Ron Slay was an outstanding basketball player at Pearl-Cohn and Tennessee and is now a sports talk radio show host and SEC Network analyst.
Ron Slay was determined to walk to the stage during his Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame induction, even after recently undergoing right knee replacement surgery.
The 6-foot-8 former Pearl-Cohn and Tennessee star carefully made his was to the stage on July 19 without the assistance of a wheelchair, crutches or a walker at the Omni Nashville Hotel.
The manner in which Slay punished his knees all those years on the basketball court ultimately made the procedure necessary. But in his opinion, it also led to him earning his place in the induction ceremony.
"I put them through it. My knees paid the price," said Slay, who had an ACL injury in his left knee and a meniscus tear in his right when he was at UT. "But I wasn't going to let this surgery keep me down. I left all the plastic on the walker. I had a cane, I left the tag on that. I was like, 'Y'all can return all this. I'm telling you I'm not using it.' That was the athlete in me."
Slay, 44, said Dr. Gregory Raab, who performed the surgery, would have preferred that Slay use the cane.
"To be honest, Dr. Raab was OK with me not using anything to help me walk under most circumstances," Slay said. "He really did want me to use a cane tonight because he said, 'Everybody doesn't know you're hurt. I'm not worried about you, but somebody might come up, be excited, slap you on the back and off balance and then something could go wrong,' But I was like, 'I'm cool.' He did a great job and that's why I am where I am."
Slay was in the 2025 class along with six former Vols: Tamika Catchings (basketball); Deon Grant (football); Chamique Holdsclaw (basketball); Andy Kelly (football); Doug Mathews (former UT and Vanderbilt assistant coach); and Chris Woodruff (tennis player/coach).
Others in the class are Tony Allen (Memphis Grizzlies); Joe Behling (Belmont basketball); Bob Brown (East Tennessee State basketball); Phillip Clark (Memphis baseball); Jack Jenkins (Vanderbilt football); Larry Kenon (Memphis basketball); Derrick Mason (Tennessee Titans); George Pitts (high school basketball coach); Ronnie Robinson (Memphis basketball); Priscilla Gary Sweeney (Memphis Hamilton High track); Elston Turner (Austin-East basketball) and Shea Weber (Nashville Predators).
"My jaw dropped when I looked at the people I am going into the hall of fame with," Slay said. "Derrick Mason? I mean, that's somebody I grew up watching. Tamika Catchings, I came into school with her and came in right after Chamique Holdsclaw. Deon Grant in the NFL. These are people that I watched in the stands. These are top-notch elite level athletes. To walk in with them is the ultimate salute."
Slay stays busy these days co-hosting the afternoon drive call-in sports talk radio show "3HL" on 104.5-FM The Zone and serving as a basketball analyst on the SEC Network.
"I am absolutely happy with where I am now," he said. "Do I want more? Absolutely. Do I want my name to be synonymous with college basketball? Yes. That's the goal. But I love what The Zone offers being able to come back home, talk football, and also keep my wittiness, if you will, in college football, the SEC and NFL."
Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vols basketball great Ron Slay inducted into Tennessee Sports HOF
Category: General Sports
