Chattanooga State hall opens with three

Friday night at the Walden Club, an idea long discussed became an event that will be.

Appropriately perched atop Chattanooga, baseball pitcher Rod Bolton, softball pitcher Dani Fowler-Terry and basketball standout Rashad Jones-Jennings comprised the inaugural class of the Chattanooga State Athletic Hall of Fame.

Keynote speaker Frank Burke proclaimed "the importance of passion -- passion for what you do," and Bolton gave an acceptance speech passionately praising the role in his life of Chattanooga State and particularly then-baseball coach Derek Lance.

"He had the spirit of excellence that says it matters, that all of it matters," Bolton said, citing examples as seemingly insignificant as tending the ballfield.

Later, Jones-Jennings told those in attendance to look out the big window and see the Westside projects area where he grew up -- and where he was determined not to remain.

Indeed he hasn't. The 6-foot-8 Howard High graduate just finished a professional basketball season in France and has "played in a different country every year" since leaving the University of Arkansas-Little Rock as the leading rebounder in NCAA Division I, two years after leading the nation's junior colleges as a Chattanooga State sophomore.

Bolton, now 41, went from the Tigers to further success at the University of Kentucky and then to a professional career that included stints with the Chicago White Sox from 1993 to '95. He's back home now as a partner with his older brother with The Roof Doctor, a business started by their father and grandfather in 1947, but admitted Friday night he'd still love to be pitching somewhere.

"I'd love to be giving up a home run in the big leagues tonight, just to still be there," Bolton said with a laugh.

But the husband and father of two young daughters clearly was moved to be where he was.

"This is an exciting event for me personally and for my family, and it's exciting for Chattanooga State to show how they've grown," he said. "But it's so humbling to be included in this first group."

In his speech he said, "I love Chattanooga State. I went in as a boy, and I came out ready to make a difference in the world."

Fowler-Terry lives in Longview, Wash., and was unable to attend Friday's ceremony, but local teacher-coach April Castleberry accepted the plaque for her. Castleberry played one year with the hard-throwing pitcher and has remained in touch.

Fowler brought her 69-mph fastball from Washington state to play for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, but an eligibility issue prevented that and she ended up at the local two-year school, where she led the NJCAA in both hitting and pitching, striking out 231 batters in 140 innings in 1996. A year later she earned a gold medal with the United States team at the World Games.

Married with two children, she is a pitching coach for Lower Columbia College.

Jones-Jennings credited his mother and uncle for keeping him directed toward positive accomplishments and thanked his Chattanooga State coaches, Melvin Williams and Jay Price, and their assistants -- all of whom were present along with his former Howard and Chattanooga State teammates Ricky Harper and Sir-Lee Mason.

The former TJCCAA most valuable player made the All-Sun Belt Conference first team in 2007.

"I'm excited to be here. It's a wonderful honor," Jones-Jennings said later. "Usually they wait till you're real old to put you in a hall of fame, so I was surprised to get the call."

Dr. Jim Catanzaro, the Chattanooga State president the past 20 years, began talking about establishing a hall of fame several years ago, athletic director Steve Jaecks said, and associate vice president Holly Reeve pulled the inaugural event together. Local television personality Jed Mescon, a part-time employee of the school, served as emcee with Catanzaro and Jaecks also on the program.

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