Welcome to the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame

SUBJECT: Delaware Sports Museum & Hall of Fame to Open for FREE Each Saturday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Beginning Oct. 8, 2023

DATE: September 24, 2023

WILMINGTON, Del. - The Delaware Sports Museum & Hall of Fame has announced that the museum will be open to the public for FREE tours each Saturday beginning Oct. 8, 2023. 

Every Saturday from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., the 5,000-square foot museum, which houses the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame, will be open. The Museum entrance is located on the first base side of Frawley Stadium on the Wilmington Riverfront.

Visitors will experience the history of sport in Delaware from 1860 to the present. The museum houses the Hall of Fame including athletes, coaches, officials, journalists, broadcasters, administrators and more. Since 1976 over 300 men and women from nearly three dozen different sports have been inducted.

See artifacts from the greatest sports figures Delaware has produced including uniforms, equipment, rare programs and photographs. The museum theater presents a variety of Delaware sports movies and videos from the first Blue Rocks game ever played in 1940 to Gold Medal performances by first state Olympic athletes. Audio and video exhibits are also utilized throughout the museum.

For more information call executive director Scott Selheimer at (302) 562-5129 or visit us online at www.desports.org  

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Delaware Sports Museum & Hall of Fame Announces Star-Studded Induction Class for 2022; Banquet Set for May 12 at The Chase Center in Wilmington

DATE: March 16, 2022

WILMINGTON, Del. – Nine prominent men and women whose outstanding accomplishments in the world of athletics have brought distinction to the state of Delaware over the last half-century, have been selected for induction into the Delaware Sports Museum & Hall of Fame.

The nine standouts, who represent the sports of football, basketball, track & field, field hockey, lacrosse, and harness racing, as well as sports writing, will be honored at the state’s premier sports banquet on Thursday, May 12, at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington.

Tickets to the 46th annual banquet are $65 each with tables of 8 available for $490. Social hour and silent auction will begin at 5:30 p.m. followed by the dinner and ceremony at 6:45.

Tickets to the event go on sale beginning March 21 and can be purchased online at the DSMHOF website at www.desports.org/events. The deadline for reserving tickets is Monday, May 9, 2022.

Advertising opportunities for the souvenir program are also available. Contact DSMHOF Executive Director Scott Selheimer at desports@desports.org for details.  

The DSMHOF Class of 2022 includes:

JULIET BOTTORFF (Track & Field)

Juliet Bottorff was the NCAA 10,000-meter champion at Duke University, where she was a nine-time All-American, ager dominating Delaware high school track for three years at Tatnall.

She won the 2011 NCAA collegiate championship in the 10,000-meter run in just her third race at the distance. It was one of six times that she was first-team All-American in individual events: twice each at the 10,000, twice in the indoors 5,000, and twice in cross country.

In cross country, she was four times All-Atlantic Coast Conference and All-Southeast Region. In indoor track, she was ACC champion and first-team All-American at 5,000 meters in 2013 and 2014. Outdoors, she was All-East in the 3,000 meters in 2011 and 2012.

She set the ACC record in the indoor 5,000 in 2013, ran on a second team All-American indoor distance medley relay in 2011; and was ACC cross country Freshman of the Year (2009). She was twice Academic All-American in Women’s Track and Cross Country, and twice ACC track or cross-country Scholar-Athlete of the Year (2014).

At Tatnall, she broke the state record in every distance event, from the 800 to 3,200 meters, ending with 21 state records, nine in individual events. The state’s top cross-country runner for three seasons, she led Tatnall to four state titles, and anchored Tatnall’s winning team in the Penn Relays Championship of America distance medley relay.

As a senior, she was the state’s top athlete in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track, and was five times named a high school All-American.

As a professional (2014-16), she finished fifth in the 2014 U.S. 10,000-meter road-racing championships, fourth in the 2015 U.S. 15,000-meter championship, and sixth in the 2015 U.S. half-marathon (71:30). She posted six Top 10 finishes overall at US championship races.

KATELYN FALGOWSKI (Field Hockey)

Katelyn Falgowski was a three-time member of the United States Olympic field hockey team, and NCAA Division I National Player of the Year at University of North Carolina.

The midfielder from St. Mark’s High School had one of the sport’s most decorated playing careers, earning six gold, three silver, and two bronze medals with the national team, representing the U.S. against international competition in 261 games over 14 years.

She led the Tar Heels to NCAA titles in 2007 and 2009. She was ACC Freshman of the Year in 2007, first team All-American in 2009 and 2011, and National Player of the Year as a senior, graduating as UNC’s career leader in assists. The school later retired her No. 23 jersey.

She helped the U.S. win gold at the 2011 Pan American Games, where she received Player of the Game honors in the title game, and was named to the 2011 World All-Star Team. Her career also included gold medals at the 2015 Pan American Games and 2017 Hockey World League Semifinals and bronze at the 2016 Hockey Champions Trophy and the Pan American Cup at Spooky Nook in 2016. She was named the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters state Athlete of the Year in 2016.

She also helped Team USA finish fourth at the Hockey World Cup in 2014 and fifth at the 2016 Hockey World League semifinals. She retired in 2017.

She made her international debut at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the youngest athlete on the team. At 14, she was the youngest player named to USA's Under-20 team. A year later, she was the youngest member of the national team. As a high school senior, she made Team USA for the 2006 Hockey World Cup in Spain, again, at 17, the team’s youngest athlete.

DAVE FREDERICK (Track & Field, Sportswriting)

After a decade of coaching Cape Henlopen High School to track and cross country championships, Dave Frederick became a sports columnist with a statewide following for the next four decades.

He coached Cape’s boys to Division Two titles in outdoor track in 1976 and 1978, indoor track championships in 1984 and 1985, and Cape’s first cross country championship in 1977. He was the state’s indoor track coach of the year in 1984 and 1985.

In 1982, he began writing a weekly column at The Whale, a Sussex weekly, then moved to The Cape Gazette in 1993, where he has since written a twice-weekly column, with additional coverage and photography of all sports in all seasons. He became one of the few weekly sportswriters with credentials to cover the Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles. He has served as a sports analyst on WGMD radio and wrote an anthology of

short stories, “In A Class By Myself.”

In 1982, he organized the Lewes Polar Bear Club, with winter plunges into the chilly waters of the Atlantic Ocean. He later collaborated with Delaware Special Olympics to make one of those events into a fundraiser, attracting hundreds. A trailblazer of organized distance running downstate, he helped organize the Lewes Seashore Marathon and other races.

An all-conference football and basketball player at Bishop Egan in Philadelphia’s Catholic League, Frederick played football at Temple University. In 1975, he came to Delaware to replace Tom Hickman as Cape’s track coach and to assist the football

JOE HOLLOWAY (Harness Racing)

Joe Holloway, who began at Brandywine Raceway in his early teens, became one of the nation’s most successful harness trainers, developing the sport’s record-holding pacer. He was the U.S. Harness Writers Association’s Trainer of the Year in 1995 and inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 2019.

Holloway trained seven Breeder’s Crown winners from 1994 through 2015, including three-time winner Jenna’s Beach Boy, twice pacer of the year, which set a world mile record of 1:48.4 in 1995, which he lowered to 1:47.3 a year later at the Meadowlands, a record that stood for a decade.

Holloway also trained She’s a Great Lady, Lady MacBeach and Bar Slide to Dan Patch Awards. He developed Tuff Choice, whose 13 straight wins remains a record for pacers at the Meadowlands. In 1992, he won the Yonkers Trot with McCluckey and won the North America Cup with Safely Kept, a 25-1 longshot.

He developed 1996 Older Pacing Mare of the Year She’s A Great Lady, world champion Shebestingin and 2012 Two-Year-Old Pacing Filly of the Year Somwherovrarainbow.

He also trained 2016 Horse of the Year Always B Miki; 2015 Three-Year-Old Pacing Filly of the Year Divine Carol; world champions Badlands Hanover and Life Source; 1999 Pacer of the Year and world champion Red Bow Tie; and 1996 Three-Year-Old Pacing Filly of the Year, and 1997 Older Pacing Mare of the Year Mystical Maddy.

He was introduced to harness racing by a family friend, a priest, who was a part-time driver at the old Brandywine Raceway horse track. By age 16, Holloway had a racing license.

BOB KING (Track & Field)

Bob King has been a leader in Delaware track and field, as an athlete, coach, and civic volunteer.

At Howard High School, he was twice the state cross country champion, setting a high school record of 10:48 at Rockford Park’s 2.3-mile course that lasted a decade. He also scored in the 100 and long jump and was state champion in the 880 and low hurdles, helping Howard win three New Castle County and state championships.

At Morgan State University, he captained winning mile relay teams at the Boston Garden Meet, the Washington Star Meet, Penn Relays College Division 880 relay, the National Indoor AAU and the Millrose Games, which the Bears won three times.

At Howard, he returned his alma mater to prominence, turning the Wildcats into the state’s best Division 2 team in 1977, followed by state championships in 1980, 1983 and 1984, and a girls indoor title in 1982 before becoming an administrator and principal. His 1984 Wildcats ran a 3:14.2 mile relay, still a state record.

In 2001, he revived the Wednesday night track meets for youth at Baynard Stadium, which had been discontinued. Working with other volunteers, he reinstated the events through which generations of athletes have developed. In 2015, the City renamed the Wednesday event as the Bob King Developmental Track Meets.

He was inducted into the Delaware Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1995, and the Delaware Afro-American Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2016, he received the Herm Reitzes Award for Public Service from the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association.

KHADIJAH RUSHDAN (Basketball)

Khadijah Rushdan was an All-Big East basketball player at Rutgers University who played professionally overseas. The St. Elizabeth High School graduate was the first Delaware high school athlete in any sport to be named first team All-State five times.

At Rutgers, she recovered from a torn ACL to make first team All-Big East as senior. She played in the most games (135) of any Rutgers player ever, and is one of only two Scarlet Knights to record a triple-double. She ranks 20th in Rutgers scoring with 1,288 points. As a junior, she led the Big East in ball-handling, with the league’s top assist to turnover ratio.

At St Elizabeth, she was five times first team All-State, and was named Delaware’s high school Player of the Year in 2004, 2006 and 2007. As a senior, she led the Vikings to the 2007 state championship, set the girls state scoring record with 2,464 points, and was named a McDonald’s and Parade All-American.

She averaged 11 points, three steals and a team-leading six assists for the USA National Team’s gold medalists at the 2006 FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship.

Selected 15th overall by the Los Angeles Sparks in the 2012 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), she played for Maccabi Ramat Chen in Israel before embarking on a college coaching career

BOB SHILLINGLAW (Lacrosse)

Bob Shillinglaw coached University of Delaware’s men’s lacrosse for 37 years, and introduced thousands to the sport through his work with the Delaware Lacrosse Foundation. He was inducted into both the Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IMLCA) Hall of Fame and the UD Athletics Hall of Fame in 2021.

The Annapolis, Md. native coached the Blue Hens to a 310-303 record, 15 conference titles, six NCAA tournaments, and the 2007 Final Four. He coached more games (654) than any other college lacrosse coach in the history of the sport and is one of only two to win over 300 games at one school.

He was national collegiate Coach of the Year in 1979 and 2007 and conference Coach of the Year five times. He twice coached in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association North-South game. He was selected as head coach of Team USA for the 1999 inaugural World Cup of Lacrosse. Team USA defeated Team Canada in a best-of-three at Johns Hopkins University in Bal-more.

He was an officer of the United States Lacrosse Coaches Association and served on United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Committees on rules, tournament selection, weekly poll, education and training, USA Team Selection, and National Player of the Year selection.

In 1980, he established the Delaware Lacrosse Foundation Regional Chapter, which helped increase youth and high school boys and girls lacrosse programs. He assisted with starting the Delaware Youth Lacrosse Association. He served as the DLF President for 37 years.

He established the Delaware Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame for the State of Delaware and established the DLF Website and DLF Senior All Star Game. He undertook yearly boys and girls instructional clinics from 1978-2017 for youth and high school via both DLF and the UD men’s lacrosse program (drew nearly 100,000 campers all-time).

He established Battle of the Hotbeds, a nationally-known recruiting tournament in 1999. He also was an assistant coach for the MLL Chesapeake Bayhawks in 2018 and 2019.

DEVON STILL (Football)

Devon Still, a graduate of Howard High School, was an All-American defensive lineman at Penn State University who played four seasons in the National Football League.

At Howard, Still was an All-State selection and was named the state’s Delaware Interscholastic Coaches Association Lineman of the Year in 2007 when he recorded 59 tackles, 18 of them for a loss.

He was also twice indoor state champion in the shot put, and a starting forward for the Wildcats’ state tournament basketball team.

At Penn State, playing under Hall of Fame head coach Joe Paterno in 2008-11, he was named the 2011 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, becoming only the second defensive tackle to win the award, and was selected as Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year. He was named All-Big Ten and was selected to 10 first-team All-American teams. He was also a finalist for both the national Outland and Bednarik awards

The Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association (DSBA) named him Delaware's Outstanding Athlete of 2011.

The Cincinnati Bengals selected him in the second round, as the 53rd player chosen in the 2012 NFL Draft. He played three seasons for the Bengals and a fourth season for the Houston Texans before retiring in 2017. During his NFL career, he recorded 43 tackles.

He gained national attention in 2014 when he put his NFL career on hold to care for his daughter, Leah, who was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma stage 4 cancer. On July 15, 2015, at the ESPY awards, Devon and Leah Still received the Jimmy V Award for their determination and perseverance in the face of cancer.

GENE THOMPSON (Basketball, Tennis, Track & Field)

Gene Thompson was Delaware Coach of the Year in three sports and led Wilmington High School to the state boys basketball championship three times in an 11-year span.

After leading the Wilmington High junior varsity to a 62-game winning streak, Thompson, a science and math teacher, was promoted to head basketball coach in 1976-77, a role he filled until the school closed in 1999. In his second season, the Red Devils went 23-1 for a state title, followed by championships in 1983 and 1988. All three state champions entered the Final Four as underdogs. He produced seven first-team all-staters, five on the second team, and three players of the year, and had a 49-game Flight B winning streak.

He was an advocate of tennis for Wilmington High and City youth generally, for which he received the U.S. Tennis Association’s National Community Service Award in 1998.

His 1994 track team won the Division Two state title, even though the Red Devils won only one individual

event. He was named Delaware Coach of the Year in basketball (1978), tennis (1978) and track and field (1994). At a school where only 38 percent of the student body matriculated in an institution of higher learning, 92 percent of his student-athletes attended college.

He returned to Virginia in 2005 to coach men’s tennis at Virginia State University (161-104 over 14 years), while assisting on the women’s basketball team and serving as interim men’s coach.

He has been inducted into the Delaware Tennis Hall of Fame (2013), Delaware Basketball Hall of Fame (2013), Delaware Afro-American Sports Hall of Fame (2009), and Virginia Interscholastic Heritage Association Hall of Fame (2018).

-DDD-

For further questions, contact DSMHOF Executive Director Scott Selheimer at desports@desports.org. 

SUBJECT: Black History Month Sports Discussion Hosted by Delaware Sports Museum & Hall of Fame Set for Feb. 23 at Howard High School

WILMINGTON, Del. (Feb. 15, 2022) -- The Delaware Sports Museum & Hall of Fame will host its inaugural Black History Month sports discussion on Wednesday, Feb. 23, at Howard High School of Technology. 

The two-hour event, which will be held in the auditorium at Howard High School at 401 East 12th Street in Wilmington, will begin at 6 p.m. The event is free to all attendees but the capacity will be capped at 225 due to Covid restrictions. All mask-wearing and social distancing protocols will be followed. 

To sign up for the event, email the DSMHOF at desports@desports.org and provide your name and the guest(s) that will be attending with you. 

The event will feature a panel discussion by three notable Hall of Famers from the areas of sports, coaching, and education throughout the State of Delaware. The panel will include a trio of Howard HS alums in Spencer Henry, Bob King, and Wilbert “Bunny” Miller.  DSMHOF board member and former state track & field standout Mark White will serve as emcee and fellow DSMHOF board members Dionne Jones-Dendy and Joel Coppadge will take part in the program. 

The panel will discuss their backgrounds in sports and education and detail the struggles they overcame as Black athletes and the triumphs that followed. Questions and answers will be welcome throughout the presentation. 

All three panelists are past inductees of the Delaware Afro-American Sports Hall of Fame while Henry and Miller are inductees of the Delaware Sports Museum & Hall of Fame and King is currently a finalist for 2022 DSMHOF induction honors. 

Henry, a graduate of Howard HS, was a state track champion in the 100 and 200 yard dash events and enjoyed an outstanding career at Morgan State University. He later coached Wilmington and Dickinson high schools to four state titles. He is also a member of the Delaware Track & Field Hall of Fame and Morgan State Track Hall of Fame. 

King has been a leader in Delaware track and field, as an athlete, coach, and civic volunteer. He won four state cross country and track & field titles while at Howard HS, became a standout at Morgan State, and returned to Howard to coach five state track & field titles. He is also a member of the Delaware Track & Field Hall of Fame. 

Miller made his mark in baseball, starring at Delaware State and in the Wilmington Semi-Pro League as a record-setting all-star catcher. He enjoyed a long career in education and later became executive director of the Police Athletic League for 18 years. He is also a member of the Delaware State Hall of Fame and Delaware Baseball Hall of Fame.

For further questions, contact DSMHOF Executive Director Scott Selheimer at desports@desports.org. 

The Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Family was saddened this week with the passing of 2014 Hall of Fame inductee, longtime volunteer, and award-winning high school official Frank Shea.

Shea passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on Tuesday, Nov. 6, at the age of 89.

He was probably best known for his impact and contribution to Delaware high school sports. He officiated football, basketball, and baseball for more than a half century. In 2002, he was honored as the National Distinguished Official of the Year Award, the first ever awarded to a Delaware Official.

He was a charter member of the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association State Football Committee (formerly DSSAA) for 36 years; a cross section of school administrators, officials, and athletic directors directly responsible for management and oversight for the State Football Tournament.

Shea was the first sports official in Delaware to reach 50 years of service. To mark his 50th year as a referee, then-Gov. Tom Carper presented Shea with an Official State of Delaware Proclamation, declaring the Frank Shea Golden Whistle Award and recognizing Shea as it’s first recipient.  

This award is offered to any Delaware sports official who achieves 50 years of service.

In addition, Shea received the Sports Official of the Year award by the National Federation of High School Sports. He was selected from a field of over 156,000 sports officials in the United States.

Following his retirement from the Northern Delaware Football Officials Association, Shea continued his service to the community by volunteering at the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame, providing guided tours to the many who visited the museum.

He was born in 1929 in Blackstone, Mass. and attended Blackstone High School. After graduation he joined the army, spending most of his deployment working at the Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington D.C. He married Jacqueline Lizotte in 1955 and moved to Delaware. He was an employee of United Engineers where he worked for many years.

A viewing will be held on Sunday, November 11 from 4-6 p.m. at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church, 809 South Broom Street, Wilmington, Del., 19805. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at the church on Monday, November 12 at 11 a.m.

Interment will follow at Gracelawn Memorial Park, 2220 N. DuPont Hwy. New Castle, Del., 19702.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame, 801 Shipyard Drive, Wilmington, Delaware 19802 (www.desports.org) or St. Elizabeth School, 809 South Broom Street, Wilmington, Del., 19805.