Five former Henry County athletic greats will be honored during a 6:30 p.m. July 24 Paris-Henry County Sports Hall of Fame banquet at the Paris Convention Center, 1510 E. Wood St.

The new inductees into the local Hall of Fame are Kitty Allen, Josh Archer, Jim Drexler, the late Buddy Akers and the late Richard Byars.

The Hall of Fame committee also will honor Calvin Jones with the Distinguished Service award for his years of work with various youth baseball leagues and teams.

Longtime high school and college football official R.L. “Buddy” Patey of Jackson will be the guest speaker. Patey officiated in several college football bowl games and was for many years the officials supervisor for the Ohio Valley Conference.

Tickets for the event are $25 and can be purchased at the law office of William T. Looney at 127 N. Poplar St.

Allen, Archer and Byars are some of the greatest names ever to play athletics at Henry County High School. Allen twice led the Lady Patriot basketball team into the state tournament in the early 1990s before moving on to continue to be a basketball standout at the University of Memphis.

Archer was a baseball star for both the Patriots and Middle Tennessee State University from 1999-2004.

The late Byars was an intimidating force under the basket for the Patriot basketball teams in the early 1970s. He was a two-time All-State pick and was named an All-American as a high school performer.

Drexler played several sports at Grove High School in the mid-1960s but stood out as a basketball player and golfer. He won several local golf tournaments and was the top seed at Lambuth University throughout his college career.

The late Akers was a star in dirt-track motorcycle racing. He participated at the top level of the sport for more than 30 years.

Jones was the kind of guy that filled any role he could to help young baseball players across Henry County for several decades. He coached, umpired, served as a league director, mowed the fields and fixed the electrical wiring at the ball parks around Paris.

A male and female athlete from each school in Henry County that fields athletic teams will be honored as Student Hall of Fame selections at the banquet.