Delaware State to induct five into Hall of Fame

Dover, DE --- Five former Delaware State College/University athletes have been selected for induction into the university's Athletics Hall of Fame. The four men and one woman will be officially inducted into the hall of fame during a banquet and ceremony on Friday, November 3 at 7:00 pm at Delaware State's Martin Luther King Student Center.

DSU's 2000 Hall of Fame class features three former two-sport stars, a women's basketball standout, and the school's first All-MEAC football selection.

Franz Kappel ('89) was a football and track and field star in the early 1980s. The Wilmington, DE native is recognized as the first Caucasian selected to a Black College All-America team. Kappel was a two-time Sheridan Black College All-America offensive lineman in 1983 and '84. A three-time All-MEAC selection (1982, '83, '84), Kappel also earned Second Team Associated Press All-America honors in 1984. As a member of the DSU track and field team, he set school records in the discus and shot put. He captured MEAC championships in both events in 1983 and '84.

A former Delaware State assistant football coach, Kappel currently serves as Director of Athletics at Howard High School in Wilmington, DE.

The lone female in Delaware State's 2000 Athletics Hall of Fame is class is former basketball standout Barbara Burgess ('89), who helped lead the Lady Hornets to two MEAC championship game appearances in the late 1980s. The number two scorer in DSU women's basketball history with 1,807 points, Burgess was an All-MEAC First Team selection in 1987 and 1989, an All-MEAC Second Team pick in 1988 and a MEAC All-Rookie choice in 1986.

Burgess is in her second year as head women's basketball coach at Virginia Union University in Richmond.

Frank Burton ('85) lettered in baseball and football at Delaware State. He had a batting average of .333 as a member of the Hornet baseball team. In 1984, he was tops in the MEAC and 10th in the nation in stolen bases, averaging 3.2 per game. He earned a BA in English/Communications, with a grade point average of 3.25.

Burton is currently an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

Luther Howard ('81) was Delaware State's first All-MEAC football selection, earning first team honors in 1972. He also earned Mutual Radio and Ebony Black College All-America honors that season. Howard led the MEAC with nine interceptions in 1972, still the DSU single-season record. During one 1972 contest, he recorded three interceptions and recovered two fumbles, a DSU single-game high for takeaways. He had brief stints with the NFL's Cleveland Browns and the Canadian Football League's British Columbia Lions following his collegiate career.

Howard is currently a teacher in the Camden (NJ) School District, and a football coach at Willingboro High School in New Jersey.

Inducted posthumously into the DSU Hall of Fame will be Elmore "Curly Pepper" Harris ('43), a football and track and field standout at the old Delaware State College High School in the early 1940s. Harris later became a two-sport star at Morgan State College. He is recognized as the first Delaware State College High School alumnus to play professional football, signing to play with old Brooklyn Dodgers in the late 1940s. player As a track performer, he won United States National AAU championships in the 400 meter and 200 meter hurdles, while capturing first place in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles at the Penn Relays in 1944.

He died in 1977.

The newest DSU Hall of Fame inductees will also be recognized during halftime of the Hornets' home football contest vs. North Carolina A&T on November 4.

Tickets for the November 3 induction ceremony are $50 each, and can be obtained at the DSU Athletics office. Proceeds from the event will provide scholarships for Delaware State University student-athletes. For more information, call (302) 857-6033.

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