Former University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff track athlete Earl Goldman has been named to the 2024 Southwestern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame class, the SWAC announced Wednesday.
Goldman, a Pine Bluff native, competed for Arkansas AM&N, now UAPB, from 1967-70. He won the 1968 NAIA 800-meter run championship with a time of 48.1 seconds in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That time stands to this day as the school’s record.
He went on to compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials that same year.
He also anchored the Golden Lions’ sprint medley relay team, which won the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, and the mile relay team at the NAIA indoor championships at the Houston Astrodome in 1970.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
After finishing his track career, Goldman became a professional golfer in 1975 and won more than 20 tournaments.
UAPB inducted Goldman to the school’s Sports Hall of Fame on Sept. 16, 2005. Goldman remains an avid golfer in retirement and lives in White Hall.
Goldman will join four other inductees in this year’s SWAC Hall of Fame class, which will be enshrined on Dec. 13 at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta at 7 p.m. EST, 6 p.m. CST.
Joining him will be Alcorn State’s Fred McNair, Grambling State’s Hillary Matthew Bosser, Southern’s Pete Richardson and broadcaster Charlie Neal.
McNair, a former Alcorn football player, went on to be a two-time SWAC Coach of the Year while serving as head coach. He led the Braves to two SWAC championships and four East Division titles.
Bossier was an NAIA All-American pitcher for Grambling, posting a 0.53 ERA in 1961, the year GSU won its first SWAC baseball title.
Richardson led Southern to five SWAC titles in football and four Black college national championships. He is the second-winningest coach in school history with 128 victories.
Neal is the lead announcer for HBCU GO Sports, broadcasting a variety of Black college sports, including the SWAC. He previously worked for ESPN and CBS Sports and spent 24 years as the lead sports broadcaster on BET.
The SWAC Hall of Fame Selection Committee chose these honorees from a list of nominees submitted by the SWAC’s various institutions.