Star quarterback Pat White headlines the five-person Class of 2024 for the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame, which was announced Wednesday.

White, who excelled at Daphne High School and the University of West Virginia, is joined in the MSHOF Class of 2024 by fellow football standout Captain Munnerlyn, as well as former South Alabama athletics director Joe Gottfried, championship volleyball player and coach Kelli Ogden Hillier and the late professional baseball player Carvel “Bama” Rowell. The five will be inducted into the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame on May 30 at the Mitchell Center on the campus of the University of South Alabama.

For the first time this year, the MSHOF ceremony will be held in conjunction with the annual First Light Community of Mobile (formerly L’Arche Mobile) Football Preview Dinner. Among those speakers already confirmed for the dinner are South Alabama head coach Major Applewhite and Auburn offensive coordinator Derrick Nix, with others to be added to the program in the coming weeks.

“Once again this year, I think we have just a tremendous class of athletes,” said Peter Albrecht, president of the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame. “We had 119 nominations this year, and then our group of about 20 had to whittle that list down to five, which is not an easy task. There certainly are dozens of obvious Hall-of-Famers to come, and it just speaks to the tremendous sports history we have here in Mobile.

“… We’re excited about partnering with First Light community and we look forward to a great event on the 30th of May. We’ll have a big crowd to honor our five inductees and also to hear from the guest speakers we have lined up. I think it will be a great event.”

Here are thumbnail bios of the five Hall of Fame inductees:

Joe Gottfried (administration)

Gottfried pent 26 years (1981-2007) as AD at South Alabama. During that time, the Jaguars won the Bubas Cup as the Sun Belt Conference all-sports champion 13 times, including 10 times in one 13-year span. South Alabama also won 108 Sun Belt championships in various sports during his tenure. Among other achievements, Gottfried spearheaded the building of the Mitchell Center and the launch of the school’s football program in 2009. An Ohio native, Gottfried spent many years coaching on the high school level and was later head coach at Ashland University and Southern Illinois. The older brother of fellow Mobile Sports Hall of Fame inductee Mike Gottfried and the father of longtime college basketball coach Mark Gottfried, Joe Gottfried was on the MSHOF board from 2008-20.

Kelli Ogden Hillier (volleyball)

A Mobile native who starred in volleyball, basketball and track at St. Paul’s Episcopal School in the early 1980s, she later was an All-SEC and honorable mention All-America volleyball performer at the University of Georgia in 1989. She still ranks in the top 5 all-time in numerous statistical categories with the Bulldogs. Ogden Hillier became head volleyball coach at St. Paul’s in 2002, and won 607 games and seven state championships in 13 years. Her seven state titles are tied for fifth in AHSAA history.

Captain Munnerlyn (football)

An all-state performer at Murphy High School, Munnerlyn played three seasons at South Carolina and 10 in the NFL. He was an All-SEC pick at cornerback with Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks in 2007 and totaled 127 tackles and five interceptions in 36 games before entering the 2009 NFL draft. Selected by the Carolina Panthers in the 7th round, Munnerlyn went on to play 154 games in seven seasons with the Panthers and three with the Minnesota Vikings before retiring in 2019. He finished his NFL career with 529 tackles, 64 pass breakups and 12 interceptions — five of which he returned for touchdowns.

Carvel “Bama” Rowell (baseball)

A Citronelle native, Rowell attended LSU on a football scholarship before turning pro in baseball in 1937. Primarily a second baseman and outfielder, he made it to the major leagues with the Boston Braves in 1939 and played three years before his career was interrupted by service in World War II. He returned to baseball with Boston in 1946 and played one year with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1948, then spent several more seasons as a minor-league player and manager. In 574 career games at the MLB level, he hit .275 with 95 doubles, 26 triples, 19 home runs and 217 RBIs. On May 30, 1946, he hit a ball that shattered the scoreboard clock at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field, a play that inspired a scene in the classic baseball book and film “The Natural.” Rowell died Aug. 16, 1993, at age 77.

Pat White (football)

White starred in both football and baseball at Daphne High School, leading the Trojans to a state runner-up finish on the gridiron as a senior and a pair of Class 6A titles on the diamond. A fourth-round pick of MLB’s Anaheim Angels, he instead enrolled at West Virginia to play football. One of the top dual-threat quarterbacks of his era, White was a Freshman All-American in 2005 and Big East Offensive Player of the Year in both 2006 and 2007. He finished in the Top 10 in the Heisman Trophy voting in both 2007 and 2008, ending his college career with 6,051 yards and 56 touchdowns passing and 4,480 yards and 47 touchdowns rushing. His rushing-yards total was an NCAA record for quarterbacks and remains third all-time. The MVP of the 2009 Senior Bowl, White was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the second round, No. 44 overall. He played just one season in Miami before spending time in the Canadian Football League and the United Football League. He has been a coach on the college and pro level in recent years, spending the 2023 season as an offensive assistant with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Hillier was in attendance at Wednesday’s announcement, while Rowell was represented by grandson Tre Rowell. Hillier said she was “humbled” to be chosen as an inductee from such a large group of candidates and shared the honor with her many players over the years.

“I had no idea there were over 100 nominations, so I’m truly, truly humbled to be one of the five,” she said. “It’s very, very special. … Being lucky enough to have had several state championships, I really wanted to be able to give that feeling to my players. I wanted them to work hard and realize what it was to be a state champion. I think once you get a taste of it, you want it to continue.”

Tre Rowell said he and his family and friends had been nominating his grandfather for the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame nearly since its formation. Their persistence finally paid off, he said.

“I know he’s been nominated for about the last 30 years, so it’s been a long time coming,” Rowell said. “I’m very proud the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame is recognizing his achievements, both in baseball and what he did overseas (in the military) for our country.”

Tickets for the 2024 Mobile Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony and First Light Community of Mobile Football Preview dinner are on sale for $70 each. For ticket, table and sponsorship information, contact Marty O’Malley at [email protected], or Carol Hunter at [email protected].

First Light Community of Mobile, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in November, states as its mission that men and women with and without intellectual disabilities share life, and operates six homes and an activity center in the Mobile area. For more information, visit FirstLightCommunity.org.