Sonny Allen, who won nearly 200 games over 10 seasons as Old Dominion’s men’s basketball coach, is among four inductees in the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022.
Allen is joined in the partial class by world champion whitewater canoeist Jon Lugbill, former University of Virginia football star Anthony Poindexter and three-time Pro Bowl running back Chris Warren.
The class was selected by the hall’s Honors Court Committee in its first vote since 2019. The hall did not have a vote for a 2021 class because of the pandemic. The latest class will join the seven-member Class of 2020 for induction weekend April 30.
Allen won 181 games at ODU, arriving in 1965 and turning the program into an NCAA Division II power. The Monarchs reached the 1971 national championship game, then won the title in 1975 in Allen’s final season. Allen left to coach at Division I Southern Methodist.
An innovator in fast-break basketball, Allen retired in 2001 with a 613-383 record. Allen, 84, died in September 2021.
The other 2022 inductees:
Lugbill, who attended Oakton High in Fairfax County and U.Va., is a five-time world champion in C1 Slalom canoeing, a seven-time team world champion and a three-time World Cup gold medalist. He’s the only paddler ever to appear on a Wheaties box.
Poindexter, a Lynchburg native, is one of the most decorated defensive players in U.Va. football history. He was a first-team All-American and ACC Defensive Player of the Year in 1998 and is one of just three Cavaliers to be named All-ACC three times.
Warren, who attended James Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, was a star at Ferrum College before becoming a fourth-round NFL draft pick by the Seattle Seahawks. Warren played 11 NFL seasons, finishing his career with 7,696 rushing yards, 1,935 receiving yards and 58 touchdowns.
Jami Frankenberry, 757-446-2376, jami.frankenberry@pilotonline.com
