NBA, CFL standouts highlight 2024 Delaware Afro-American Sports Hall of Fame Class

Two Delaware State University standouts who went on to play in the National Basketball Association and Canadian Football League are part of the 2024 Class of the Delaware Afro American Sports Hall of Fame.

The 12 nominees will be inducted at the 25th Annual Banquet on Saturday, April 20 at 6 p.m. at the Modern Maturity Center in Dover.

The banquet serves as a fundraiser for a scholarship fund that has raised over $250,000 for student-athletes.

Emanual Davis spent part of six seasons in the NBA, as part of a career that launched in the Continental Basketball Association, and ultimately took him to France, among other countries.

He averaged 4.9 points per game over 226 games between the Houston Rockets, Seattle Supersonics, and Atlanta Hawks, despite not reaching the NBA until he was 28.

Davis was First Team All-MEAC with Delaware State during his senior year in 1991.

Reggie Barnes preceded Davis at Delaware State, and left his mark on the football field.

He is second all-time with 3,282 career rushing yards, including 1,336 yards over 10 games in his senior year of 1988. He was a two-time First Team All-MEAC selection.

His success led to a practice squad spot with the New York Jets in 1989, before settling north of the border with the Ottawa Rough Riders in 1990, where he was named the Most Oustanding Rookie after rushing for 1,260 yards and five touchdowns in the pass-happy league.

He rushed for 10 touchdowns in 1991, and would go on to play in the league for 7 years, with stops in Shreveport, Hamilton, and Toronto.

The following nominees will also be inducted in the Class of 2024:

Carlton Moss (Track) - Moss won state championships in the 100, 200, and 60-yard dashes for P.S. duPont High School between 1969-71, and also was part of record-setting 440 and 880-yard relay teams. He went on to earn a track scholarship at Delaware State, and went on to help coach Ursuline and Special Olympics.

Raymond Bias (Football/Softball) - Bias led Newark Football to an undefeated season in 1970, and was Co-Captain of the Blue/Gold Game.

He went on to serve as a four-year starter for Delaware State, before returning to Newark where he was an assistant during Newark's five championships in six year run from 1998-2003.

Bias also competed on the softball field, winning the 50-year-old bracket at the Senior Olympics in 2005.

John Wallace (Powerlifting) - Wallace, a William Penn alum, won the gold medal at the 1996 WDFPF World Bench Press Championships, and went on to win 25 individual world championship titles. He was voted a 5-time Lifter of the Years by the WNPF, who inducted him into the Hall of Fame in 2006.

G. Stanley Hicks (Football/Wrestling/Track) - Hicks was All-State in the three sports during the 1973-74 school year, and went on to play football and wrestle at Delaware State.

He went on to play football at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany from 1978-1981.

Darryl Hicks (Football/Wrestling) - Hicks was named Milford's Oustanding Athlete of the Year in 1981, and was second in the balloting for outstanding lineman at the 1981 Blue-Gold All-Star Football Game.

Hicks went on to wrestle at Morgan State University, where he was fourth in his weight class at the Division II Wrestling Eastern Regionals.

Samuel Lee Shepherd (Basketball) - "El Mago" (The Magician) scored over 30,000 points and won 21 international championships in a professional career that took him to Venezuela's Liga Especial de Basket from 1975-1997.

The Delaware State University alum averaged 50 points per game in a tournament against teams from Latin and South America, and set a continental record with 14 three-pointers in a game.

He went on to play for Venezuela at the 1992 Olympics, going against the famed "Dream Team".

Alfred Lee Reed (Football/Track) - Reed finished second in the 100-yard dash, and was part of Sussex Central's championship 880-yard relay team. He went on to spend 30 years in the Army National Guard after a brief scholarship stint at Delaware State.

Marcus Gillespie (Football/Baseball) - Marcus earned a tryout with the Philadelphia Phillies before being drafted into the United States Marines and doing a tour in Vietnam.

He played with the Laurel Indians in a Delmarva-based Negro League as a shortstop. 

The William C. Jason High School alum went on to coach in the Laurel Little League for many years.

Kenneth Nocks (Football/Baseball/Softball) - Nocks was the first African American starting quarterback in Sussex Central history, leading the team to a 9-0 record his freshman year.

He also played in the Mason Dixon Negro Baseball League, earning interest from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He ended up as a player/coach in the Mason Dixon Softball League, and running open gyms for adults and youth basketball and Little League teams in the Millsboro area.

Eugene Puckham (Basketball/Baseball) - The Laurel High School product played baseball at Delaware State before going on to the Army, where he did a tour in France.

He returned to Laurel, where he played for the Laurel Tigers and Bridgeville Comets.