LAKE CHARLES – Kerry Joseph, a McNeese quarterback legend and arguably the greatest play-caller to take snaps in the history of the Cowboy football program, has been selected as part of the Class of 2024 to be enshrined into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, the organization released on Wednesday morning.
 
Joseph will be inducted along with NFL record-setting passer and Super Bowl XLIV MVP Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints, LSU women's basketball great and eight-time WNBA All-Star Seimone Augustus and mixed martial arts icon Daniel Cormier of Lafayette in a star-studded nine-member 2024 Hall of Fame Class.
 
"First, I want to thank God for blessing me with the talent and ability to play the game of football," said Joseph who is currently coaching quarterbacks for the Seattle Seahawks. "A big thank you to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Committee for selecting me into the 2024 class.
 
"This is a great honor to be able to represent my home state. I want to thank my dad, Donald "Duck" Joseph and my mom, Geraldine Joseph, for providing me with the opportunity to find and chase my dream as an athlete. I want to thank my brothers, Kevin, and Kendall for the competitive brotherhood, that helped me to find a competitive edge to compete at the highest level. Also, thanks to a group of cousins that pushed me to compete when I was the smallest of the group.
 
"Thanks to all the coaches that have played a part in my career and journey. God truly blessed me with great men that taught me how to play the game of football and how to be a great teammate. Big thanks to all my teammates that I have shared the field with at all levels of my career. Football is such a great team sport that has provided me with a lifetime of friends."
 
A New Iberia native, Joseph led the Cowboys to a 43-10 record in his four seasons at McNeese from 1992-1995 under head coach Bobby Keasler, including a pair of Southland Conference championships. He helped the Cowboys to their first-ever playoff win (1992) and first Division 1-AA (now FCS) national semifinal appearance in 1995.
 
He threw for 7,874 yards with 67 touchdowns and accumulated 9,674 yards of total offense. He remains McNeese's all-time career leader in touchdown passes and is ranked second in passing yards and total offense. He earned All-SLC honors twice (1994, 1995) and was named the SLC and Louisiana Player of the Year in 1995 after leading McNeese to a 13-1 overall record and No. 1 ranking in the national polls.
 
After his college days, Joseph played with the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals and Washington Redskins before winning a World Bowl championship with the NFL Europe's Rhein Fire in 1998. He later played safety for the Seattle Seahawks before getting a chance to play quarterback with Ottawa of the CFL in 2003. Joseph became just one of three CFL players to exceed 4,000 yards passing (4,466) and 1,000 yards rushing (1,006) in a single season in 2005. He went on to be named a CFL all-star and was the Most Outstanding Player when he helped the Saskatchewan Roughriders win the Grey Cup in 2007.
 
Joseph was inducted into the McNeese Sports Hall of Fame in 2006, the Southland Hall of Honor in 2012, the Roughriders Hall of Honour in 2019 and was named to McNeese State's 75th anniversary team in 2018.
 
"This is an accomplishment that I could not have achieved alone," said Joseph. "Championships are won with the people around you, and I was blessed with some great teammates and coaches. My dream as a kid was wanting to be the best kid on the block. It didn't matter what sport or what game. I was a kid that wanted to win and help my teammates be the best they could be. I will share this induction with so many because this individual honor comes with the great people that God brought into my life. It's an honor to represent so many people and organizations. It's a bigger honor to represent my family name."
 
Joseph will become the eighth person to represent McNeese in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, joining Bill Reigel (1988), Ralph O. Ward (1991), Louis Bonnette (2001), Dr. Jack Doland (2002), Joe Dumars (2003), Buford Jordan (2011), and Leonard Smith (2015).
 
The LSHOF Class of 2024 also includes 1992 Olympic wrestling gold medalist Kevin Jackson, a former LSU All-American, along with Perry Clark, who guided Tulane basketball to unprecedented success in the 1990s.
 
Also elected for induction next year are high school football coach Frank Monica, who won state titles at three different south Louisiana schools, and Ray Sibille, a Breeders' Cup-winning thoroughbred jockey from Sunset who ranks among the nation's elite as a rider.
 
The class also includes retired Grambling baseball coach Wilbert Ellis, the second-ever recipient of the Louisiana Sports Ambassador Award. During his coaching career and since, Ellis has made local, statewide and national impact not only in his sports field but also in other endeavors.
 
The LSHOF's Class of 2024 will be enshrined at the Hall of Fame's home in Natchitoches to culminate the 65^th Induction Celebration. The dates for the three-day celebration will be announced soon.
 
A 40-member Louisiana Sports Writers Association committee selected the 2024 inductees. The panel considered 149 nominees from 28 different sport categories on a 35-page "competitors" ballot.
 
Also spotlighted next year will be three other Hall of Fame inductees, a winner of the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award and two recipients of the 2024 Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism presented by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, the parent organization of the Hall of Fame. Those inductees will be announced later this year.
 
The complete 12-person Class of 2024 will swell the overall membership in the Hall of Fame to 492 men and women – athletes, coaches, administrators and sports media members -- honored since its founding in 1958.
 
The Ambassador Award was created by the Hall's parent organization, the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, and was first presented to network broadcaster Tim Brando as part of the LSHOF Class of 2020. The award honors long-term exemplary contributions to the perception of Louisiana by an individual who has ties to the state's sports landscape. The Ambassador Award carries membership in the Hall of Fame. The award is not presented annually, but occasionally, as the Selection Committee chooses, said Hall of Fame chairman Doug Ireland.