From staff reports

Former Jackson State coach W.C. Gorden, who led the Tigers to eight Southwestern Athletic Conference championships, was one of six people elected to the College Football Hall of Fame on Wednesday as part of the divisional class. The divisional class includes players and coaches from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA), Divisions II, III and the NAIA. The class will be inducted July 19 in South Bend, Ind.

“He is a fine, fine Christian man,” said Jim Stirgus, who hired Gorden at Temple. “He’s a good coach and a good man.”

Also elected as part of the divisional class were North Alabama linebacker Ronald McKinnon (1992-95); Mount Union quarterback Jim Ballard (1991-93); Texas A&M-Kingsville defensive end John Randle (1988-89); McMurry halfback Brad Rowland (1947-50); and Doug Porter, who won 166 games at Mississsippi Valley State (1961-65), Howard (1974-78) and Fort Valley State (1979-85, ’87-96).

Gorden coached future NFL Hall of Famers Walter Payton and Jackie Slater, and compiled a 119-47-5 record from 1976-91. Before he arrived at Jackson State, Gorden was also part of a high school dynasty at Vicksburg’s Rosa A. Temple. He went 11-0 in his only season at Temple, leading the Buccaneers to the 1966 Negro Big 8 championship and the first of four undefeated seasons in a five-year span. Gorden left Temple in 1967 to become an assistant coach at Jackson State, and was hired as the Tigers’ head coach in 1976.

Gorden was inducted to the SWAC Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.