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Tim Tebow, Billy Donovan chosen for Florida Gators’ Hall of Fame

Tebow-era teammates Brandon Spikes and Brandon James are also being inducted.
 
Tim Tebow won a pair of national championships at Florida.
Tim Tebow won a pair of national championships at Florida. [ TAMPA BAY TIMES ]
Published April 27, 2020|Updated April 27, 2020

Former superstar quarterback Tim Tebow and national championship basketball coach Billy Donovan headline the nine Florida greats who will be inducted into the Gators’ athletic hall of fame, the program announced Monday morning.

Tebow is regarded as one of the best players in college football history after winning two national titles (2006, 2008) at Florida. He won the Heisman Trophy in 2007 and was a finalist two other years, too. The two-time SEC offensive player of the year is still the only player in Division I-A history to pass for more than 30 touchdowns and run for at least 20 in the same season.

Related: Fabulous 50: State’s all-time greatest college football players

Donovan coached the men’s basketball team to back-to-back national championships in 2006-07 and a pair of other Final Four appearances. The three-time SEC coach of the year won six conference titles and four SEC Tournament titles from 1996-2015.

Two other Tebow-era stars, Brandon Spikes and Brandon James, are also in the class. Spikes was a three-team all-SEC linebacker and two-time All-American who still holds UF’s record with four career pick-sixes. James starred as a returner and is the only player in SEC history with more than 4,000 combined yards on kickoff and punt returns; he left UF with a conference-record 2,718 career kickoff return yards.

The other members of the class:

  • Andrew DeClercq, who started 128 consecutive men’s basketball games and helped the Gators reach the 1994 Final Four
  • Shaune Fraser, a three-time NCAA champion swimmer and two-time Olympian for the Cayman Islands
  • Mariam Kevkhisvili, who tied UF”s record with five NCAA titles in women’s track and field
  • Hamid Mirzadeh, a tennis standout who was a three-time All-American in singles and a two-time selection in doubles
  • Gemma Spofforth, who won seven individual NCAA titles in swimming and helped UF win the 2019 national championship

Details on the induction ceremony have not yet been announced.