Baze selected for Multi-Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame

ALBANY, Calif. – Hall of Fame jockey Russell Baze will be inducted into the Multi-Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame in Oakland, Calif., on Feb. 25.

Basketball star Rick Barry and former NFL quarterback Y.A. Tittle also are among the 2011 induction class for the organization, which develops opportunities for less fortunate youth to gain exposure to positive aspects of life. The Multi-Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame, formerly the African American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame, began in 2010 to recognize white athletes who have contributed to athletes of color and their communities.

Baze, the world’s winningest jockey with 11,159 victories through Thursday, has previously been inducted into the National Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame (1999), Washington Horse Racing Hall of Fame (2004), and California Thoroughbred Breeders Association Hall of Fame (2007).

He won the George Woolf Award at Santa Anita in 2002 and has won the Isaac Murphy Award for the highest winning percentage for riders with 500 or more mounts every year but one since its inception in 1995.