arizona on June 2 at 2:30 p.m.
