ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607150040
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
Dell Curry, one of Virginia Tech's greatest basketball players, has been elected to the university's Sports Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
Three others will be inducted Oct.25 with Curry:
Dick Ar-nold, a track star who was a three-time Southern Conference champion in the 400-yard dash in the mid-1950s.
Connie Sellers, who sparked Tech to 17 consecutive golf victories over state teams and later won the Virginia State Amateur title.
The late George Smith, a fullback and linebacker in football who helped lead Tech's 1932 team to an 8-1 record.
Under Tech's hall guidelines, candidates are not eligible for induction until they have been out of school for at least 10 years. Curry finished his Hokies career in 1986.
The four new honorees will be inducted at a Hall of Fame dinner on the Tech on the eve of the Hokies' Big East Football Conference game against Pittsburgh. The three living inductees and the families of all the inductees will be introduced to fans at halftime of the Oct.26 game.
Curry's early selection was expected. He was named a second-team All-American by The Associated Press after his senior year in 1986.
In Curry's four years, Tech compiled an 87-42 record and advanced to postseason play each year. Curry's 1,021 field goals are a school record, and his 2,239 points rank second on the Hokies' all-time scoring list behind Bimbo Coles.
Curry, a native of Grottoes, has enjoyed an outstanding career in the NBA with the Utah Jazz and the Charlotte Hornets. He won the Sixth Man Award in 1994 while playing for Charlotte.
Sellers, a native of Covington, has spent most of his life in Roanoke. He played on Tech's golf team from 1946-49.
One of the highlights of Sellers' career came in 1951 when he won the Virginia State Amateur championship in a showdown with George Fulton Jr. on the Cascades course at The Homestead in Hot Springs.
Sellers was a three-time winner ('51, '59, '62) of the old Roanoke City-County tournament. In August 1995, at age 71, Sellers won the Virginia Super Seniors championship, also on the Cascades course.
In 1987, Sellers was elected to the Roanoke Valley Golf Hall of Fame.
Arnold came to Tech in 1952 from Pelham Manor, N.Y., and became one of the Hokies' biggest track stars. He won the Southern Conference indoor and outdoor championships in the 400-yard dash in '55 and '56. Arnold helped Tech's mile relay team win Southern championships outdoors in '55 and '56 and indoors in '54 and '56.
As co-captain of the '56 team, Arnold sparked the Hokies to the Southern Conference championships indoors and outdoors for the first time.
A native of Petersburg, Smith earned his greatest fame as a member of the 1932 Tech football team that defeated Southern powers Georgia and Kentucky and lost only to Alabama, 9-6.
In his senior season in 1934, Smith served as the Hokies' captain and won the prestigious Jacobs Blocking Trophy, one of the biggest awards in football at the time.
The 1996 class of inductees bring to 78 the number enshrined. The Hall of Fame was established in 1982 and is located in the Bowman Room on the fourth floor of the Jamerson Athletic Center. Hall of Fame plaques engraved with portraits of all members are displayed there.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) Curry, Sellers.by CNB