Sports Writer

There’s a pair of new football hall of fame inductees right here in Osceola County, but neither was in Canton, Ohio, for the NFL ceremony last weekend.

They received the honor in June, when the FFFL Hall inducted its second class.

“We’ve hosted the state tournament six times (the most of any site in the state) and had many other state ranking tournaments,” he said. “I presided over a lot of ­– how should we say – lively discussions of rules and officiating.”

King, who graduated from St. Cloud High School in 1976 holding the county career passing record (until Poinciana’s David Tabor broke it in 2000), played quarterback and halfback in local leagues and in state-level tournaments from the mid-1980s until 2005.

He played in the state tournament 16 times between 1983 and 2000, and his Sting team from St. Cloud was often nationally ranked.

“This was a big surprise. I had no idea,” King said. “For Randy, it’s very deserving. He made our lives easier as players.”

King stopped playing  when he served as quarterback coach for Harmony High School. His pupil, Spencer Endsley, earned a scholarship to Jacksonville University and is now back playing on a state-ranked flag football team, Living The Dream, alongside King’s son, Kyle, another former Bulldogs quarterback.

King, who has coached several of the county’s top quarterbacks, said he remains a supporter of the local football leagues even after his career has ended.

“I love the work Randy’s doing and I’ve asked him, ‘What can I do to help promote this?’” he said.

Osceola County has helped Fisher and King celebrate their induction in style after it recently completed a flag football field at the Fortune Road athletic complex.

The $115,000 field was graded and lighted. It also will be used for other events, like picnics.

“The city didn’t even have a big enough space to have a picnic,” Fisher said.

The flag football league played at Osceola High the past few years, but there were conflicts.

“Now that we have a field of our own, we can play when we want to instead of working around the county’s schedule.”

The field also could be used as an alternate field for soccer and other football tournaments held a few miles north at Austin-Tindall Park on Boggy Creek Road.

Fisher said that registration for fall flag football leagues on the new field will begin in September. With the ability to schedule on their own time, he said there may be more leagues.

“Typically we play on Mondays and Wednesdays, but now we’ll looking at the whole week, and possibly adding a co-ed league,” he said.