These 8 former Miami Hurricanes — 3 from football — are headed to Miami’s Hall of Fame
Eight former Miami Hurricanes will be honored on the field Sunday in Miami Gardens when the Hurricanes host the Virginia Tech Hokies at Hard Rock Stadium. They are the Class of 2020 for the Miami Sports Hall of Fame, and the group includes three former football national champions, a two-time MLB All-Star and a former women’s tennis All-American.
The full class: football players Jay Brophy, Phillip Buchanon and Kevin Williams, men’s basketball player Johnny Hemsley, baseball player Yasmani Grandal, women’s soccer player Brittney Steinbruch, women’s tennis player Laura Vallverdu, and track and field coach Mike Ward.
The headliners are the three football players in the class, all of whom a national championship in their time with the Hurricanes.
Brophy was the first, a first-team All-American as a defensive anchor for Miami’s 1983 national championship team. The linebacker led the Hurricanes with 133 total tackles in 1983 and was a second-round pick by the Miami Dolphins in the 1984 NFL Draft.
Williams was part of the 1991 national champions. The wide receiver was an All-American in 1991 and holds the Hurricanes’ record for returning a punt for a touchdown in three consecutive games. He was a second-round pick by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1993 NFL Draft and won a pair of Super Bowls in his eight seasons in the NFL.
Buchanon came last and won a national championship with the 2001 team. The safety was an All-American as a punt returner and then was selected in the first round of the 2001 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders. He spent a decade in the NFL with five different teams.
“That’s obviously a great honor any time anyone calls you a hall of famer anywhere,” Hurricanes football coach Manny Diaz said, “but certainly at the University of Miami as a football player, you’re in high company with those guys.”
Grandal is the most-high profile of the nonfootball inductees. A catcher and first baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers, Grandal was a National League All-Star this season and will almost certainly start a postseason game behind the plate Tuesday when the Brewers face the Washington Nationals in the NL Wild Card Game. At Miami, Grandal was the 2010 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year, a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award and an All-American. A native of Cuba, Grandal was a star at Miami Lakes before he joined the Hurricanes.