BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford Athletics Department officially inducted the 2022 class of the Samford Athletics Hall of Fame in ceremonies held on campus Saturday afternoon
The 2022 class, the fifth in the Hall of Fame's history, consists of the 1984 football team, the 2010-11 women's basketball team, football standouts Buddy Anderson, Norman "Shorty" Cooper and Jim Lovette, and women's tennis star Chandra Howard Moore.
The festivities started with a reception held in the Hall of Fame, which is located on the third floor of the Pete Hanna Center. All inductees and their invited guests were invited to the reception.
The crowd then moved to the Brock Recital Hall where the induction ceremony took place. The ceremony kicked off with Bill Nunnelley receiving the John C. Pittman Lifetime Achievement Award. Nunnelley worked at Samford for over 50 years, with much of his work impacting Samford Athletics.
Following the Pittman Award presentation, the members of the class were inducted. An induction video was shown and each inductee or a representative gave an acceptance speech.
A short bio and induction video for each of the 2022 induction class members is below.
1984 FOOTBALL TEAM
INDUCTEE CLASS OF 2022
The 1984 football team restarted the Bulldog football program after the school went a decade without the sport. Despite not practicing as a team until August to prepare for a September start to the season, the Bulldogs, led by head coach Kim Alsop and his staff, represented the university well throughout the season. The players and coaches battled and fought in every game that year. The team wrapped up the season with a 38-33 win at home against Sewanee. Samford University will always owe a debt of gratitude for the hard work these men put in to start a program from scratch. The success enjoyed by the football program since that first season would not have been possible without the sacrifices made by these men back in the fall of 1984.
2010-11 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM
INDUCTEE CLASS OF 2022
The 2010-11 women's basketball team, led by head coach Mike Morris and his staff, entered the season on a mission. After falling just short of reaching the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance the previous season, the Bulldogs entered the SoCon Tournament with something to prove. After a first-round win over Western Carolina, the team took on the host school, Chattanooga, earning a dramatic, 68-66 overtime win over the Mocs. In the championship game against Appalachian State, a late comeback lifted the Bulldogs to a 57-54 win, the school's first SoCon Tournament title and first NCAA Tournament bid. The team then traveled to Auburn to take on Florida State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The 2010-11 women's basketball team set a school record for wins with 25, and the roster included two of the top three scorers in program history (Emily London and Savannah Hill).
BUDDY ANDERSON
INDUCTEE CLASS OF 2022
Buddy Anderson, one of the top high school football coaches in the history of the state of Alabama, played his college football at Samford University. Anderson played for the Bulldogs from 1968-71. In his senior season, Anderson helped lead the Bulldogs to the NCAA West Region Championship with a 20-10 win over Ohio Wesleyan. After graduation, he went to work at Vestavia Hills High School as an assistant coach in 1972 and was promoted to head coach in 1978. He remained in that role until 2020. Along the way he won more games than any other high school coach in Alabama history, and he led the program to state titles in 1980 and 1998. Anderson is a member of both the Alabama High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame and National Federation of State High Schools Association Hall of Fame. He was also inducted as a member of the 1971 Samford football team into the Samford Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.
NORMAN "SHORTY" COOPER
INDUCTEE CLASS OF 2022
Norman "Shorty" Cooper played football at Samford (then Howard College) from 1935 to 1936. He was named a Little All-American in 1936, and he was named to the All-Dixie Conference team in both 1935 and 1936. He was a key defensive player in Samford's famous 7-7 tie with Alabama in 1935. He played center for the Brooklyn Dodgers professional football team in 1936 and 1938. In 1939, he coached the freshman football team at Samford and from 1940-43 he coached football and basketball at Vanderbilt. After a World War II interlude, he went back to Vanderbilt and coached from 1946-47 before going to the University of Kansas in 1948 and LSU from 1949-52. He then retired from coaching to enter the business world. He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1978.
JIM LOVETTE
INDUCTEE CLASS OF 2022
Jim Lovette played quarterback on the football team at Samford from 1965 to 1968. He finished his career with 4,076 yards of total offense (1,412 rushing, 2,664 passing), which at the time of his graduation was a school record. He led the team in passing in 1966, 1967 and 1968. He also led the team in rushing in 1967. He earned All-America honors in 1966. He played his final three seasons for legendary head coach John Lee Armstrong, leading the 1967 team to an 8-2-1 record. That season, Lovette led the Bulldogs to a 20-7 win over Alabama A&M in the Space City Classic, a postseason game in Huntsville.
CHANDRA HOWARD MOORE
INDUCTEE CLASS OF 2022
Chandra Howard Moore played women's tennis at Samford from 1989 to 1993, becoming the first woman to receive a full tennis scholarship at the school. She earned Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC) Player of the Year honors in both 1990 and 1991. She helped lead the team to back-to-back TAAC regular-season titles in 1990 and 1991 and was also named to the TAAC's All-Conference team in 1993. After graduating, she played professional tennis in Florida, and served as a tennis pro at several clubs over the years. Moore later coached the girls' tennis team at Manatee High School. She was inducted into the Manatee High School Hall of Honor in 2017.
