A Tampa Ray’s second baseman and the founder of the Golden Age Games headline this year’s inductees into the Seminole County Sports Hall of Fame.
On Tuesday, the Seminole County Sports Hall of Fame Committee announced a list of seven inductees into the hall, which has been honoring local athletes since 1982. The athletes that will be inducted this week are as follows:
Rickie Weeks, Jr. – A professional baseball player who ended his career with the Tamp Bay Rays, Weeks got his start at Lake Brantley High School. Upon graduating, he played for Southern University in Louisiana, finishing his college career with a .465 batting average, which is the highest in NCAA history. He was named the Baseball America College Player of the Year in 2003 and that same year, he was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers. Weeks played for the Brewers for ten years before finishing his career with year-long stops at the Seattle Mariners, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Tampa Bay Rays.
Penny Siqueiros – Siqueiros graduated from Lake Brantley High School in 1998 with a scholarship to play softball at Florida State University. While at FSU, she competed in three College World Series and earned awards for Scholar Athlete of the Year, Most Valuable Player, and All-ACC. After graduating, Siqueiros coached at FSU before moving on to become the first head softball coach at Emory University in Atlanta. Under her leadership, her teams won eleven conference championships. Since 2018, Siqueiros served as the director of athletics and head softball coach at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia.
Jered Goodwin – An Oviedo High School baseball player that was drafted into the MLB in 2000, Goodwin opted to attend college and become a student athlete at Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville. He eventually transferred to Birmingham-Southern College, where he helped the team with a Big South Conference Championship. Goodwin began his coaching career shortly thereafter at Lake Howell High School before moving to Lake Mary High School and then Hagerty High School, where his team won four district titles. Goodwin has developed and mentored hundreds of young baseball players, helping nine former players be drafted by the MLB. He is currently the Senior Director of Scouting Operations at Perfect Game USA.
Courtney Miller – The head coach of the Seminole State College of Florida softball team, Miller has led the Raiders to over 1,200 wins over 28 years. Under Miller’s leadership, her teams made the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament for 18 of the last 19 years, as well as the FSCAA State Title in 2012.
Samantha Rodriguez – A special Olympian and marathon runner, Rodriguez was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at the age of two. She has won several gold medals at the Special Olympics Florida State Summer Games, as well as the Hometown Hero Award. Rodriguez was the youngest female with autism to finish the TCS New York City Marathon. She ran the London Marathon last year and was also selected to be an athlete for Runner 321, a global movement to promote inclusion and opportunities for neurodivergent athletes to participate in major races.
Hal King – A Major League Baseball player who played for the Braves, King became famous for turning around the Reds’ 1973 season with a ninth-inning home run, leading to an eventual division championship win. After leaving the majors, King played for five years in the Mexican League. He eventually returned to Seminole County, where he served as president of the Oviedo High School Booster Club for over two decades. he passed away in 2019 and his likeness can be spotted on the new Black History of Oviedo Mural in Boston Hill Park.
Vic Arnett – A community leader in Sanford, Arnett came up with the idea for the Golden Age Games in 1975. The games, which are an athletic competition for those over 55 years old, featured sports like bicycle or wheelchair races, track and field, shuffleboard, and horseshoes, among others. Arnett died in 2019.
The Seminole County Sports Hall of Fame recognizes outstanding male and female high school, college, and professional athletes, and coaches, officials, sports personalities, and sports volunteers who reside or at some point resided in Seminole County.
The induction ceremony will be held on Thursday in conjunction with Seminole County Public Schools Night of Champions at Hagerty High School.
For more information on the hall, visit the Seminole County Sports Hall of Fame website.