PLATI-'TUDES LIVE BLOG FROM CU'S HALL OF FAME INDUCTION

Welcome to the first Plati-'Tudes live blog ... let's see if I figure this out!

Tonight we're inducting our 14th class into the CU Athletic Hall of Fame, welcoming 11 Buff legends (well, 10, as one starred here a decade before we adopted the nickname Buffaloes in 1934). So I guess I'll be throwing out tidbits like that throughout the night, as this kicks off a historic two weeks with the Hall of Fame events this weekend and then the 500th game at Folsom Field next Saturday (Nov. 17) against Utah.

We're off and rolling ... the voice of the Buffaloes, Mark Johnson is the emcee, his booming voice perfect for the sold out crowd of 300-plus in attendance. C Club director Eren Kreymborg spoke about the C Club and then Rick George took the podium and played "stat" man rolling through some of the key accomplishments of the class.

So I'll highlight some of the comments made by our inductees tonight. You can find their bios elsewhere on CUBuffs.com.

Pete Brock: "As an offensive lineman, you never do anything individually--you are a part of a five-fingered fist. So as a center my entire career, I guess I was the middle finger of that fist. Do your job and trust the other people around you to do their job. It's okay to love your teammates and the count on them."

He was the first Brock brother to come to CU, followed by Willie and then Stan (and younger brother Ray went to LSU--where he was coached by George Belu, who coached the first three Brock brothers in Boulder).

"Being the first one up here, I tried to keep this under three minutes, so I hope I set an example for those who follow."

He spoke close to 10!

Hatfield Chilson: "Chilly," the true inventor of the jump pass in the 1920s, passed away in 1991. His grandson, Mark, accepted the honor.

"Everything my grandfather would say, Pete (Brock) said. It's all about the team. All of his sports were team sports (football, basketball and baseball); he earned 11 letters across the sports.  He went from being from the poor part of Pueblo to being appointed a district judge by President Eisenhower. How did that happen? Because of right here, the University of Colorado.

"The pleasures of competition are their own reward. Where would we be without organized athletics today."

Charlie Gardner: The beginning of the "Chuck Show," as the two basketball inductees in the class are both Chucks, Charlies, Charles, etc.  He said that the younger Chuck (Williams) said, "His idea of offense was to give the ball to me and get back on defense."

"The most important person in my life was my coach, Sox Walseth. An extraordinary influence in my life."

He also thanked KU's Ted Owens for pulling out Walt Wesley with about five minutes left in the game, the final regular season in the then-Big 8. Gardner scored 10 or 12 points down the stretch and wound up winning the conference title by ... 1 point!

Daniel Graham: He thanked "Rick Neuheisel for recruiting me to the University of Colorado, Gary Barnett for leading us to the Big 12 Championship, Jon Embree for coaching me to the John Mackey Award, and Brian Cabral for not speaking to me for five years (he was kidding). He also thanked Kris Livingston for helping him comeback and earn his degree in 2015, some 14 years after his senior year.

He also thanked his wife for putting up with all his CU stories, and hanging with his buddies until 3 a.m."

Jay Howell: "Fifteen years is pretty hard to pull off in the majors,, but I like to tell people that I had dirty pictures of the GM."

I started wearing my Buff gear and started tweeting it out with HOF. Some of my friends said, "well you haven't had any competition for 30 years." He was alluding to CU eliminating baseball in 1980, four years after he last donned a CU uniform (and was well on his way to a 15-year career in the majors).

"I owe a tremendous amount to Irv Brown (CU's baseball coach from 1970-78). I've had five managers who are Hall of Famers ... Tommy Lasorda, Billy Martin,Tony LaRussa, Bobby Cox, yeah, I was a journeyman ... but I never would have got there without Irv Brown."

Ron Scott: "How do I condense 35 years into a few minutes. There are so many events and experiences that make up my career.

"I'm very proud of the fact that I am one of the few inductees who played here and then went on to have a long career working at the University. I assure you that there's a table of guys that know I'm not a member because of my time as an athlete." Ron played a great role as the leader of CU's Buff Club, getting the first significant building in years (the Dal Ward Center) being built in 1991.

After some lean years, he pointed out that CU would go 9-2 in 1967, the start of a great period in CU football. "We would go to seven bowls in the next 10 years (remember, at that time, there weren't 41 bowl games like there are today; more in the range of 10-12, so it wasn't automatic to go to a bowl with a winning record). Our group always felt very proud of the role we played in the resurgence of CU football.

Steve Sidwell: My father was an athlete here ... he played on the 1939 basketball team. Years later, when we took a family trip to Washington, D.C., I got to sit in the office of Byron White. Supreme Court justice. I thought that was kinda cool (His dad was teammates with White).

"This is great, I had fun playing (and coaching here). Go Buffs."

Kordell Stewart: When we informed Kordell that he was being inducted some 100 days ago, he started working on his acceptance speech right then and there. So, let's see what "Slash: came up with. No way he holds it to three minutes, so I'll time him.

"We did something great in five seconds, so I think I can handle this right." (Well, six seconds Kordell, but who's counting ... )  "Officially they say it was 64 yards, but the ball left my hand at the minus-26 yard line. That play will forever be written into the history of this institution."

He first talked about how much of an honor, being from New Orleans, that he's going in with Steve Sidwell, who coaches several years with the NFL's New Orleans Saints.

He rolled through a list of people that helped him -- not by name, but by profession, coaches, ADs, trainers, support staff, professors, tutors (he specifically thanked Robin Maras, who he said was so instrumental in getting things done academically)., He returned and graduated from CU two years ago. "She had to dig deep into the archives to find my student ID number."

He wrapped it by thanking Bill McCartney ... and then led the room in the fight song.

He went 10 minutes and 43 seconds, but no one cared.

Donna Waller: "Kordell is a tough act to follow, so I'm gonna do what I do best ... go fast."

She thanked people including her high school coach, Gary Klatt (yes, Joel Klatt's dad), Gordon Fox and the late Jerry Quiller.

But in particular, Mike Gilbert, her personal sprints and hurdles coach. "Coach Gilbert would go down and shovel snow off 100 meters of track so I could practice with 12 hurdles instead of five.

Chuck Williams: "When Rick George called to tell me I was a part of this year's class, I was really surprised and very humbled. I'm honored to be in this great class, along with a teammate (Charlie Gardner), Steve Sidwell (from Denver East High School) and Ron Scott. We all were at CU at the same time.

We all knew that Sox (Walseth) for wanting his players to succeed on the court, but also how he wanted us to all succeed in life."

He recalled some memories, many from the University's Hill: Sink burgers ... 3.2 beer at Tulagi's ... weekend parties dancing to the Motown Sound ... and watching our Buff brothers play football on Saturday.

Lucie Zikova: Last but not least, perhaps appropriate since Z is the last letter of the alphabet.

She's married to Miles Cooke, a former CU skier himself. Richard Rokos, CU's ski coach since 1991, has coached the team to 8 national championships and has coordinated around 28 marriages between his athletes.

This honor isn't about myself, there are so many people who should be standing up here with me. Coach Richie Rokos, who shows iup everywhere on his bike ... dressed in spandex. He brought me to the University ... the (support staff), my teammates. And her family, noting that her dad, "put her on skis when I was two years old."

And then MJ wrapped it.

You can see this year's class on Friday night in the Pearl Street Stampede (7:00), and they will be introduced at halftime of Saturday's game against Washington State.

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PLATI-'TUDES LIVE BLOG FROM CU'S HALL OF FAME INDUCTION

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