It was a special night for LSU in Natchitoches, Louisiana, on Saturday.
In total, five LSU Tigers were inducted as part of the 2023 class into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. There was also a lot of non-LSU star power present as Eli Manning, Alana Beard, Ron Washington and Matt Forte were all also inducted.
The Tigers occupied nearly half of the 12-person induction class as the Louisana Sports Hall of Fame now sits at a membership of 480 men and women.
Here’s a rundown of each of the five people with LSU connections who were inducted into the HOF on Saturday night.
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Mainieri coached at LSU from 2007-21, winning a national title in 2009. His 641 wins are the second-most in program history behind Skip Bertman, and he finished his time in Baton Rouge with four regular-season SEC titles and six tournament championships.
At the time of his retirement in 2021, he was the winningest active coach in the NCAA.
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Davis won six NCAA titles at LSU in indoor and outdoor triple jump, outdoor long jump and the 4×100 meter relay. He went on to be a two-time Olympian in the horizontal jumps and won indoor and outdoor gold medals at the World Championships.
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Byrd was a pitcher on Bertman’s first championship team in 1991. He went on to become a fourth-round MLB draft pick. He played 14 seasons in the Major Leagues, becoming an All-Star in 1999. After his playing days, he worked as an Emmy Award-winning broadcaster.
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Playing at LSU from 1984-87, Davis was the best wideout in program history at the time, setting practically every single-season receiving record as well as the program career receiving yards record. Most of those records would eventually be broken by Josh Reed, but Davis’ 183 career receptions still stand as the program record.
Davis had a promising NFL career that was cut short due to injury after five and a half seasons.
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Woodruff was inducted for his legendary high school coaching career. He spent 27 seasons at Parkview Baptist in Baton Rouge, winning 11 state titles and 21 district titles. He started his college playing career at LSU, spending his freshman year on the team alongside Mainieri.