Brooke Bennett has become a figurehead of sorts in Florida sports. For starters, she’s a three-time Olympic gold medalist, winning the 800 in Atlanta in 1996 and both the 400 and the 800 in 2000 in Sydney.
Now, she also covers high school football for Florida’s Bright House Sports Network, and high school football in Florida is big business.
For her work and decades-long contributions to Florida sports, Bennett has been inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in Jacksonville, Florida.
The Hall of Fame, which inducted its first class in 1960, now has 8 swimmers or divers inducted. That includes Catie Ball, Nicole Haislett, Tracey Caulkins, Rowdy Gaines (born in Winter Haven), Nancy Hogshead, Greg Louganis, Jack Nelson, and Newton Perry, with Bennett being only the 3rd of those names, all Olympians, inducted in this millennium.
She joins a class that includes rodeo star Pete Clemons, 14-time National Junior Amateur tennis champion Brian Gottfried, former Miami Heat basketball star Tim Hardaway, golfer Mark McCumber, Florida’s all-time winningest high school football coach Corky Rogers, Jacksonville Jaguars running back Fred Taylor, and auto racer LeeRoy Yarbrough.
Bennett was already inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2010.
The ceremony is being held in its 52nd edition on Saturday.