Selma native and coaching legend Otis Washington has been named one of the 2015 inductees for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Washington, who graduated from R.B. Hudson High School in 1957, joins a stellar class that includes former NBA coach Avery Johnson, former LSU running back Kevin Faulk, former NFL quarterback Jake Delhomme and coaches Pat Collins and Yvette Girouard.

“There’s only I guess about 320 or 330 people that are in that Hall of Fame, which means the brightest athletes and coaches have been inducted out of thousands that participated in the sports activities in the state,” Washington said. “To be one of those people means a lot.”

Beacause of the limited number of members of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame — the website lists 311 — he wasn’t sure he would ever get in.

“When they called me and told me I was being inducted, I was very elated,” Washington said. “I never thought I had a chance.”

Looking at his career, it’s clear Washington stacks up well with the other all-time greats.

As head coach, he won three state championships at St. Augustine High School in New Orleans. Those championships came in 1975, 1978 and 1979. Washington’s 1971 team finished as state runner-up and his 1972 team went 10-0 but was ineligible for the playoffs after having to forfeit eight games for use of an ineligible player.

“That was the best team probably in the history of Louisiana football,” Washington said of his 1972 team with a laugh. “… That was the best team I had ever seen. We had a ton of athletes. There were 35 seniors on that team and out of the 35 seniors, 34 probably got scholarships.”

Getting his players into colleges was a knack of Washington’s. During his tenure at St. Augustine, over 120 players earned scholarships, according to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame website. The LASHF website also said that Washington won 80 percent of his games as head coach for St. Augustine and the school won seven district championships in the Catholic League.

After his time at St. Augustine, he went on to serve as an assistant coach at LSU in 1980. After leaving Baton Rouge, Washington was named the head coach at Southern University, a position he held from 1981 to 1986.

He and the other members of the 2015 class will be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame on June 27 in Natchitoches, La.

His connections to Selma are still strong too.

“I spend a lot of time in Selma. I don’t have as many friends left [there] as I once had,” Washington said.