By JESSE SUTTON

Sports Editor

In 1981, the National Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Johnny Mize for his success in the sports

 Students may know of Mize because he lived in Demorest, and Piedmont College named the athletic building in his honor.

However, Mize was not only inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame but also the Piedmont College Hall of Fame in 1937 for baseball and men’s basketball.

Entrance to Piedmont’s Hall of Fame isn’t an easy task, with athletes having to be nominated by members of the P Club, Piedmont’s letter club for athletics. 

Collecting dues from the club allows the athletic program to offset costs for things like sports banquets and end of season awards.

After nomination by a P Club member, nominees have to pass through a seven-person committee that reviews their contributions to the college. 

Three members of the committee include Athletic Director John Dzik, P Club President Michael Williams and assistant baseball coach Justin Scali.

Scali emphasized that although there are no academic or athletic requirements for induction other than being graduated from Piedmont for more than five years, the individual had to be a terrific athlete. 

“If I were going to nominate someone for the Hall of Fame that I coached, they would have to be a dominant player,” said Scali. 

“I factor in other things like leadership skills, doing good things on and off the field [and] being a good citizen on campus and in the community”

Although the Hall of Fame consists mostly of athletic inductees, others are nominated for contributions to the athletic department, including Jasper and Delene Lee, inducted in 2011. 

According to Scali, there can be one honorary inductee to the Hall of Fame per year annually. The couple’s nomination resulted from their contributions, including being at all the events and taking photos. Delene served as Piedmont’s athletic director, and helped Piedmont move from NAIA to NCAA D-III.

According to Jasper Lee, he and his wife were not expecting nomination into the Hall of Fame.

“Being inducted into the Hall of Fame was a great experience in my life. Being a non-athlete but a fan of sports, I always admired those individuals who were honored for athletic participation,” said Jasper Lee. 

“Emphasis [for induction] is on, first of all, being a student and, secondly, on being an athlete. In my opinion, that is the way it should be.”