Joakim Noah, the son of International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee, Yannick Noah, was a two-time NCAA Champion with the Florida Gators and a Final Four MVP.  Naturally, this is a pedigree of a Lottery Pick, which he would be in 2007, when the Chicago Bulls drafted him Ninth Overall.

The 6’ 11” Center would not become a potent scorer, only having five years in the NBA where he had at least 10 Points per Game, but he developed into one of the most complete defensive players in Basketball.  Noah had four seasons of 10-plus Rebounds per Game, and six straight with at least 1.4 Blocks per Game.  An All-Star for Chicago in 2013 and 2014, and was a First Team All-Defensive Selection in both of those years.  Noah earned the prestigious Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2014, and he did have the league’s highest Defensive Rating.

Noah would also play for New York, Memphis and the Los Angeles Clippers. 

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB. Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players, coaches and executives.  Eventually, we plan to do that for the major colleges in the NCAA.  As such, it is news to us that the University of Florida has announced the nine members of their Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2020.

The new members are:

Andrew DeClercq, Men’s Basketball  (1991-95).  DeClerq was a member of the Florida’s 1994 Final Four Team, and he was selected to the First Team All-SEC squad the following year.  He started 128 Games for the Gators, which is still a school record. DeClercq later played a decade in the NBA with runs in Golden State, Boston, Cleveland and Orlando.

Billy Donovan, Men’s Basketball Coach (1996-15).  Donovan led the Gators to back-to-back National Championships in 2006 and 2007, and was in the Final Four in two other years.  Donovan is a six-time SEC Champion and three-time SEC Coach of the Year.

Shaune Fraser, Men’s Swinning and Diving (2006-10).  Fraser was a three-time NCAA Champion (200-yard Butterfly in 2009 & 2010 & 200-yard Freestyle in 2009).  Fraser was a seven-time individual SEC Champion and had 27 All-American honors, a school record.  Fraser was also a two-time Olympian, representing the Cayman Islands (2004 & 2008).  

Brandon James, Football  (2006-09).  James was a two-time National Championship Game winner with the Gators, and he was named the 2008 Special Teams Player of the Year.  James is the only player in SEC history to have 4,000 combined Return Yards.

Miriam Kevkhishvili, Women’s Track & Field (2007-10). Kevkhishvili won five individual NCAA records (Indoor Shot Put 2008-10 & Outdoor Shot Put 2009-10) and helped Florida win the 2009 SECE Outdoor Championships and 2010 SEC Indoor Championships.

Hamid Mirzadeh, Men’s Tennis (2001-05).  Mirzadeh was a five-time All-American and helped the Gators win two SEC Titles (2003 & 2005).  

Brandon Spikes, Football (2006-09). Spikes helped Florida win two BCS Championships, and he was a two-time All-American.  The Linebacker was a Finalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award (2009), Lombardi Award (2008), and Butkus Award (2008 & 2009).  Spikes would play professionally for seven seasons with the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills.

Genna Spofforth, Women’s Swimming and Diving (2006-10). Spofforth led the Gators to an SEC Championship in 2009 and a National Championship in 2010.  She is a seven-time individual NCAA Champion (100-yard Backstroke 2008-10, 200-yard Backstroke 2007-09 & 200-yard Freestyle Relay 2010) and earned 25 All-American honors.  Spofforth represented Great Britain in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Tim Tebow, Football (2006-09). Tebow is the third former Gator to be honored this year who was part of two National Championship Teams.  The Quarterback was the first sophomore to win the Heisman, and he was a Finalist for it two other times.  Tebow also won the Maxwell Award twice, and is also a two-time SEC Offensive Player of the Year.  Tebow threw for 9,286 Yards and 88 Touchdowns and rushed for 2,947 Yards and 57 Touchdowns.

The date and location of the ceremony, has yet to be determined.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to the impending members of the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame.

When you think of the state of Florida and the game of football, Fred Taylor is one of those named that should come up in the conversation.  He is from the state, he played his college ball at the University of Florida (where he helped them with the National Championship), and he would play professionally for the Jacksonville Jaguars for the first 11 years of his career.

Lomas Brown played his first eleven seasons with the Detroit Lions, where his first six of seven Pro Bowls would take place.  The Left Tackle would appear in seven straight Pro Bowls and would start in 251 of his 263 career games.

There was a time when a case could be made that Wilber Marshall was the best Linebacker in football.  In 1985, he was a member of the most dominating team of the decade, the Super Bowl XX Champion, Chicago Bears.  The year after, he was a First Team All-Pro, led the league in Approximate Value (23), and was a Pro Bowler for the first time.  Marshall was overshadowed by some of his teammates (William Perry & Richard Dent), but those in the know saw Marshall as one of the most versatile outside linebackers in the NFL.

Rick Casares was drafted in the 2^nd Round by George Halas' Chicago Bears in 1954, and after he served a year in the military, he would become one of the elite Fullbacks of the National Football League.  Casares was a straight-forward rusher who was finished in the top ten in Rushing Yards in his first six seasons (1955-60), the first five of which would garner him a Pro Bowl Selection.  Casares' best season by far was in 1956, where he led the league in Rushing Yards (1,126) and Rushing Touchdowns (12) and took the team to the NFL Championship Game, though they would be destroyed by the New York Giants in the game.