Five new Polk County folks were inducted into the 2026 PCASA Polk County All-Sports Awards Hall of Fame Tuesday night at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
Bob Adams, Ken Snell, Pam Lancaster, Rod Shafer and Fred Ridley were all inducted after years of showcasing their abilities and service.
First up was the Walton County native in Adams, who started the Sun State Homes — an organization that grew into mobile home manufacturing, which ballooned into one of the biggest home building companies in the nation. He would go on to call Florida Southern College basketball games on the radio with John Mack for more than a decade. And today, he is on the college’s board of trustees. He’s also a huge contributor to the local YMCA.
“For a basketball junkie like me, it turned out to be (a good experience). It was a wonderful thing for us for about 10 years,” Adams said.
Then there was Snell, who was a powerlifting savant. Born in Michigan, Adams in 1977 journeyed down to Lakeland where his father retired to after serving in the Air Force. But Snell already picked up weightlifting in high school in Maryland. Snell went on to train for weightlifting at All-American Gym in Lakeland before competing in local-, regional-, national- and world-level events, deadlifting as much as 465 pounds at just 113 pounds. He also did 27 repetitions of 225 pounds. In all, he won 17 national titles, eventually getting inducted into the Strength and Power Hall of Fame. He still works at All-American Gym today.
“I worked through the years on not only helping myself, but for others to achieve results in competition in fitness in general,” Snell said.
Lancaster, also a Michigan native, helped Auburndale High School reach great heights as an administrator, mentor and coach, leading Auburndale to its first softball title in 2006. She was also the first athletic director at Tenoroc High School.
“…Athletics is so much more than wins and losses. It’s about teaching young people life lessons, commitment, perseverance, teamwork, sportsmanship and how to handle both success and adversity with character and integrity,” Lancaster said.
Shafer also echoed some of these sentiments. Shafer used these characteristics and turned Lake Wales into a football powerhouse, capturing 10 district, six regional and six state titles. Overall, he amassed 276 wins at the high school and college level and was a three-time Coach of the Year recipient.
“Winning football games requires an administration that understands that sports are a valuable part of school and community as well as a teaching staff that recognizes that having (good) coaches helps you have great discipline,” Shafer said.
And finally, there was Ridley, who also preached these principles. Ridley, who went to Lakeland and Winter Haven high schools, played golf at Florida Southern, was a U.S. amateur champion, a Masters competitor and an attorney.
This story will be updated.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: 5 new Polk County folks inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame
Reporting by Robert Magobet, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Robert Magobet, Lakeland Ledger | USA TODAY Network
