Sports Hall of Fame

The Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame, which started in 1997 to honor former Bishop Gorman, University of Nebraska and pro football quarterback David Humm, will add five candidates including three from motor sports May 30 at the Orleans Arena.

The 2014 inductees will include the Herbst family for its off-road racing; drag racing team owner Ken Black and retired freestyle motocross/motorcycle racer and current off-road competitor Carey Hart.

Inductees this year will also include University of Nevada, Las Vegas baseball coach Tim Chambers and professional golfer and 1996 UNLV graduate Chris Riley.

Past inductees include Findlay Automotive Group President Cliff Findlay and Findlay Toyota General Manager Rich Abajian.

Hart, who grew up in Las Vegas, is one of the most recognized names in freestyle motocross.

The Terrible Herbst race team includes Herbst father Jerry and sons Ed, Troy and Tim. The family has been involved in off-road racing for more than 40 years and is the winningest off-road racing team in Baja history.

Jerry Herbst founded and backs Herbst Motorsports, which has dominated Score and Best in the Desert races over the years.

Black owns the Summit-sponsored National Hot Rod Association Full Throttle Series Pro Stock teams of Greg Anderson and Jason Line. Between Anderson and Line, Black owns several Pro Stock points championship teams.

Black has also fielded a top-fuel dragster team for Hillary Will.

The Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame, at Findlay Toyota in the Valley Automall at 7733 Eastgate Road, is a nonprofit organization recognizing outstanding achievements by Southern Nevada athletes, both in sports and the community.

The organization’s fundraising supports organizations that enhance Southern Nevada youth programs that promote leadership, values and character through sports.

Hall of Fame Executive Director Rob Portaro said the group is also keying its support for public middle schools this year. He said basketball is often the only sport in the middle schools.

“We are doing something different this year and going forward with the funds we raise at our events,” Portaro said. “There are no sports in public middle schools in Clark County because of budget constraints. We believe that that is one of the reasons that Nevada ranks 49th in the country for academics.

“Studies have showed that our nation’s youth do much better academically if there are extracurricular events in their lives like music, sports, after-school clubs, etc. So we are sending over 500 kids to sports camps this year and would like to get that number to 5,000 in the years to come. We believe this will have a significant impact on the kids’ lives.”

The celebration will start May 30 with a golf tournament at Royal Links Golf Club, 5995 E. Vegas Valley Drive. Check-in is 6:30 a.m.; a shotgun start follows at 7:30 a.m.

The evening’s festivities will start with cocktails at 5:30 p.m. with awards following at 7:30 p.m.

Visit www.sportshalloffame.net for information on the Hall of Fame.