Karen, Ralph Weekly among Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame inductees

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 year’s hall of fame class.

Steve Mayo: He’s 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: Knoxville’s 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 station’s 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 Ja’Kobi Gillespie.

He later played pro basketball in Europe for six years and was on UT’s 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.

ADAMS: Why Tennessee basketball still can be a good NIL investment

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 Women’s 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 “the one that got away.”

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