The Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame (KSHOF) Class of 2023 has been announced and will include five new inductees: Tom Leach, Brigid DeVries, Rick Bozich, Chris Lofton, and William “Bubba” Paris. This year’s class recognizes individuals who have had a major impact on sports in Kentucky and on the national stage, across a variety of sports and occupations such as media, sports, and administration. These inductees were selected by a 16-member selection committee comprising sports media professionals from throughout the Commonwealth, and all votes were independently tabulated by the accounting firm Dean Dorton. The Class of 2023 will be honored on September 12, 2023, at Freedom Hall in Louisville.
Tom Leach is a longtime play-by-play voice of the University of Kentucky football and men’s basketball teams, and a native of Paris, Kentucky. He has been a broadcaster for 46 years, 34 of which have been spent on the UK broadcast team. Leach has won several awards for his coverage of Thoroughbred racing and has been selected by his peers as Kentucky Sportscaster of the Year. He has authored two books about sports in Kentucky, “Rich Tradition” and “Kentucky Basketball, 20 years Behind the Scenes,” which he co-authored with Mike Pratt.
Brigid DeVries is a Lexington native and UK graduate, who was one of the founding administrators and coaches of UK women’s varsity sports. She served as an administrator and coach for track & field, volleyball, golf, and swimming and diving during UK’s transition from club sports to intercollegiate athletics. DeVries joined the KHSAA in 1979 as an Assistant Commissioner, and in 2002 became the first female Commissioner, one of only three women at the time heading a state high school athletic association in the U.S. She has been a pioneer for increasing high school sports opportunities for girls and boys, proactively emphasizing Title IX compliance, and initiating programs to ensure competitor safety and coaching education.
Rick Bozich is a Gary, Indiana native and Indiana University graduate who forged an award-winning career as a sports reporter and columnist covering local, regional, and national events. Bozich has spent more than three decades at the Louisville Courier-Journal (CJ) and won numerous first-place awards from the Associated Press for columns, features, and game stories. Bozich was inducted into the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame in April 2023.
Chris Lofton is a Maysville native and former University of Tennessee player who was named third-team All-America as a freshman and second-team as a sophomore. As a junior, he averaged 20.8 points per game and was named SEC Player-of-the-Year. He played 10 seasons of professional basketball in Europe, including helping Le Mans Sarthe win the French Cup in 2016 and Finals MVP. In 2018, he helped Le Mans win a Pro A championship and earned all-star honors several times. He retired after playing in the Korean Basketball League.
William “Bubba” Paris is a Louisville native and DeSales High School graduate who played as a starting offensive tackle for ten years in the NFL, including nine seasons in San Francisco, when the 49ers won three Super Bowls, eight Western Division Titles, and played in five NFC Championship games. Paris was the 49ers’ no. 1 pick in the 1983 NFL draft. After retiring, he launched a successful sports media career that spans three decades and is an ordained minister, accomplished public speaker, and writer.
The KSHOF was founded in 1963 to recognize athletes and sports figures who were either born or were significant contributors to sports in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The Louisville Sports Commission, a Kentucky-based non-profit whose mission is to attract, create, host, and operate sporting events and activities that enhance the quality of life of the Commonwealth, owns and operates the KSHOF. Freedom Hall is now the official KSHOF enshrinement gallery to recognize the venue’s rich legacy in sports and its connection to Kentucky’s sporting heritage.
