The Florida High School Athletic Association is proud to announce the newest members of the Florida High School Athletic Hall of Fame. The ceremony will be held in Gainesville, Florida, Sunday, September 24, 2023.

The 2022-23 school year marks the 55th anniversary of the merging of the Florida Interscholastic Athletic Association and the Florida High School Athletic Association. The FIAA was the regulating organization for athletics in black high schools before integration. In honor of this anniversary, the FHSAA prioritized Hall of Fame nominations affiliated with the Florida Interscholastic Athletic Association from 1932-1968.

With the 33rd induction class, the FHSAA Hall of Fame celebrates more than 102 years of interscholastic competition featuring some of the most accomplished student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and officials from the state of Florida.

“We are thrilled to celebrate 4 outstanding individuals from Miami-Dade County and their impact on interscholastic athletics in Florida. This year’s class includes trailblazers from the Florida Interscholastic Athletic Association which merged with the FHSAA in 1968. It is with great pleasure that we introduce them as part of the FHSAA Hall of Fame Class of 2023.

Congratulations on a Job well Done!

Carmen Jackson, a decorated coach who in her more than 30 years of coaching, owns 18 FHSAA state Track and Field championships at Miami Northwestern Senior High School. 14 of those titles were won consecutively between 2009-2023. She was named Florida Interscholastic Athletic Association Coach of the Year four times, the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year five times, the Florida Dairy Farmers Coach of the Year 10 times and has been named the Miami Herald Track Coach of the Year 19 times. Jackson was inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2022.

Larry Little, an accomplished two-way lineman who played football at Booker T. Washington Senior High School in Miami, Florida and had a prominent collegiate and professional football career. Little attended Bethune-Cookman College from 1964-1967 and played on both sides of the ball as an offensive lineman and defensive lineman. Little was a three-time All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) selection. Little’s professional career is highlighted by helping the Miami Dolphins become of the NFL’s most dominant teams in the 1970s. As Little was praised as one of the NFL’s premier offensive linemen, he was a key piece of the Miami Dolphin’s historic undefeated 1972 NFL season. Little was named First-Team All-Pro five times from 1969 to 1975, played in five Pro Bowls, and was named the NFL Players Association’s AFC Offensive Lineman of the year three times. Little was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993 and was selected to the NFL’s 1970s All-Decade Team.

Nathaniel “Traz” Powell, a pioneer in football who became the head coach at George Washington Carver High School in Miami in 1948. George Washington Carver High school was a K-12 segregated black school where Powell led the Carver Hornets to five undefeated FIAA state championships from 1948-1965. In 1966, Powell went on to coach at Mays High School in Goulds, FL where he won another state championship. Powell compiled a 167-37-3 record in his 21 years as a high school football coach and never had a losing season. Powell became one of the top high school coaches in the pre-integration, Florida Interscholastic Athletic Association.

Mae Francis Foley, a multi-sport contest official who spent four decades officiating FHSAA athletic contests throughout Miami-Dade County. In 1977, Foley joined the Greater Miami Athletic Conference (GMAC) and the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) as an independent contractor and game official through Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Foley registered as a three-sport official in volleyball, basketball, and softball in which she officiated hundreds of games. Foley has officiated 14 State Championship contests and since 2020, she has been the Assistant Basketball Booking Commissioner for the Miami-Dade Basketball Officials Association. Foley has numerous accolades which include the 2021-2022 FHSAA Certificate for 40 years of Meritorious Service.

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