WATCH: Florida Tech’s Paulette King’s Dominant Play Earns Her Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame Honors
By Space Coast Daily // April 16, 2025
SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME: King Earned spot on the SSC’s Silver Anniversary Team
WATCH: SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2025: When Florida Tech women’s basketball coach John Reynolds first met Paulette King in May 1991, he recognized her as a unique athlete and an extraordinary addition to the Panthers’ program.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame selection committee announced that the 2025 induction ceremony will occur on Saturday, May 24, at Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne. This will be the first in-person induction since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. To make a reservation for the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, e-mail Contact@SpaceCoastDaily.com or call 321-323-4460. CLICK HERE to see the 2025 Class of the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MEMBERS OF THE SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME
2025 SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA—When Florida Tech women’s basketball coach John Reynolds first met Paulette King in May 1991, he recognized her as a unique athlete and an extraordinary addition to the Panthers’ program.
A native Jamaican, King did not start playing basketball until the age of 19. She had, however, previously excelled at volleyball, field hockey and track.
She adapted quickly to basketball and became one of Jamaica’s top players in her first year.
King played for the national team for four years before being recruited and signed by Phillips Junior College in Borger, Texas. She dominated, averaging over 20 points and eight rebounds a game, and was named to the all-conference and all-region teams.
She was a legitimate major-college prospect, but because she was 27 years old, she was ineligible to compete in Division I due to the NCAA’s rule that anyone over 24 is not allowed to compete.
That rule was a godsend for Coach Reynolds and Florida Tech women’s basketball as she played for the Panthers her junior and senior seasons.
While leading the Panthers to a pair of Sunshine State Conference regular-season conference tournament championships and their first two appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament, she was selected as the first-team All-America and the Sunshine State Conference player-of-the-year both years.
She led the conference in scoring as a junior (29.5) and a senior (27.1), the two highest averages in league history.
She also ranks one-two in the Sunshine State Conference in most points in a season, with 855 as a junior and 813 as a senior, and most field goals in a season, with 322 as a junior and 310 as a senior.
Her achievements as a player earned her induction into the Florida Tech Sports Hall of Fame, the SSC Hall of Fame, and a spot on the SSC’s Silver Anniversary Team.
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The 1993 Florida Tech graduate with a degree in Business Administration also holds a degree in Criminology from Florida Atlantic University. She was inducted into the Florida Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
She has had successful careers in coaching and filmmaking.
“FIT pushed me to be better in every aspect of life,” King said. “I was a real student-athlete. It wasn’t all about basketball. It was about life, and I loved every minute of it!”
Coach Reynolds said the intensity and desire she used to play with have now been translated to her everyday life. She has always found a way to meet every challenge head-on.
“Coach Reynolds always said everybody fed off my energy and will power,” she said. “I still like to think of myself as that person.”
THE 2025 SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME Banquet and Induction Ceremony will occur at Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne on Saturday, May 24. FOR INFORMATION about the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame, or to make a reservation, e-mail Contact@SpaceCoastDaily.com or call 321-615-8111.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MEMBERS OF THE SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME
SPACE COAST DAILY TV: Tim Wakefield talks about his induction into the first class of the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame.
The Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame induction dinner and ceremony is presented by Tom and Suzie Wasdin
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA—The Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame selection committee announced that the 2025 induction ceremony will occur on Saturday, May 24, at Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne. This will be the first in-person induction since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame induction dinner and ceremony, presented by Tom and Suzie Wasdin, will be held on the evening of May 24. The Meet-and-Greet will begin at 6 p.m., and the dinner and program will start at 7 p.m.
Tom and Suzie Wasdin are longtime Brevard County entrepreneurs, community supporters, and philanthropists. Tom, an NCAA Final Four basketball coach and Brevard Sports Ambassador, was inducted into the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.
The meet-and-greet will include an opportunity to talk with the area’s sports royalty. Dinner and the induction proceeding, which will include compelling video tributes to each inductee, will follow.
The Brevard County High School Breakfast of Champions recognition awards will be held Saturday, May 24, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., also at Eastern Florida State College.
During the Breakfast of Champions, more than 40 awards will be presented to the best of the 2024-2025 male and female high school student-athletes in each sport. For sponsorship information, call 321-323-4460 or e-mail Contact@SpaceCoastDaily.com.
Both the Breakfast of Champions and the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame events will be streamed live on Space Coast Daily TV.
Health First, Erdman Automotive, Eastern Florida State College, All Points, Clear Choice Health Care, Brevard Public Schools, Space Coast Office of Tourism, EDC of the Space Coast, 4Ever Young Merritt Island, and Savings Safari sponsor the 2025 Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame induction event and the Brevard County High School Breakfast of Champions recognition awards.
To make a reservation for the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, e-mail Contact@SpaceCoastDaily.com or call 321-323-4460.
INDUCTEES SELECTED IN FOUR CATEGORIES
Nominees are chosen in four categories: professional sports, college sports, high school sports, and amateur sports. Special honorary recognition is also bestowed upon individuals and groups that have made significant contributions to sports on the Space Coast.
SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2025
■ PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY INDUCTEES: Jamel Dean, Football; Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Wrestling; Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Football; Randy Pobst, Auto racing; Juwaan Taylor, Football
■ COLLEGE CATEGORY INDUCTEES: Paulette King, Basketball, Dylan Lewis, Soccer; Steve Freeman, Soccer; Bryan Cook, Baseball
■ PREP CATEGORY INDUCTEES: Lexy Denaburg, Volleyball; Andi Sellers, Soccer; Kaira Simmons, Track & Field; Jayvan Boggs, Football
■ AMATEUR/RECREATION CATEGORY INDUCTEE: Alli Penovich, Free Diving; Peter Blount, Track & Field; Caylor Williams, Wrestling
■ COACHING CATEGORY INDUCTEES: Doug Butler, Cross Country and Track; Gerald Hodgin, Football; Jim Oler, Basketball; Don Smith, Basketball
• SPORTS OFFICIAL INDUCTEES: Ted Ruta
• SPORTS JOURNALISM INDUCTEES: Steve Vaughn
• SPORTS DEVELOPMENT INDUCTEE: Loren McClanahan
■ LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT INDUCTEES: Larry Garrison, Clint Hurdle
■ SPORTS AMBASSADOR AWARD INDUCTEE: Rusty Buchanan
■ CHALLENGER AWARD INDUCTEE: Joshua Dillon
■ TEAM OF THE YEAR: Cocoa Tigers Football
■ LEGACY CHAMPIONS: Merritt Island Baseball, 1999-2000
■ SPECIAL TRIBUTE: Tim Wakefield
Space Coast Daily created the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame in 2011 and has inducted over 200 of Brevard County’s most outstanding athletes, coaches, and sports personalities. Eastern Florida State’s Titan Fieldhouse on the Melbourne Campus hosts the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame. Portraits of the Hall of Famers are displayed on the wall in the building’s main hallway, which runs parallel to the gym and outside the athletic department offices.
To make a reservation for the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, e-mail Contact@SpaceCoastDaily.com or call 321-323-4460.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE MEMBERS OF THE SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME
