Hill, Battier headline Duke’s Athletic Hall of Fame inductees | News & Observer

As seven members of the Blue Devil athletic family gathered Friday to talk about their induction into the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame, with gratitude and good wishes filling the room at Scharf Hall, some just couldn’t resist a little smack.

“I’m proud to call myself a Duke basketball alum,” said Shane Battier, a former national player of the year whose birthday coincided with Friday’s induction. “For anyone who played here, there’s a common understanding of what that means. It’s great to spend time with each other and share war stories and argue who had the best team.

“We did in ’01,” Battier added with a grin.

“We have three guys in the College Hall of Fame. How many do they have?” countered Grant Hill, part of Duke’s 1991 and 1992 NCAA basketball champions, and confident his teams could have taken the 2001 Blue Devils. “That’s the beauty of having so many legends here. There are a lot of great players, and we can play that game of who would beat who.”

Hill, despite the faux rivalry between teams, said he was especially delighted to be inducted along with Battier. They first met when Hill was playing with the Detroit Pistons and Battier was a sophomore at Detroit Country Day School. “He was always wearing Duke T-shirts everywhere, even then,” Hill recalled.

In addition to Battier and Hill, the Hall of Fame class of 2016 included: Duke women’s golf coach Dan Brooks; Duke Varsity Club director Mary Dinkins; the late All-American football player Ed Meadows; former NCAA women’s golf champion Virada Nirapathpongporn; and former All-American women’s soccer player Kelly Walbert Cagle.

Gratitude was the common theme among all the inductees.

“He’s the rock of my college career,” Nirapathpongporn said of Brooks. “For me to go into the Hall of Fame with him is very special.”

Brooks has guided Duke’s women to 18 ACC golf championships and six NCAA crowns since he became head coach in 1982.

Battier was the National Player of the Year and NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player as a senior in 2001. His No. 31 jersey was retired in Cameron Indoor Stadium that year. His 13-year professional career included two NBA championships with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013.

Cagle was a three-time All-American and helped Duke to four NCAA Tournament berths, 1992-95. She still holds Duke records for goals in a season (18), game-winning goals in a season (9), goals in a career (47), game-winning goals in a career (20) and total points in a career (117).

Dinkins, a 1972 graduate of Duke, was hired as an undergraduate by then-head coach Mike McGee to work in the football office. After 22 years there, she served as director of the Varsity Club before retiring in April 2016.

Hill, a three-time All-American, saw his Duke No. 33 jersey retired on Feb. 27, 1994. He also was a five-time all-NBA player, with 18 seasons in the pros.

Meadows was a two-time first team All-America selection on the gridiron in 1952-53 and was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1954. He died in 1974.

Nirapathpongporn was the first four-time first team All-America honoree in Duke women’s golf history and helped the Blue Devils to four ACC crowns as well as the 2002 NCAA championship. In 2003, she became the first Duke player to capture the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship.