Why it took so long for Herb Adderley to enter MSU's sports Hall of Fame — and more from Friday's induction ceremony
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EAST LANSING – A long-standing mystery surrounding Michigan State athletics was solved Friday night.
The mystery: Why wasn't former Spartan star Herb Adderley, a six-time NFL champion, in MSU's Athletics Hall of Fame?
The answer: He turned down MSU. Repeatedly. Because he wanted others to go in before him.
Adderley finally got his due Friday, as he was posthumously inducted as part of the 2022 class. He died in 2020 at the age of 81. His daughter, Dr. Toni Adderley, gave the induction speech on his behalf. And it was she who revealed that her father simply was too modest to accept a spot in his school's hall earlier.
"He loved Michigan State, let me say that," she said. "Michigan State was a part of his legacy and creating that legacy. But my dad was very humble."
Adderly played both ways for the Spartans, serving as a team captain during his senior season in 1960 — the same year he earned a first-team All-Big Ten accolade. The Green Bay Packers selected Adderley in the first round of the 1961 NFL draft. He was part of the Packers' dynastic run under legendary coach Vince Lombardi, capturing five NFL titles, including Super Bowls I and II. Adderley later joined the Dallas Cowboys and added another Super Bowl ring in 1971 before retiring following the 1972 season.
But he always held East Lansing close to his heart.
"He was coming out of a rough area in Philly, and when he came to Michigan State, it was actually his first time leaving Philadelphia," Toni said. "So for him to come here, he always talked about how big it was ... and his biggest thing was to make his grandmother and mother proud. And he did that."
Even if he didn't welcome the limelight while he lived. If he were still alive, Toni said, she believes he still wouldn't relent on his stance. That's just the way he was.
"He felt he had accomplished everything," Toni said. "So I think they still would have refused it, but I think today, he sees that I'm here and (his family is) here and he would be extremely proud, because he deserved it. He knows that he did. He was just (like), 'Ah, let somebody else have it.' "
Adderley was a member of 2022 Hall of Fame class inducted Friday that also included Kathy DeBoer (volleyball/basketball), Joan Garety (golf), Draymond Green (basketball), Laura Heyboer (soccer), Greg Jones (football), Kalisha Keane (basketball), Karen Langeland (basketball/administration) and Bob Steele (track & field). Floor Rijpma (field hockey) was a member of the 2021 class but waited to be inducted along with the 2022 class due to Covid-19 issues.
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Karen Langeland: 'There's a lot more to do'
As a boisterous group of supporters sat down to listen to Langeland, the former MSU women's basketball coach, and later, athletics administrator, tried to think how to condense 36 years in East Lansing into bite-sized answers. When she took over the women's basketball program in 1976, it was just four years after the Title IX ruling that changed the face of sports across the country, giving women opportunities they'd never had before.
"I don't even know if I can tell you about everything, but I had one scholarship when I came here," Langeland said. "My office was in the IM Circle. We were all over the place in terms of where we practiced and that sort of thing. We went from the IM Circle to IM West to Jenison (Field House) and then to the Breslin Center when it was finally finished. But there was just a lot of different things that came about during that particular time."
Simply put, Langeland said, it was a "remarkable experience." She had 376 victories, a Big Ten championship and 17 winning seasons in 24 years. She made three NCAA tournaments and had four 20-win campaigns. Her first team featured a pair of MSU greats in Carol Hutchins (who recently retired after an illustrious tenure as Michigan's softball coach) and DeBoer, who joined Langeland in the 2022 class.
Langeland moved on from coaching and into MSU's sports administration, where she worked with 11 programs on campus. As she walked around the Clara Bell Smith Center and the banquet hall Friday, she was struck by how many people she once worked with still are plugging away, employed by MSU.
"I had the opportunity to work with so many different individuals," she said. "It's almost overwhelming, to be honest with you."
This year marked the first time MSU ever has inducted more women than men into a Hall class. With a smile, Langeland said "it's about time" that happened.
"I think that's a huge, huge step forward for Michigan State," she said, "and I hope they continue to do that, because we have had some great women athletes come through here."
Her greatest legacy, she believes, is the women like Hutchins and DeBoer, who were there in the nascent years of women in college athletics.
"They were here from '76 to '79, so they know what it was like," Langeland said. "Both of them have been in athletics from that point on, and they understand where they were and how far they've come. But there's also a lot more to do."
Laura Heyboer: 'I had a wonderful experience'
After being away from East Lansing for nearly a decade, Heyboer was excited to be back on campus Friday. Heyboer, who played for the soccer team from 2008 to 2011, wasted no time leaving her mark on the program. In her first season, she was the national freshman of the year and won the Big Ten's offensive player of the year award. By the time she left, she was a three-time All-America selection and earned first-team All-Big Ten honors all four seasons.
Heyboer is the first-ever Hall representative from the women's soccer program. That wasn't lost on her.
"I came to Michigan State wanting an opportunity to compete and play," she said. "My coaches were great with recruiting me and showing me that, 'This is going to be a special place to be,' and it truly can be. We've got all the resources here to be successful. And I think all of those resources, using them in my time here, helped me to get there."
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Greg Jones still rooting for the football team 'every single Saturday'
Fifteen years ago, when Jones walked the hallway of the Clara Bell Smith Center, he took great care to focus on the wall. There hung the plaques of those in the MSU Hall of Fame. At the time, Jones wondered whether, one day, he'd ever be good enough to earn a spot on the wall.
He realized that dream Friday.
"It's just a lot of hard work and sacrifice," said Jones, who led MSU in tackles four straight seasons (2007-10) and was a consensus All-American as a junior and senior. "Finally to get on the wall, it means a lot."
During his first year with the Spartans, he almost was more focused on winning over his teammates than he was about his on-field performance.
"When you're an incoming freshman expected to play and do well, you've got to earn their respect within the locker room," he said. "I think I did that by example, and eventually, more vocally as well."
He messages current players from time to time, tossing a "congrats" or "good game" their way. Recently, he reached out to linebacker Darius Snow — who will miss the rest of the 2022 campaign after suffering a season-ending injury in last week's opener — to tell him "to keep his head up." Though he gives the players their space, he wants to make sure they know he's always in their corner.
"As years and years go by," Jones said, "they spread out and go into different things ... but I'm still rooting for the guys every single Saturday."
Floor Rijpma looks forward to introducing daughter to legacy
As Rijpma reflected Friday on her delayed induction, she noted how eventful 2021 had been for her in another — more positive — way. Barely a month after she learned she had become an MSU Hall of Famer, Rijpma found out she was pregnant.
Rijpma, a two-time first-team All-America selection (2008 and 2009) in field hockey, finished her career third in school history in both scoring and goals.
As her daughter grows older, she'll begin to discover more about MSU — and her mother's legacy.
"I have a mini-me, basically, that I will be taking along. I hope, sometime later on, I can show her, come back here with her and then tell her all the stories," Rijpma said. "Who knows if she will ever be a Spartan in the future?"
Contact Ryan Black at rblack@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @RyanABlack.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Why Herb Adderley was finally inducted into MSU's sports Hall of Fame
