Class of 1987
| 1987 Inductees | ||
|---|---|---|
| Shirley Babashoff Donna de Varona | Floyd Patterson | LeRoy T. Walker |
| Shirley Babashoff | |
|---|---|
| Photo: Donald Miralle/Getty Images | |
 | With eight Olympic medals, Babashoff retired as the all-time leader among U.S. women (in 2000 Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson finally surpassed Babashoff's career total). She won one gold and two silver medals in 1972, along with one gold and four silvers in 1976. Babashoff's two gold medals were won as part of world record-setting 4×100-meter freestyle relay teams. Of her five individual silver medals, four were defeated by world record performances, and the other by an Olympic record. |
| Donna de Varona | |
|---|---|
| Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images | |
 | De Varona won two gold medals at the 1964 Olympic Games, in the 400-meter individual medley and the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. She broke an Olympic record in the 400 IM, and the relay team broke a world record. De Varona also competed in the 1960 Olympic Games at age 13. She later became a network sports commentator, helped found the Women's Sports Foundation and was instrumental in the passage of the landmark Title IX legislation. |
| Floyd Patterson | |
|---|---|
| Photo: Getty Images | |
 | Patterson dominated the competition on his way to winning the 1952 Olympic middleweight boxing championship. In the final bout, he knocked out Romania's Vasile Tita in just 74 seconds. Patterson went on to have a fine professional career, winning the world heavyweight championship in 1956, and becoming the first boxer to regain that title in 1960. |
| LeRoy T. Walker | |
|---|---|
| Photo: John Gichigi/Getty Images | |
 | U.S. Olympic Men's Track and Field Coach, 1976; The Track and Field Congress (TAC) President (1985-88); North Carolina Amateur Sports Corporation Chairman; U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame member, former USOC President (1992-1996). Walker has devoted his life to the betterment of Olympic sports. Walker, a former All-America college football player, served as the head men's coach for the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team in 1976. As a teacher and coach at North Carolina Central University, Walker, who ultimately became the school's chancellor, sent track and field athletes to every Olympic Games from 1956 through 1980. Two of Walker's best athletes were star U.S. hurdler Lee Calhoun and two-time Olympic marathon gold medalist Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia. He has been involved with USOC administration since 1977. |