2015 American League Most Valuable Player Josh Donaldson, longtime NFL stars Mark Barron
and Rodney Hudson, and renowned sports writer Ivan Maisel make up the latest Mobile Sports
Hall of Fame class of inductees.
Donaldson played 13 years in the major leagues, recording a career .261 batting average
with 279 home runs and 816 RBI. He played for the Athletics, Blue Jays, Indians, Braves,
Twins, Yankees, and Brewers. In 2015, Donaldson hit .297 with 41 home runs, and 123 RBI for
Toronto and was named American League MVP. Hank Aaron (1957) and Willie McCovey
(1969) are the only other Mobile ballplayers to win the award.
Donaldson was the Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year at Faith Academy, and had a stellar
collegiate career at Auburn.
Barron won a state high school football championship at St. Paul’s and two national collegiate
championships at Alabama. The seventh overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, he played nine
years in the NFL as a safety and linebacker for the Buccaneers, Rams, Steelers and Broncos
and started in Super Bowl LIII.
Hudson played 12 years in the NFL as a center for the Chiefs, Raiders, and Cardinals. He was
named All Pro once and appeared in three Pro Bowls. Hudson played in 159 NFL games, and
committed just 11 holding penalties.
Hudson was an All State player at B.C. Rain High School, and an All American at Florida State.
Maisel, a Murphy High School and Stanford University graduate, has been one of the nation’s
top collegiate football writers for three decades. He has won numerous awards writing for the
Atlanta Constitution, Sports Illustrated, the Orlando Sentinel, the Dallas Morning News,
Newsday, Sports Illustrated, ESPN.com, and On3.com. Maisel is a one time President of the
Football Writers Association of America.
The quartet will be honored May 6th at the Mitchell Center during the Mobile Sports Hall of
Fame Induction Ceremony. The event will be held for a second year in conjunction with the First
Light Community of Mobile Football Preview.