Dover, Del. (May 2, 2022) — A Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference track and field champion, a member of two MEAC championship bowling teams, and the first player with one thousand receiving yards in a season highlight the 2022 Delaware State University Athletics Hall of Fame class.
A total of 11 individuals will be honored during the annual hall-of-fame ceremony scheduled for September of this year.
The Hornets’ 2022 Hall-of-Fame class includes track and field great Everett (Hayes) Stembridge, a six-time MEAC champion and owner of two conference records. Stembridge set the all-time MEAC outdoor three-mile record at 15:11.70 in the 1980 championship meet, and the indoor three-mile run standard (15:26.00) in the 1981championship race.
Bowling great Kalyn (Washburn) Arthurs was the first-ever national recipient of the NCAA Elite 88 Award for women’s college bowling, honoring the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average (4.0) participating at the site of the final for each of the NCAA’s championships. A 2008-09 National Tenpin Coaches Association Third Team All-America and two-time All-MEAC selection (2008-09, 2009-10), Washburn was a starting member of Delaware State’s first two MEAC Tournament championship teams (2008-09 & 2009-10). She also helped lead the Hornets to two NCAA Tournament appearances, highlighted by a “Final 4” finish in 2009.
David Jones, Delaware State career tight ends leader and 12th in team history with 101 receptions from 1987 to ’91, has also been selected for hall-of-fame induction. Jones holds the Hornets’ single-season career mark in receiving yards per game at 104.9 in 1990 and is seventh on the school’s career list with 1,825 career receiving yards. Delaware State’s first single-season 1000-yard receiver (1,049 in 1990), three-time All-MEAC honoree (1988-90), and 1989 Black College Sports First Team All-America selection, Jones also competed in the NFL for the (then) San Diego Chargers and Los Angeles Raiders.
Former Hornet football standouts Phil Anderson, Tony Danzy, and Fabian Thorne have also been selected for hall of fame induction.
Anderson is No. 2 in Delaware State football history with 4,317 all-purpose yards and sixth in rushing yards at 2,401. He’s also second in team history with 36 touchdowns and third with 230 points. A two-time All-MEAC selection, he’s ninth in MEAC history in points by a running back.
Danzy is a three-time Sheridan Black College All-America and All-MEAC First Team selection (1985, ’86, ’87), in addition to a 1987 Division I-AA All-America Honorable Mention. He helped lead the Hornets to MEAC championships in 1985 and ’87.
Thorne is Delaware State’s seventh all-time leading rusher with 2,385 yards. He was a 1995 All-MEAC First Team selection after rushing for 1,296 yards, the third-best single-season mark in school history. Thorne rushed for 13 touchdowns in 1994, the second-best mark in team history. He also holds the second-highest single-game rushing mark in Hornet history with a 255-yard performance vs. Morgan State in 1995.
Hornet baseball great Robert Johnson, the current Mayor of Smyrna, Del., is also slated for hall-of-fame induction. Johnson is Delaware State’s single-game record-holder with 17 strikeouts in 11 innings vs. Mansfield State in a 1974 NAIA District 19 Tournament win. He struck out 13 batters vs. Lincoln (Pa.) in 1973. He posted a 5-1 record with 1.75 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 40.2 innings as a sophomore in 1973 and was 6-0 on the mound, including two NAIA Tournament wins, to lead Delaware State to 19-7 overall record and NAIA championship game appearance in ‘74. He was also a member of the school-record 400 x 100 freestyle relay and 4 x 100 medley relay swim teams and finished third in the butterfly at the 1975 MEAC swimming championship.
The 2022 Delaware State Athletics Hall-of-Fame ceremony will also feature the induction of the second member of the Hornets’ equestrian team.
Kamera Brown was a member of the inaugural Hornets’ equestrian team and its first African-American rider. A four-year letter winner and team captain, Brown was team MVP following her freshman, sophomore, and junior seasons and captured numerous Most Outstanding Performer awards at various shows throughout her four seasons with the program. She helped lead the Hornets’ Jumping Seat team to the Varsity Equestrian National Championships in 2008 and 2009, where she posted wins in equitation over fences.
Stanley Waite was a championship member of Delaware State’s Association of Collegiate Union International (ACUI) men’s bowling team from 1991 to ’93. He was the first bowler in team history to claim an individual collegiate title with a first-place finish at the 1992 ACUI Individual All Events Championship. He was also a top performer on the Hornets’ 1992 ACUI team championship squad and represented Delaware State as a regional champion at an ACUI national championship event.
Former Delaware State head men’s basketball coach Greg Jackson has also been selected for hall-of-fame induction.
Jackson led Delaware State to its lone MEAC Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2005, in addition to three consecutive MEAC regular-season titles in 2005, ’06, and ’07. Jackson posted a 137-75 mark in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) regular-season games (.646). He directed the Hornets to MEAC record-tying 16 league wins in 2005-06 (16-2) and 2006-07 (16-2), was a two-time MEAC Coach of the Year (2006, ’07) and State of Delaware Coach of the Year in 2006. Jackson also led Delaware State to a National Invitational Tournament victory over Northern Arizona in 2006, the only national post-season win in team history.
Rounding out the Delaware State 2022 Hall of Fame class is former football student-athlete Ronnie Shaw, who is being honored as a contributor. Shaw, most notably, has helped spearhead efforts to benefit Hornet athletes and the University in general as a driving force behind the creation of the “DSC Legends Athletics Scholarship Fund” to support current student-athletes who have achieved excellence in academics, sports, campus spirit and community involvement.