{"id":5493,"date":"2013-05-02T13:49:54","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T17:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/?p=5493"},"modified":"2013-05-02T13:49:54","modified_gmt":"2013-05-02T17:49:54","slug":"canes-francis-becomes-first-hockey-player-inducted-into-nc-sports-hall-of-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/?p=5493","title":{"rendered":"Canes’ Francis becomes first hockey player inducted into NC Sports Hall of Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ron<\/a>
Ron Francis<\/figcaption><\/figure>The National Hockey League arrived in North Carolina in 1997. Ron Francis, one of hockey\u2019s all-time greats, followed a year later, becoming a pioneer for the sport in the state. <\/p>\n

Now, Francis, who serves as the vice president of hockey operations for the Carolina Hurricanes, is a pioneer for the sport in the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, as he becomes the first hockey player to be inducted.<\/p>\n

Francis, 50, is among 10 other inductees enshrined in the Hall of Fame\u2019s 50th annual class.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Carolina Hurricanes mean so much to the state of North Carolina and our sports history,\u201d said Don Fish, the executive director of the Hall of Fame. \u201cRon is a part of that heritage. It was time to include a champion. Ron Francis changed the face of hockey in this state.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tremendous honor and not one I take lightly,\u201d Francis said. \u201cThis is a pretty impressive sports hall of fame, and to go in their 50th year is great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stated simply, the mission of the Hall of Fame, which inducted its first class in 1963, is to \u201ccelebrate excellence and extraordinary achievement in athletics.\u201d Francis certainly fits the bill.<\/p>\n

In a storied career spanning 23 seasons with Hartford, Pittsburgh, Carolina and Toronto, Francis scored 549 goals and tallied 1,249 assists. His 1,798 points rank fourth in NHL history behind only Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Gordie Howe. Francis, a two-time Stanley Cup Champion with Pittsburgh (1991, 1992), spent 16 of his 23 seasons with the Hartford\/Carolina franchise, establishing team records in games played (1,186), goals (382), assists (793) and points (1,175).<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell people that it seems like yesterday when it was 1998 and I signed here,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat intrigued me about the whole process was moving to a new market and the opportunity to sell our game. It\u2019s our game that I firmly believe in, and it\u2019s a tremendous sport. It\u2019s been great to me in my life, and it was an opportunity for me to come back, give a little back to the game and promote it. Here we are 15 later, and I\u2019m going into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame as a hockey player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Wednesday\u2019s press conference, amidst a myriad of basketball and football greats, Francis was talking with Mildred Southern, who is heralded as the matriarch of tennis in the South. Southern said she was surprised to be inducted because she was a tennis player.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Mildred, how do you think I feel? I played hockey,\u2019\u201d Francis joked.<\/p>\n

In many ways, Francis could be considered the patriarch of hockey in North Carolina.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe helped build an incredible foundation, and although he wasn\u2019t there for the Stanley Cup, it was a Stanley Cup victory because of what he had done previously,\u201d Fish said. \u201cBeing the first hockey player inducted is indeed an honor and well-deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hockey was first formally recognized by the Hall of Fame in 2012, when the Hurricanes\u2019 2006 Stanley Cup Championship was honored as one of the Great Moments in state sports history.<\/p>\n

And there will be more accolades to come. Likely soon to join Francis and the 299 others in the Hall of Fame will be Rod Brind\u2019Amour and Jim Rutherford, who have already been nominated and considered as inductees.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honored and have the opportunity to step in is tremendous, and I know I won\u2019t be the last,\u201d Francis said. \u201cIt\u2019s great to be the first part of the team heading into the hall.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Francis paved the way for hockey in North Carolina, he has so paved the way for the sport in the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see, over the course of history, a continual flow of hockey players that will be included in the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame,\u201d Fish said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s only going to get better and better,\u201d Francis said about the future of the sport in the state. \u201cYou see it in the youth hockey numbers. You see it in the level of teams that our community is putting on the ice. They go to different national tournaments now, and they\u2019re not getting beat by six or eight or 10 goals; they\u2019re competing, and they\u2019re winning. I think that bodes well for the future of our sport going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sport in the state of North Carolina has a rich and celebrated heritage. Francis had a foundational role in hockey\u2019s success in the state shortly following the turn of the millennium. One day, perhaps hockey will be reminisced in the Hall of Fame with the fondness of other sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is the first step, and it\u2019s a good step for the organization and our sport,\u201d Francis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a sport that is relatively new in time but is so popular,\u201d Fish said. \u201cNo question about it: hockey will be recognized forever in this state.\u201d<\/p>\n

– Carolina Hurricanes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Hockey League arrived in North Carolina in 1997. Ron Francis, one of hockey\u2019s all-time greats, followed a year later, becoming a pioneer for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canes","category-featured-stories","wpcat-89-id","wpcat-79-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5493"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5495,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5493\/revisions\/5495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}