VALDOSTA –– Valdosta State Athletics held its 23rd Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Saturday.

Anna Einarsdottir, Torrey Howard, Pam Johnson, Leon Jones, Konstantin Kutschenko, Marti Littlefield, Dick Rockey and the 2012 National Champion VSU football team were celebrated in the VSU Student Union Ballroom.

Einarsdottir made history on Saturday as the first volleyball player to be inducted into the VSU Athletics Hall of Fame. A native of Iceland, Einarsdottir recorded over 3,000 career assists at the setter position for the Blazers from 1998-2001.

Howard, an offensive lineman on the Blazers’ first national championship team in 2004, earned All-American honors as a senior and a three-time All-Gulf South Conference selection. 

“It’s an honor to be going into the Hall of Fame with such an outstanding group,” Howard said.

Howard gave a memorable speech, lasting over 15 minutes, thanking former teammates, coaches, his wife and his parents before giving a special tribute to his children. Howard detailed his upbringing and his first job laying sheet rock alongside his father every morning as a teenager.

“When I think about this whole process of receiving such a prestigious honor, the road always begins with my parents and the values they instilled in me,” Howard said. “They gave me my first example of what greatness looks like. … (My mother) showed me what it meant to be dedicated to your craft. When I was growing up, my mother had two to three jobs and she worked every day, but the main one was as my bus driver. My mom never knew it but she was the first person to teach me that the greatest act that you can show people is kindness. There were times she’d get off the bus and go to work at another job and then get off late. But as you can see, looking at my brother and me, you can tell by our physiques, we didn’t miss a meal.”

The crowd inside the ballroom burst into laughter as Howard continued, “My father was the enforcer of the family. Back in the day, when we watched the NBA and the basketball team would send someone out to send a message. He was that guy. My dad wasn’t my friend, he wasn’t my home boy, he wasn’t a buddy…he was my dad, he was a sheet rock guy.

“That’s important for you to know because it was a job that made me choose between hard labor and pursuing a college degree. It was the summer before my ninth grade year that was truly the most life-changing event for me. The summer of 1996 was different –– I was awakened one Saturday morning bright and early and my dad threw some new khakis at me, some work boots and a fresh pack of white T-shirts. All he said to me was, ‘Get up, get dressed. You’re coming to work with me’ –– I was looking for my mama.”

Once again, the crowd rolled with laughter.

After Howard, VSU honored women’s basketball star, the late Pam Johnson. Johnson played for the Lady Blazers from 1981-84 and averaged 16.5 points per game during her four-year career. Johnson scored 1,387 points in only 82 career games and sits 13th on the all-time scoring list at VSU.

Men’s basketball also honored one of the great centers in Valdosta State history, Leon Jones. Jones manned the middle for the Blazers from 1983-87 and is one of only nine players to score over 1,500 points. With a career average of 14.6 points per game, Jones is eighth all-time in scoring average.

Over his four-year career with the Blazers, Jones shot 59.7 percent from the floor and earned a reputation as one of the fiercest rebounders to ever suit up for the team. Jones was described my former coach James Dominey as “a rebounding machine that gives maximum effort –– Leon is what Valdosta State is all about.”

After VSU, Jones played 15 years professionally in Brazil and other parts of South America.

“This is a very big honor for me,” Jones said. “I played basketball 15 years in South America and I got a chance to learn a lot. … From the time I stepped foot on this campus, I didn’t want to leave again. I had other schools that wanted me but Valdosta was the place.”

Jones, a native of Watkinsville, Ga., was originally a football player before transforming himself into a basketball player with the Blazers. During his speech, Jones recalled one of his most memorable moments during his career at VSU.

As a freshman, Jones hit a half-court shot to topple Jacksonville State, the No. 2 team in the country at the time.

The Blazers honored Konstantin Kutschenko from men’s tennis. Kutschenko, a native of Gottingen, Germany, came to VSU from Max Planck Gymnasium in his homeland.

As a sophomore, Kutschenko helped lead men’s tennis to a Gulf South Conference championship as well as an NCAA South Region title and the 2011 National Championship. As a senior, the German was named an All-American.

Though Kutschenko was unable to attend in-person, he gave his speech in a video presented at the ceremony.

“I know now that Southern (hospitality) is not just a phrase –– it’s a fact,” Kutschenko said. “From the first moment I came to Valdosta State, I felt welcome and I met so many great people in my time at Valdosta State. There are two people I really want to highlight specifically. The first one is Coach (John) Hansen. The thing that I always appreciated about Coach was that I always felt that he did not just care about us on the tennis court, but he cared about us succeeding in life and being happy in general.

“The second person I want to give a shout out to is Cheri Tillman. She supported me and the team so much in my time at Valdosta State. One situation, though, that I remember most vividly was at the end of my freshman year. We actually played for the national championship in my freshman year and I ended up losing the deciding match for the national championship. So, we drove back from Orlando to Valdosta. We were all completely down, devastated. … I just locked myself in my apartment, I didn’t want to do anything, didn’t want to see anyone –– but the Cheri called me and she invited me to have dinner at her house with her family. I couldn’t say no to that and I spent a really amazing time with her and (her husband) Hamilton –– who is an amazing person as well. We talked about everything but the one thing we didn’t talk about was tennis and the loss we had just a few days earlier.”

Although the loss stuck with Kutschenko for quite some time, Kutschenko credits Tillman inviting him over for dinner as “the first step to move on from the loss we had.”

When the team reconvened in August, going into his sophomore year, Kutschenko felt the best way to get over the loss was for him and his teammates to get back to work on the practice court.

“We figured the best way to handle the loss that we had was just to go back to practice to work as hard as we can and to try to create another opportunity for us to win the national championship,” Kutschenko said. “Then, exactly one year after we lost the national championship, we found ourselves back in the national championship game. We played against the same team we lost to the year before, Barry University. We played in the same location in Orlando, and I played on the same tennis court in my singles match that I lost the deciding match the year before.

“What changed that year though was, that year, I won my singles match and we ended up winning the national championship so you can only imagine how sweet that one felt. What that taught me goes far beyond the tennis court. It taught me that whenever you face failure, you must keep doing the right things and not stick your head in the sand. And then, there’s no way around you succeeding eventually.”

Following Kutschenko, VSU honored softball standout Marti Littlefield. As a shortstop, Littlefield starred for the Blazers from 2009-12. Littlefield earned All-American honors three times and broke the Gulf South Conference record for RBIs with 103 in 2009. As a senior, Littlefield helped guide VSU softball to the National Championship in 2012.

Legendary play-by-play broadcaster Dick Rockey took his rightful place in the Hall of Fame on Saturday as well. The spark for Rockey’s career began in the 1970s, when he would call in VSU baseball scores to local radio stations every three innings to keep every updated on the games.

Rockey parlayed that dedication into a broadcasting career that lasted over 30 years as the play-by-play voice for both the VSU baseball and football teams. Rockey retired after the 2017 season.

Following Rockey was the 2012 National Championship football team, represented by former head coach David Dean. The 2012 Blazers started their season 2-2 before embarking on one of the greatest championship runs in Division II football history.

The Blazers won their last 10 games on the strength of their renowned Black Swarm defense and a punishing offensive line. The Blazers defeated Winston-Salem State 35-7 to win the school’s third football national championship in 15 years. 

The 2012 National Championship team produced eight All-Americans and takes its place in the VSU Athletics Hall of Fame as one of the great teams in the school’s history.