Still a touchstone Alabama player three decades after his final football game for the Crimson Tide, David Palmer is part of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024.
The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame announced its newest class on Wednesday with Palmer joining Mike Anderson, Larry Chapman and John Drew from basketball, Robert Mathis and Mike Washington from football, Penney Hauschild Buxton from gymnastics and Scott Sullivan from baseball.
The Class of 2024 will join the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame during the 56th annual induction banquet and ceremony on May 4 at the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel.
A closer look at the Class of 2024:
Mike Anderson
The former UAB coach also was a basketball standout in Birmingham. Anderson was an All-Tournament selection when Jackson-Olin reached the AHSAA Class 4A Final Four in 1977, and he started his college career at Jefferson State. Two seasons at Tulsa began Anderson’s long association with coach Nolan Richardson. With the Golden Hurricane, Anderson played on the 1981 NIT championship team and a 1982 NCAA tournament team before beginning 20 seasons as an assistant to Richardson at Tulsa and Arkansas.
Anderson returned to Birmingham in 2002 to lead the Blazers basketball program for four seasons. He compiled an 89-41 record before leaving for Missouri. In the 2004 NCAA tournament, UAB defeated Washington and Kentucky before falling to Kansas in the Sweet 16.
In 21 seasons as a head coach at UAB, Missouri, Arkansas and St. John’s, Anderson has compiled a 438-257 record with nine NCAA tournament teams, including the 2009 Missouri squad that reached the Elite Eight.
Penney Hauschild Buxton
A 10-time All-American at Alabama, Buxton became the first SEC gymnast to win an NCAA title when she captured the all-around championship as well as the competition in the uneven bars in 1985. Buxton repeated as the all-around champion in 1986, when she also finished first the floor exercise. She was the second female gymnast to win the NCAA all-around crown twice.
The SEC Athlete of the Year in 1985, Buxton won the Honda-Broderick Award as the nation’s top female gymnast in 1985 and 1986 and represented the United States at two World University Games.
Larry Chapman
As the men’s basketball coach for Auburn University at Montgomery, Chapman compiled a 679-450 record across 37 seasons. He was the NAIA Coach of the Year in 1988, when the Warhawks went 32-3 and lost to Grand Canyon 88-86 in overtime in the national-championship game. At AUM, Chapman coached 17 All-Americans and 11 NAIA tournament teams.
A starting guard for Auburn in the 1961-62 through the 1963-64 seasons for coach Joel Eaves, Chapman was an Auburn assistant coach and head coach at Auburn High School and Georgia Southern before coming to AUM in 1977. After retiring at AUM, Chapman coached Macon-East to AISA championships in 2017 and 2018.
John Drew
A two-time NBA all-star, Drew showed his basketball ability early at J.F. Shields High School in Beatrice. He led the Panthers to the 1972 AHSAA Class 2A title while compiling the highest career scoring average in state history at 41.0 points per game. Drew has two of the four 70-point games by an individual player in Alabama high school history.
After playing two seasons at Gardner-Webb, where he averaged 25.2 points per game, Drew entered the NBA as the 25th selection of the 1974 draft. In eight seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, Drew was an All-Rookie selection in 1975 and went to the NBA All-Star Game in 1976 and 1980. The 6-foot-6 forward averaged 21.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game with Atlanta, and he finished his NBA career with a 20.7-points-per-game average in 11 seasons.
Robert Mathis
The former Alabama A&M standout got the news about the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame one day after he was named as a semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024.
Across 13 seasons as a defensive end and outside linebacker for the Indianapolis Colts, Mathis received five Pro Bowl selections and earned first-team All-Pro recognition in 2013 when he led the NFL with 19.5 sacks. With 123 sacks, Mathis ranks 20th on the NFL’s career list, and he holds the league record for forced fumbles with 54. After the 2006 regular season, Mathis had three forced fumbles and 1.5 sacks in the playoffs as the Colts defeated the Chicago Bears 29-17 in Super Bowl XLI.
A four-year starter at Alabama A&M, Mathis broke the NCAA FCS single-season sack record when he recorded 20 in 2002 before joining the Colts as a fifth-round selection in the 2003 NFL Draft.
David Palmer
Before he became “The Deuce” at Alabama, Palmer was an All-State quarterback and Alabama’s Mr. Football at Jackson-Olin in Birmingham in 1990.
With the Crimson Tide, Palmer played wide receiver but also filled other roles, such as taking direct snaps and returning kicks. In Palmer’s three seasons at Alabama, the Tide compiled a 33-4-1 record, including an undefeated mark in 1992 that included a victory over Miami (Fla.) in a Sugar Bowl showdown for the national championship. In 1993, Palmer became the first Alabama player to reach 1,000 receiving yards in a season, earned consensus All-American recognition in the all-purpose/return-specialist slot, won the Paul Warfield Trophy as the nation’s top wide receiver and finished third in the voting for the Heisman Trophy.
A second-round choice in the 1994 NFL Draft, Palmer played seven seasons with the Minnesota Vikings. He led the league with a 13.2-yard punt-return average in 1995. Palmer had a 9.9-yard punt-return average and 22.6-yard punt-return average with three touchdown returns during his NFL career.
Scott Sullivan
Before he became a workhorse out of the Cincinnati Reds’ bullpen, Sullivan was a walk-on from Pickens Academy for the Auburn baseball team. The right-hander left the Tigers as a second-round selection in the 1993 draft.
From 1997 through 2003, Sullivan brought his sidearm delivery to the mound for Cincinnati in at least 50 games annually, with a high of 79 in 1999, 2000 and 2001. He had reached 50 games in 2003 when the Reds traded him to the Chicago White Sox during the season. Sullivan’s 494 pitching appearances rank second in Cincinnati history, and he’s the only pitcher since 1990 with four seasons of at least 100 innings and no starts.
Sullivan completed his Major League career with a 3.98 earned-run average, a 40-28 record and nine saves in 558 games. In 737.1 innings, he struck out 622 batters.
Mike Washington
An All-State end for Lee-Montgomery’s undefeated AHSAA Class 4A championship team in 1970, Washington as an All-SEC defensive back for Alabama in the 1973 and 1974 seasons. After the Crimson Tide earned the UPI national championship for the 1973 campaign, Washington received All-American recognition in 1974 from the Football News and Newspaper Enterprise Association.
The 53rd selection of the 1975 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Colts, Washington spent his entire career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before a head injury sustained in the 1984 season-opener prematurely ended his career. Washington helped Tampa Bay grow from a winless team in his rookie season to playing for the NFC championship in the 1979 season. Washington played in 100 regular-season games with the Buccaneers, including 97 as a starting cornerback, and collected 28 interceptions, including three that were returned for touchdowns.
To purchase induction banquet tickets, contact the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Museum at (205) 323-6665.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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