The Knoxville Athletics Hall of Fame induction luncheon was held Friday at the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum.

The Hall of Fame Committee along with the community of Knoxville welcomed the four new inductees as speeches were made by the inductees upon accepting of their awards. Among those honored were the 1981 volleyball team, all-state football player Bob “Tubby” Vander Linden, Panthers football standout Bill Awtry, and all-state baseball player Scott Hoch. The inductees were also honored between the girls and boys basketball games Friday evening. Coach of the 1981 volleyball team that was inducted Curt Froyen talks about how special it was to have his 1981 team inducted.

“My first thought is, it’s about time. It has been 42 years. I don’t know if there will ever be a volleyball team in Knoxville that can accomplish what these girls did. There are 14 girls on a team. Every single one of them was an all-conference player by the time they graduated. Ten of them were all-state by the time they graduated and nine of them played college volleyball.”

This was the 19th induction class for the Knoxville Athletics Hall of Fame.