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thedrifter
08-19-09, 06:06 AM
Marine athletes honored

8/18/2009 By Lance Cpl. Lucas G. Lowe , Marine Corps Base Quantico
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. —

Four former Marines and two current Marines were officially inducted into the Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame during a ceremony Friday at the Clubs at Quantico.

Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James T. Conway and Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps Carlton W. Kent presented awards to retired Lt. Gen. Ernie Cheatham and former Marine Joseph “Jo-Jo” White. Two posthumous awards recognized former Marine officer Andy Phillip and Sgt. Maj. Morris Fisher.

Cheatham’s career as a football player included six games in the National Football League playing for the Baltimore Colts and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He went on to command 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, during the Vietnam War.

“The two great loves of my life have been the Marine Corps and athletics,” said Cheatham after receiving his award. “I’m grateful that my first love, the Marine Corps, is honoring my second love, athletics.”

White grew up in St. Louis, and Conway, who grew up in Walnut Ridge, Ark., remember playing high school basketball against each other in their youth.

“I even managed to hold him a couple of times,” jested Conway before handing White a commemorative plaque honoring his achievements as a member of the 1968 Olympic Gold Medal basketball team and seven-time National Basketball Association all-star. White enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1969 and served six months on active status before switching to the reserve component where he stayed until 1972.

Representatives of Phillip, a three-time collegiate basketball All-American, and Fisher, a five-time Olympic rifle gold medalist, received their awards on their behalf.

The Marine Male and Female Athlete of the Year awards were also given.

Sgt. Lisa Rosborough, the public affairs chief for Marine Aircraft Group 41 based in Fort Worth, Texas, was named Marine Female Athlete of the Year. Rosborough competed in the USA Track and Field Southwestern Association Masters and Texas State Masters championships, winning the 100- and 200-meter events in each meet. She was a member of the North Central America and Caribbean World Team’s 400-meter relay squad last year and was ranked 37th among the world’s top master-level sprinters in the 35 to 39 age group.

Lance Cpl. Ryan McLellan, a maintenance management specialist with 1st Marine Air Wing in Okinawa, Japan, was named Marine Male Athlete of the Year. McLellan helped 1st MAW win a gold medal in the Far East Regional Basketball Championship and was a starter for the All-Marine Basketball Team where he led the 2008 Armed Forces Basketball Championship in scores. He competed in the Conseil International du Sport Militaire World Military Basketball Championship in San Antonio, where his team captured the gold medal for the first time in 20 years.

Twenty-nine former Marines have been inducted into the Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame since it was founded in 2001, to include baseball legend Ted Williams, Olympic athlete Robert Mathias and boxer Ken Norton.

Correspondent: lucas.lowe@usmc.mil

Ellie