Basketball star Bo McCalebb and football legends Eli Manning and Peyton Manning will make up the Class of 2026 for the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame. The trio will be inducted at a private ceremony to culminate next week’s Allstate Sugar Bowl Sports Awards Banquet presented by LCMC Health. A total of 26 individuals as well as two teams will be honored at the event. All honorees, including the Hall of Famers, are selected by the New Orleans Sports Awards Committee.
In addition to the Hall of Fame class, seven New Orleans area annual awards and three state-wide awards will be presented – the winners of these honors will be released on Monday, June 22. The 2025-26 Sugar Bowl Athletes of the Month will also be recognized at the event along with six Women in Sport Scholarship honorees.
The New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame was created in 1971 and has honored 267 sports figures who were born in New Orleans and achieved prominence in or away from the New Orleans area; or, those non-natives who achieved sports prominence in the New Orleans area in high school, college, professional or amateur sports. Plaques honoring the Hall of Famers are displayed prominently in the Caesars Superdome at Gate A on the Club Level as part of the Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame.
A star at O. Perry Walker High School in New Orleans, Bo McCalebb averaged 32.0 points per game as a senior and earned all-state and all-metro recognition multiple times. He became the all-time leading scorer in UNO and Sun Belt Conference history with 2,679 points and also ranked first all-time at UNO in steals (250) and sixth all-time in assists (378). Selected as the Sun Belt Player of the Year (2006-07) after averaging 25.0 points per game, he was also the league’s Defensive Player of the Year (2007-08). He went to star in European Basketball and was a mainstay on the Macedonian National Team, leading the Lions to their best-ever finish in international player (fourth at EuroBasket 2011). UNO retired his jersey (#1) in 2025.
Eli Manning passed for a then-school-record 7,389 yards with 89 touchdowns at Isidore Newman School (1996-98), earning all-state honors three times and being selected as the Louisiana Player of the Year. He went on to set or tie 47 school records in his Ole Miss career (1999-2003) including passing for 10,119 yards and 89 touchdowns and winning the 2003 Maxwell Award as the nation’s top player. Selected No. 1 in the 2004 NFL Draft, he passed for 57,023 yards and 244 touchdowns in a 16-year career with the New York Giants. He earned Super Bowl MVP twice after leading the Giants to wins in Super Bowl XLVI and XLII and was honored with the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2016. His jersey #10 was retired by both Ole Miss and the Giants.
Peyton Manning passed for 7,207 yards and 92 touchdowns in high school as he led Isidore Newman School to the postseason three times and earned National Player of the Year honors. He became Tennessee’s all-time leading passer with 11,201 yards and 89 touchdowns while winning an SEC record 39 games and earning consensus All-American recognition. Selected No. 1 in the 1998 NFL Draft, he set league records for touchdown passes (539) and passing yards (71,940) while being named the league’s MVP a record five times and a 14-time Pro Bowl selection. Manning won a pair of Super Bowls – Super Bowl XLI with the Colts and Super Bowl 50 with the Broncos – and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee came together in 1957 when James Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month and a variety of annual award winners. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the creation of the New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize the top athlete in the New Orleans area each month as well as a range of annual awards – the honors enter their 70th year in 2026.
READ MORE:Eli Manning and Peyton Manning headline Sugar Bowl’s New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame class of 2026
