NATCHITOCHES — Southern University legend Rickie Weeks has been selected to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2021. Weeks will become the twentieth member from Southern University and the first since the induction of Roger Cador in 2019. He will be joined by football standouts Marques Colston and Glenn Dorsey, basketball player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, softball pitcher Courtney Blades-Rogers, coaches Pat Henry and Mackie Freeze and Bassmaster Classic champion Villis “Bo” Dowden round out a star-studded group of eight 2021 competitive ballot inductees chosen for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
The Class of 2021 will be enshrined Saturday, June 26, in Natchitoches to culminate the 62nd Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Celebration June 24-26.
However, Freeze and Henry will enter the hall this winter, Dec. 15-17, during the 2020 Induction Celebration which was postponed from its traditional June dates due to the coronavirus pandemic. Eight-time Mr. Olympia world bodybuilding champion Ronnie Coleman, chosen for the Class of 2020, will be inducted next summer due to a scheduling conflict in December.
A 40-member Louisiana Sports Writers Association committee selected the 2021 inductees. The panel considered a record 151 nominees from 29 different sport categories on a 35-page ballot, said Hall of Fame chairman Doug Ireland.
Southern’s Roger Cador to be inducted into ABCA Hall of Fame
A prolific collegiate hitter, the former Southern University All-American set two NCAA records that are still on the books heading into the 2021 season — Division I career batting average (. 465) and career slugging percentage (. 927). The Florida native played for ABCA and Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame coach Roger Cador from 2001-03 before embarking on a 14-year major league career after being drafted second overall in 2003 by the Milwaukee Brewers. That year, Weeks was the Baseball America Player of the Year and he won the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy as the nation’s top player after leading Division I for the second year in a row with a .479 average while driving in 66 runs. He was also the SWAC Player of the Year and Most Outstanding Hitter. As a sophomore in 2002, he led D-I while hitting at a .495 clip with 96 RBIs after batting .422 with 70 RBIs as a freshman in 2001. He led the nation in slugging percentage in 2002 (. 995) and ’03 (. 933). For his career, Weeks, who played center field as a freshman and second base the next two seasons, appeared in 160 games and was 254 for 546 at the plate (. 465) with 232 RBIs in leading the Jaguars to NCAA tournament appearances in each of his three seasons.
With Milwaukee (2003, 2005-14), Seattle (2015), Arizona (2016) and Tampa Bay (2017), Weeks had a .246 career batting average with 161 home runs, 474 RBIs and 132 steals. His top hitting seasons came when he hit .279 in 2006 and .274 in 2014, but he hit .269 with 29 homers and 83 RBIs in 2010 and in 2011 was the starting second baseman for the National League in the All-Star Game. Weeks finished that season hitting .269 with 20 home runs and 49 RBIs. … Born 9-13-1982 in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
“I would like to congratulate Rickie Weeks on being selected to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, we are very happy for him and his family” Southern University Athletic Director Roman Banks said “Rickie is very deserving of this great honor as he has served as an outstanding role model and ambassador for SU and had an outstanding career.”
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