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Karen and Ralph Weekly are among the inductees for the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame. Candace Parker will be the featured speaker at the induction ceremony on June 25.
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Karen, Ralph Weekly among Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame inductees
The University of Tennessee will be well represented in this yearâs Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame induction. And that will include the guest speaker.
Lady Vols legend Candace Parker will be the featured speaker for the dinner and induction ceremony, which will be held at the Knoxville Convention Center on June 25.
Parker, who led the Lady Vols to national championships in 2007 and 2008, will be inducted into the Womenâs Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville two days later.
This yearâs hall of fame class also will include Tennessee softball coaches Ralph and Karen Weekly, former Tennessee defensive coordinator John Chavis, and numerous other athletes with UT connections.
Hereâs the complete class:
John Chavis: Tennesseeâs longtime defensive coordinator under coach Phillip Fulmer was twice named national assistant coach of the year.
Chavisâ defense gave up only 14.5 points per game during UTâs unbeaten, national championship season in 1998. His defense also stood out even when the Vols werenât successful overall.
In 2005, when Tennessee went 5-6, it gave up just 18.6 points per game. And in 2008, when the Vols were 5-7, they allowed only 16.7 points per game.
After leaving Tennessee, Chavis was a defensive coordinator at three other SEC schools â LSU, Texas A&M and Arkansas.
Jeremaine Copeland: Like Chavis, Copeland had a prominent role in Tennessee footballâs great run in the 1990s.
With Peyton Manning at quarterback, Copeland led the Vols with 58 catches in 1997 and started on the national championship team the next year.
He made all-state in both football and basketball at Harriman but achieved his greatest success as a wide receiver in the Canadian Football League. He was inducted into the CFL Hall of Fame in 2025 after a career that included 623 catches for 75 touchdowns and 10,031 yards.
Karen and Ralph Weekly are among the inductees for the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame this year.
The induction ceremony will take place on June 25 at the Knoxville Convention Center.
Candace Parker, a Lady Vols legend, will be the featured speaker at the event.
Candace Parker led the Lady Vols to national championships in 2007 and 2008 and will be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

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Michelle DePalmer-Williams: She was an All-American tennis player at Tennessee in 1981 and went on to play pro tennis. But she achieved national fame in the sport before then.
At 15, DePalmer was ranked No. 1 junior in world ages 15-18. She remained in the top five throughout her junior career.
Her pro career included several wins over Andrea Jeager, who was ranked as high as No. 2 in the world on the WTA tour.
DePalmer is married to Bob Williams, who is also one of the inductees in this yearâs hall of fame class.
Steve Mayo: Heâs one of the most accomplished amateur golfers in Knoxville.
Mayo, who attended West and UT, won a record 11 Cherokee Country Club championships between 1973 and 1998. He also won two Cherokee CC senior championships (2005, 2008) and was inducted into the Cherokee CC Wall of Fame in 2023.
He won the Knoxville Tournament of Champions at Holston Hills Country Club in 2004 and 2005.
May had pro success on the Florida Space Coast Tour, a precursor to the Hogan Tour. He won six times and was the leading money winner twice.
His golf career includes 19 holes-in-one.
Rick Russo: Knoxvilleâs award-winning television sports anchor from WVLT has been covering area sports for 39 years.
A native of Miami, Florida, Russo graduated from the University of Florida. He moved to Knoxville in 1987.
Stan Cotton was the WVLT sports director when Russo was hired. But Cotton left shortly thereafter, and Russo got a quick promotion. He has been the stationâs sports director ever since.
Clarence Swearengen: He twice led UT basketball in assists and steals (1987-89) and was a third-team All-SEC selection. His single-game school record of seven steals was broken this past season by JaâKobi Gillespie.
He later played pro basketball in Europe for six years and was on UTâs basketball coaching staff from 2003 through 2005. Three years later, he started Real Talk Mentoring, which is designed to encourage, enrich and empower youth. The program that began with four youngsters has grown to 400.
Brenda Webb: She was an 11-time All-American in track and field and cross-country while competing for Tennessee, where she was honored in 1978 and 1979 as the school's Female Athlete of the Year.
Webb won the AIAW national championships in the 5,000-meter run in 1977 and won national titles in the 1,500 and 3,000 in 1979.
She continued to excel in track after her college career. Webb won national championships in 3,000 and 5,000. She competed for Team USA in multiple cross-country championships and helped America to team gold in 1981.
Karen Weekly: The Lady Vols longtime softball coach entered the season with 1,355 career wins, which ranks third among active coaches and ninth overall in Division I history. In her 25 years with the Lady Vols, she also has the most wins of any coach in school history (1,132).
Weekly shared the first 20 years at Tennessee as a co-coach with her husband, Ralph. She has helped the Lady Vols reach the Womenâs College World Series nine times and won six SEC championships.
Weekly, who is a member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame, was an All-American player at Pacific Lutheran, where she once led the NAIA in batting with a .440 batting average.
Ralph Weekly: He not only gained prominence as a softball and football coach. He won a bronze star for service in Vietnam while in the US Air Force.
Weekly began coaching softball teams while in the military.
He coached at Chattanooga for five seasons before UT hired Karen and him in 2001.
His 20-year record as co-head coach at UT before retiring in 2021 was 949-300-2. His career record: 1,450-481-2.
Weekly is in the NFCA Hall of Fame (2011). He also was an assistant on the USA national softball team that toured the country and won a gold medal in 1996.
Bob Williams: He ranked as a top three junior tennis player in Tennessee and won single and doubles high school state championships for Baylor of Chattanooga in 1983. He later starred for Duke from 1983-87.
Williams made All-ACC and was the ACC Freshman of the Year while playing No. 4 singles. He led Duke in wins in 1984 and 1985 and was the team MVP in 1986. He ranks third in all-time wins at Duke.
Former Tennessee tennis coach Mike DePalmer regretted not recruiting Williams, saying he was âthe one that got away.â
John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Candace Parker is guest speaker at Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame