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 will examine how each team honors its past players, coaches, and executives. Eventually, we will do the same with major college programs.  As such, it is important to us that Michigan State has announced the six players and a coach that will be inducted into its Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2026.

The event will take place on September 11, with the inductees being honored the following day during the football game against Eastern Michigan.

The Class of 2026 members are:

Lindsay Bowen, Women’s Basketball, 2002-06.  Bowen was a four-time Big Ten Selection and the 2003 Big Ten Freshman of the Year.  She recorded 1,739 Points as a Spartan.

Dan Currie, Football, 1955-57.  Currie helped take Michigan State to National Championships in 1955 and 1957 and in ’57 was a Consensus All-American.  He also helped take MSU to a Rose Bowl win in 1956.  He played nine seasons in the NFL, seven of which were in Green Bay, where he helped the team win two NFL Championships.

Walt Drenth, Track & Field Coach, 2000-20.  Drenth led the women’s track team to five cross country conference titles and the 2014 National Championship.  He was also a six-time Big Ten Coach of the Year, and his athletes won two individual NCAA Titles and 37 Big Ten Titles.

Tico Duckett, Football & Men’s Track & Field, 1989-92.  Playing at Running Back, Duckett rushed for 4,176 Yards and 26 TDs, his best season coming in 1990, when he rushed for a conference-leading 1,394 Yards.  For his efforts, he was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year.  Duckett also competed for the Spartans in the 55-m and 100-m dash.

Sue Latter-Addison, Women’s Track & Field, 1975-78.  A pioneer in school history, Latter-Addison was part of the inaugural women’s track team and later would win the 44-yard and 88-yard Big Ten Titles, while also helping the Spartans win the conference title.  She later won the National Title in the 800.

Kalin Lucas, Men’s Basketball, 2007-11.  Playing at Point Guard, Lucas was the 2009 Big Ten Player of the Year and guided the Spartans to the National Championship Game against North Carolina and back to the Final Four a year later.  The two-time First Team All-Big Ten Selection had 1,996 Points, which is enough for fifth all-time in program history.  Lucas went on to play professionally for 14 years in countries such as Greece, Turkey, Israel, Serbia, Italy, Kuwait, and the UAE.  He also played one game each for the Memphis Grizzlies and the Detroit Pistons in the NBA.

Leah O’Connor-Falland, Women’s Cross Country & Track Field, 2011-15.  O’Connor-Falland won two National Championships, the 2014 Outdoor Steeplechase and 2015 Indoor Mile.  She also helped Michigan State win the 2014 National Championship.

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

Rich Saul did not accomplish that much in the first half of his career, where he bounced around the Rams O-Line for the first five years, but there was definite value in the former Michigan State Spartan.  Saul would be named the starting Center in 1975, and from 1976 to 1981, he would be named to the Pro Bowl and was one clearly among the upper echelon of Centers for the last half of the 70s.  The Rams would go to Super Bowl XIV, and he was part of the reason they were successful during that time frame.

Like many in the early '60s, Fred Arbanas was drafted by both the NFL and the AFL, but usually, those who chose the AFL were drafted higher by the new organization.  This wasn't the case with Arbanas, who was a 7^th Round Selection by the Dallas Texans, where the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2^nd Round.

Drafted 3^rd Overall in 1984 from Michigan State, the New York Giants would have a longtime fixture in their Linebacking corps in Carl Banks.  Banks was an All-Rookie Selection, and he would later be named to the Pro Bowl and was a First Team All-Pro in 1987, the year after he was a large part of their Super Bowl XXI win.  Banks would again hoist the Lombardi Trophy high four years later in Super Bowl XXV.

Born (and died) in the most football like city on this Planet Earth (Canton, Ohio), George Saimes would sign with the Buffalo Bills in 1963 after playing collegiately at Michigan State. 

While it can be argued that Andre “Bad Moon” Rison will always be best known for his tumultuous relationship with Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes (she infamously burned his house down), we here at Notinhalloffame.com think of Rison as a flashy Wide Receiver who backed up his smack talk.

Len Dawson was one of the great Quarterbacks of the American Football League, but a big reason he was able to do what he did was that Ed Budde helped him stay upright.

Although Derrick Mason produced strong career statistics and had multiple seasons tabulating over 1,000 Receiving Yards, it is hard to make the strong case for Mason to receive a Hall of Fame induction. Mason would be the star receiver for both Tennessee and Baltimore, though he played in an era where the game opened up and there were stars that were perceived as superior at Wide Receiver. Only earning a trip to the Pro Bowl twice and one All-Pro Selection reflects that fact, though that was primarily from his Punt and Kick Returning. Still, that was the season (2000) in which he led the NFL in All-Purpose Yards.

The 16th Overall Pick in the 2000 Draft, Julian Peterson carved out a good career in the National Football League.  Winning the Left Outside Linebacker job midway through his rookie year with the San Francisco 49ers, Peterson would go to the Pro Bowl in 2002 and 2003, the last season seeing him earn First Team All-Pro accolades.  He would later sign with the Seattle Seahawks in 2006 and was a Pro Bowl Selection in all three seasons playing there.  He would go to Detroit for his final two years, and he accumulated 51.5 Sacks over his career.