BATON ROUGE — All-American tailback Kevin Faulk, All-American batting champion Todd Walker, vaulting superstar Jennifer Wood and national champion sprinters D’Andre Hill and Cheryl Taplin were inducted into the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame Monday night at the Lod Cook Alumni Center.
All five inductees attended the event, including Walker who flew to Baton Rouge after helping lead the Chicago Cubs to a win in Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon. Faulk came to Baton Rouge on a break from preparation for another season with the New England Patriots; Wood came from Alberta, Canada, where she is a program coordinator for a gymnastics club; Hill came from Fort Worth, Texas, where she is an assistant track coach at TCU; and Taplin came from Seattle, Wash., where she works in community relations for the Seattle Mariners.
The LSU Athletic Hall of Fame honors former Tiger greats who earned at least one letter at LSU, gained national distinction for superlative athletic performance, established a personal reputation for character and citizenship which reflects favorably upon the university, and who have earned a college degree.
With the induction of the five newest honorees on Monday, the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame has enshrined 101 former LSU greats. A number of current members of the LSU Hall of Fame also attended the event.
Cox Sports Television will tape the event to be televised on a date to be announced later this summer.
Kevin Faulk, LSU’s all-time leading rusher and a 1998 graduate of LSU, was one of the greatest all-around football players in Tiger History. The Carencro native was named first-team All-American in 1996 by the Associated Press and earned first-team All-SEC honors three years in a row.
Todd Walker, the 1993 SEC Player of the Year and a 1998 graduate of LSU, was one of the greatest hitters in SEC history. A first team All-American two years in a row, Walker led LSU to a national championship in 1993 as he earned the College World Series MVP award that year.
Jennifer Wood, considered one of the most accomplished gymnasts in the history of the sport in Canada and a 1998 graduate of LSU, earned All-America honors nine times for the Tiger gymnastics team. She recorded a remarkable nine perfect 10 scores on the vault during her LSU career.
D’Andre Hill, the NCAA Women’s Track and Field Athlete of the Year in 1996 and a 1998 graduate of LSU, was a 15-time All-American for the national champion LSU track and field teams, and participated in the 100 meter dash for the United States in the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Cheryl Taplin, a member of four LSU outdoor and three indoor national champion teams and a 1995 graduate of LSU, was a 16-time All-American and a three-time NCAA champion for the Tigers. In outdoor competition, Taplin won national titles as a member of the 4×100 meter relay teams in 1992, 1993 and 1994, and won six SEC titles.