Dover, Del. (April 25 2023) --- A Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player-of-the-Year and Defensive Player-of-the-Year in the same season, a member of two championship bowling teams, and one of the MEAC's all-time leading baseball hitters highlight the 2023 Delaware State University Athletics Hall of Fame class announced today.

A total of 14 individuals will be honored during the annual hall-of-fame ceremony scheduled for September 1 in Dover. The class will also be recognized at halftime of the Hornets' 2023 football opener against Bowie State at Alumni Stadium the following day.     

Among the Hornets' 2023 Hall-of-Fame honorees is Kendall Gray, a member of the MEAC 50^th Anniversary All-Time Men's Basketball Team. Gray is one of two players in MEAC men's basketball history to earn Player-of-the-Year and Defensive Player-of-the-Year honors in the same season (2014-15). He's also the only player in MEAC history, and one of a handful nationwide, with 30-or-more points and 30-plus rebounds in a game (33 points & 30 rebounds in Hornets' 104-92 victory over Coppin State in 2015). Gray is Delaware State's all-time leader and fourth in MEAC history with 305 career blocks, in addition to topping the 1,000-point mark as a Hornet.

Bowling great Dr. Jazmyne Hefflefinger  was the 2012 MEAC Woman-of-the-Year and Top 30 NCAA Woman-of-the-Year finalist. Hefflefinger helped lead the Hornets to consecutive MEAC championships and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2009 (NCAA Final 4) and 2010. A three-time All-MEAC selection and two-time MEAC All-Tournament honoree, she also earned 2009 National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) All-America recognition.  

Former Hornet baseball standout Elmore Briggs ranks fourth in team history and sixth all-time in the MEAC with a career .401 batting average. Briggs also recorded the second highest single-season batting average in league history at .467 in 1989 to help lead Delaware State to its lone MEAC Tournament championship.   

Delaware State's 2023 Hall-of-Fame class also includes All-America and NCAA men's track & field championship qualifier Leslie Murray, a MEAC and IC4A champion in the 400-meter hurdles and as a member of the Hornets' record-setting 1600-meter indoor and outdoor relay teams.

Softball great Nicole Gazzola, the Hornets' all-time leader in hits, runs scored and career batting average, will also join the hall-of-fame. A two-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Second Team Mid-Atlantic selection, Gazzola was also a three-time All-MEAC First Team selection (2014, 2015, 2016) and two-time MEAC All-Tournament honoree (2014, 2016).

Eldridge "Ace" Comer, a member of Delaware State's first MEAC champion football team in 1985, is also selected for hall-of-fame recognition. A four-year letter winner (1982-85), Comer is fourth in team history with 4,104 all-purpose yards and one of two players in recorded team history with more than 1000 career rushing yards and 1000 receiving yards. He was also selected as a starter in the 1986 Freedom Bowl (Black College) All-Star Game.

Delaware State's 2023 Hall-of-Fame class also includes former football greats Walter Samuel, Donald Robinson and the late Odell Jones.
  
Samuel was a 1981 All-MEAC selection after ranking among the league leaders in receptions and receiving yards. A career 1,000-yard receiver for the Hornets, he had a prestigious career in minor league professional football, earning all-pro honors in addition to competing on two minor league championship teams. 

A four-year letter winner (1977-80), Robinson was a 1980 All-MEAC honoree, after ranking second on the Hornets with 104 total tackles (64 solo) that year. He was also a member of Delaware State's 1977 Orange Blossom Classic Bowl team (7-4; 4-2 MEAC) and signed to compete for the NFL's Cleveland Browns following his Delaware State career.
   
Jones, a dominant defensive end, was a two-time All-MEAC selection and earned National Football League invitations from the Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Jets after his Delaware State career.

Jones is one of two posthumous 2023 Hornet Hall-of-Fame honorees. The late Kelly Williams, a baseball star in the early 2000s, will also be recognized. One of the Hornets' all-time great shortstops, Williams is Delaware State's career leader with 231 runs scored and No. 2 in MEAC and Delaware State history with 271 hits. A career .356 hitter (271-for-761), he still ranks among the school's all-time leaders in runs batted in, stolen bases, doubles, triples and walks. He played in a school-record 146 consecutive games from 2000-to-02 and helped lead the Hornets to three MEAC North championships.  
   
The Delaware State Hall-of-Fame will also welcome women's basketball great Najmah Fauntleroy to its ranks. One of five players in team history with at least 1,000 points and 800 rebounds, Fauntleroy tallied 1,060 points and 806 rebounds in four seasons with the Lady Hornets. A top 15 scorer and top 10 rebounder in Lady Hornets history, she posted 23 career "double-doubles" of 10-or-more points and 10-or-more rebounds in  a game, and helped lead the Lady Hornets to 78-40 overall record, including a 55-17 mark in MEAC regular season contests, and three MEAC Tournament championship game appearances in her four seasons.

Rounding out the Delaware State 2023 Hall of Fame class are former University President Dr. Wilma Mishoe and former Board of Trustees member Norman Oliver, in addition to prominent alum and basketball standout Joel Coppadge, who are being honored for their significant contributions to Hornet athletics.