Two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning, four-time WNBA All-Star Alana Beard and College World Series champion baseball coach Paul Mainieri are part of a star-studded 12-member group of honorees recently inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame this July.
Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) celebrates each of these iconic sports figures in a new two-hour special, LOUISIANA SPORTS HALL OF FAME: 2023 CELEBRATION, premiering Tuesday, August 15 at 7:00pm CST or streaming live at www.lpb.org and also with the LPB App.
This LPB sports special, produced in partnership with the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, features highlights from the July induction ceremony and many of the festivities surrounding it. Also included are the induction interviews and profile stories on each of the honorees, plus a look at the newly added memorabilia to the Sports Hall of Fame Museum in Natchitoches. “As Louisiana’s storytellers, audiences are used to seeing LPB programs featuring our state’s people, history, and culture,” says Clarence “C.C” Copeland, LPB President and CEO. “A walk through the Sports Hall of Fame Museum will show you that our state’s contributions to the world of sports is another story worth telling! We are excited to expand our sports programming efforts and what better opportunity than this.”
Along with Manning, Mainieri, and Beard, the LSHOF Class of 2023 also includes New Orleans native Ron Washington, who managed the Texas Rangers to a pair of World Series appearances and helped the Atlanta Braves win the world’s championship; two-time LSU track and field USA Olympian and world champion Walter Davis; and Slidell native, Tulane great and Chicago Bears two-time Pro Bowl running back Matt Forte.
Also inducted were All-American LSU pitcher Paul Byrd, a 14-year Major League Baseball veteran who made the 1999 All-Star Game; Shreveport native Wendell Davis, who shattered LSU football receiving records before heading to the NFL; multiple national champion and world class weightlifter Walter Imahara, a UL-Lafayette legend; and retired Baton Rouge-Parkview Baptist baseball coach M.L. Woodruff, whose teams claimed 11 state championships.
Also inducted were two transformational and highly decorated figures in Louisiana’s sports journalism field; Lafayette writer and editor Bruce Brown and longtime New Orleans Times-Picayune prep writer Lori Lyons.
Along with the premiere, LPB will encore the LOUISIANA SPORTS HALL OF FAME: 2023 CELEBRATION on Thursday, August 17 at 9:30pm CST and Sunday, August 20 at 5:00pm CST. After the night of the broadcast premiere, the program will be available for on demand streaming for members with LPB PASSPORT – an extended membership benefit.
For more information, contact Colleen Spillane, Public Information Officer, Louisiana Public Broadcasting at (225)-767-4453 or 1-800-272-8161 ext. 4453 or by email at cspillane@lpb.org.
About Louisiana Public Broadcasting
Since 1975, Louisiana Public Broadcasting has been the public television network for the state of Louisiana with stations in Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, and Shreveport. LPB is also affiliated with WLAE-TV in New Orleans. In addition to its award-winning documentaries about the history and people of Louisiana, LPB is dedicated to helping children throughout the state develop their literacy, math, and science skills through its numerous educational outreach programs.
