Mississippi State M-Club announces their 2024 Sports Hall of Fame class

Mississippi State’s M-Club has assembled the next lineup to be inducted as the 2024 Hall of Fame class. These seven selected Bulldog and Lady Bulldog greats represent five Mississippi State varsity sports.

Danny Knight, Floyd Womack, and Keffer McGee join the former football player roster in the Hall of Fame; Bobby Reed from baseball; Iyhia McMichael of softball; Jennifer Fambrough of women’s basketball; and men’s and women’s tennis coach Andy Jackson.

This 2024 class being announced today will be formally inducted at the M-Club Hall of Fame gala the Friday evening before Mississippi State football hosts Arkansas on October 26.

As part of induction weekend the M-Club also will present a pair of former Bulldog football figures with prominent honors. Howard Lewis is recipient of the Dowsing-Bell Valor Award, and Jan Gwin the Leo Seal Award.

Keffer McGee (1993-97) will be honored posthumously, having passed in August, 1997. In his four previous falls and three varsity seasons McGee wrote a legacy on and off the field.

Taking over as starting tailback for Coach Jackie Sherrill as a 1995 sophomore McGee became just the third 1,000-yard rushing club Bulldog with 1,072 yards and 13 touchdowns. This, in the eleven-game season era. A year later he was on an even faster rushing pace, ranking fourth in NCAA rushing when his season ended with a knee injury at South Carolina.

The night before his senior season training camp was to begin McGee was drowning victim in Starkville. A tree was planted and marked with a plaque still seen in front of the Bryan Athletic Building. McGee scored 19 touchdowns on over 2,000 total yards in his shortened career. Three times the SEC named him to their academic Honor Roll.

Danny Knight (1980-83) was one of the most explosive play-makers of his or any Bulldog football era. Performing for Coach Emory Bellard and largely within a run-based option offense, Knight still holds the Mississippi State record of 21.89 yards-per-catch for any Bulldog with forty or more receptions. He finished with 81 receptions in four seasons with 1,773 yards.

Knight remains top-five for single-game and single-season receiving yardage, and top-ten career. He also played in the eleven-game season era. He succeeded Hall of Famer the late Mardye McDole in the wingback position for which Bellard’s wing-bone offense was titled.

Knight was named All-SEC as a 1982 junior and drafted by Miami in the NFL’s 1984 supplemental draft, and would play for the New Jersey Generals in the original USFL.

His given name is Floyd Womack (1997-2000, but Bulldog football recalls him better and fondly as Pork Chop. The nickname was given early for his purported infant resemblance to Memphis wrestling figure Pork Chop Cash. By any label, Womack ranks with the best and most-honored offensive linemen to wear the Maroon and White.

A 31-game starter at tackle, Womack earned first-team All-America as well as first-team All-SEC honors as a 2000 senior. He was on three Bulldog bowl teams which at the time was the most any State football player could have participated in. He was a key cog on the 1998 SEC Western Division champions who played in the Cotton Bowl. He also had a career 3-1 record in Egg Bowls.

Drafted by Seattle in the 2001 NFL Draft’s fourth round, Womack would play eleven seasons; 2001-08 with the Seahawks, 2009-10 Cleveland Browns, 2011 Arizona Cardinals. He started 71 games in his career and retired after the 2011 season. Womack was Mississippi State’s selection for SEC Legend in 2017.

Bobby Reed (1988-90) is having a bountiful spring for honors. He was formally inducted two weekends ago into the Ron Polk Ring of Honor as part of the 2024 class. Now the record-setting Diamond Dog pitcher joins the M-Club’s shrine as well.

Reed was ace in the Mississippi State rotation for three seasons and completed his college career with 35 winning decisions, still second only to fellow Hall member Jeff Brantley. He also owns the unique status of going unbeaten on Dudy Noble Field at 25-0. He left Mississippi State with at-the-time records for wins, innings pitched, earned run average, and strikeouts.

As a 1988 junior he led the nation with a 1.09 ERA. His MSU record for consecutive scoreless innings at 25.1, and career starts at 22 stood until 2008.

Reed, son of former Bulldog football player Ray Reed, would earn Freshman All-America in ’88; ABCA All-Region Second team and All-SEC second team in 1990, All-SEC Tournament in ’90 as well, and All-Starkville Regional in both 1989 and ’90. He was lead Dog in the 1989 SEC Championship team rotation as well as for the 1990 College World Series club where he threw the first pitch in Omaha for State.

A third-round draft selection by the Texas Rangers and 89th overall in 1990 as an eligible junior, Reed played three minor league seasons reaching AA ball.

Playing on the other campus diamond, Iyhia McMichael (2001-04) was the Mississippi State softball star to start the new century. Her legacy stands out in any program era as a three-time All-America selection and twice the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year.

McMichael set Bulldog batting marks that would require several player-generations to surpass, and her name is still prominent in most career categories. She is #4 in batting average, base hits and home runs (37), second in triples and fifth in doubles. Her 182 RBI remain #3 as is her on-base percentage and total runs scored.

An outfielder, McMichael was all-star as a defender and still owns the Mississippi State marks for single-season and career outfield assists. When her college career was completed McMichael made both Mississippi State and National Pro Fastpitch history as the #1 overall selection in the organization’s inaugural draft.

Lady Bulldog basketball had never been picked for the NCAA Tournament, and only rarely played any post-season events. The arrival of Jennifer Fambrough (1999-2002) changed this for good. As a true freshman signed by Coach Sharon Fanning, the Tennessee native finally put Mississippi State on the NCAA women’s map.

As a true freshman Fambrough averaged 17.5 points, on her way to 1,677 career markers which still ranks #6 at Mississippi State. That first winter brought the program’s first NCAA berth as a seven-seed in the Midwest Regional. Three of Fambrough’s four varsity seasons concluded in the national championship tournament with first-round wins in 2000 and 2002. Her 2001 team would play in the women’s NIT also and reach the quarterfinals.

A Freshman All-American in ’99, Fambrough would earn three All-SEC recognitions. She was also the first Lady Bulldog standout to complete a four-year career with a winning record against Ole Miss.

Fambrough remains top-ten in career categories for scoring, rebounding, and assists, and was named a SEC Great in 2008.

Greatness became the standard during the Andy Jackson (1985-2001) era with Bulldog and Lady Bulldog tennis. Hired as the women’s coach, after six successful seasons he took charge of the men’s team in 1989 and would lead Bulldogs to eleven consecutive NCAA Tournament team appearances. His teams compiled the most match wins for a State coach with 220 with the 1993 SEC Championship—a first since the 1960s here—and the 1996 SEC Tournament team title. Jackson was SEC Coach of the Year in 1991.

The Bulldogs advanced to the NCAA’s round of 16 ten of their eleven trips, reached the quarterfinals five times, and twice reached the national championship semifinals.

His Lady Bulldog teams compiled the best winning record for any MSU coach at 59.6%. Altogether Jackson coached Bulldog and Ladydog teams to 14 top-25 rankings at the end of seasons. He coached two NCAA championship doubles teams, with fifteen Bulldogs named to All-American lists. Six of his players would reach the individual #1 national ranking as well.

Along with these seven additions to the M-Club Hall of Fame are the pair of special honors. The Valor Award commemorates the legacy of Mississippi State’s first black student-athletes, football standouts Frank Dowsing Jr. and Robert Bell. It is presented to a Bulldog letter winner whose determination and perseverance in overcoming obstacles of all sorts testifies to their character.

Howard Lewis came to Mississippi State as a 1972 freshmen when redshirting was mandatory, then played three seasons for Coach Bob Tyler in 1973-74-75. He participates in current Mississippi State activities as a M-Club member, and his life exemplifies the qualifications for the Dowsing-Bell Valor Award.

This is the fourth year for the Leo Seal Award which is given to a former letter winner who has been of outstanding service to Mississippi State University and Bulldog athletics, as well as a success in their professional career and community life.

Gwin twice has served as M-Club president and been an active former letterman ever since graduation. He has served on the boards of both the Bulldog Club and the MSU Foundation, and the School of Business advisory board with one term as president.

The formal inductions will occur as part of the 2024 MSU Sports M-Club Hall of Fame Gala on Friday evening, October 25. More information on the Gala will be released at a later date.