A Salem native known for developing immaculately manicured baseball playing surfaces and a second baseman from Martinsville with one of the best sets of hands in Major League history are among nine individuals who comprise the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame’s 2025 class of inductees.
Murray Cook and Lou Whitaker will join seven other inductees including former Ferrum College and E.C. Glass High School football star Ed George formal induction ceremonies April 25-26 in Virginia Beach.
According to a release from the state hall of fame, Cook began his career in field management at Salem’s Kiwanis Field, where the playing surface is named for Salem native and former Major Leaguer Billy Sample.
Since 1991, Cook has been Major League Baseball’s field consultant, helping develop playing surfaces in more than 60 countries. Cook was inducted into the Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. The Salem City Council declared Sept. 27, 2021, as “Murray Cook Day” in Salem.
Whitaker graduated from Martinsville High School in 1975 and signed with Ferrum before he was drafted by Detroit in the fifth round of the MLB Amateur Draft later that year.
He was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1978 and the starting second baseman for the Tigers’ 1984 World Series champions. Whitaker and Detroit shortstop Alan Trammell set an MLB record as the longest-tenured keystone combination at 19 years, turning and MLB-record 1,527 double plays.
Whitaker was a five-time All-Star, winning three Gold Gloves and four Silver Slugger Awards. He finished a 19-year career with a .276 batting average, 2,369 hits, 244 home runs, 1,084 RBIs and 1,386 runs scored. The Tigers retired his jersey No. 1 in August 2022.
George, who played football at Ferrum and Wake Forest before playing four seasons in the NFL and seven more in the Canadian Football League, will be honored with the Hall of Fame’s 2025 Distinguished Virginian Award.
George was a CFL All-Pro offensive lineman five times as a two-time Grey Cup champion with the Montreal Alouettes, where he teamed with Martinsville native and star quarterback Sonny Wade. He was inducted into the CFL Hall of Fame in 2005. George was selected by Pittsburgh in the 1970 NFL Draft. He played over a period of four seasons in the NFL for the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Colts.
The other members of the 2025 class are:
- Brandon Adair, a Virginia Beach native who was the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and NCAA Division III men’s basketball player of the year at Virginia Wesleyan in 2006. Adair played professionally in Germany and is currently an NBA referee.
- Dan Bonner, a Pittsburgh native who was an All-Atlantic Coast Conference Academic selection and the men’s basketball team captain at Virginia. Bonner, who resides in Staunton, was UVa’s women’s basketball head coach for two seasons. Since 1985 he has served as a television college basketball analyst, covering the last 40 NCAA tournaments.
- Ali Krieger, a Dumfries native and Forest Park High School graduate, who was a two-time women’s soccer All-American and the national defensive player of the year at Penn State. Krieger was part of World Cup championship squads with the U.S. Women’s National Team in 2015 and 2019. She played professionally in the NWSL, earning a league championship in her final season as the captain for Gotham FC.
- Harry Minium, Jr., a Norfolk native and Old Dominion University alumnus who worked for more than 40 years as a sportswriter and columnist for publications including the Richmond News Leader and Virginian-Pilot. Minium won a first-place award from the Football Writers of America in 2013 and has been twice nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
- Joe Smith, a Norfolk native and Maury High School graduate who was ACC men’s basketball player of the year at Maryland in 1995, earning the Naismith Award as the national player of the year. Smith was the overall No. 1 selection in the 1995 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors, scoring 11,208 points and grabbing 6,575 rebounds in an 11-year career with 12 teams.
- Mike Smith, who served as the head football coach at Hampton High School for 51 seasons from 1970-2020, leading the Crabbers to a Virginia High School League-record 12 state championships. Smith’s teams won 506 games at Hampton, ranking him third nationally. He was named coach of the year in the state 17 times and is a 1990 Virginia High School Hall of Fame inductee.