It was on a sunny day early in May, this some years ago, when a carload of us were invited to have lunch at one of the fabled horse farms in Kentucky. We were in Louisville for the upcoming Kentucky Derby that same weekend and the farm was every bit as regal as the trophies, the silver bowls and the victory cups that gleamed so brightly in almost every room.

After a fine lunch that included derby pie and an ascribed mint julep or two, we were taken on a tour of the beautifully manicured grounds. Sleek thoroughbreds were grazing everywhere and a few yearlings were darting about behind the brilliant white fences when suddenly we spied an old loppy-eared mule that was so out-of-place it was hysterical.

"That's ole Charley," the pretty guide smiled. "All the horses love him, but he doesn't do much except let the kids crawl on him. The main reason he is here is to keep the horses calmed down. The mule always settles them when they get jumpy or skittish and, of course, when they see Charlie it always makes our thoroughbreds feel a little more special about what they are."

Well, I haven't thought about long-eared Charley in years, but when they called me several weeks ago to tell me I had been picked to be in the Sports Hall of Fame on Lookout Mountain, I knew just how Charley must have felt being a mule among all those thoroughbreds. The first mule on our mountain, that would be me.

I need to get this straight from the get-go. I have never done a thing that was worth getting put in any Hall of Fame. I'm a story-teller, just a guy who stood around and watched until everybody else was gone and then I'd write about it.

Better put, all of my life I have subscribed to the thought put forth by President Teddy Roosevelt in a 1910 speech at the Sorbonne: "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better," he began.

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat," Roosevelt famously said in Paris and never forget that.

Naturally, I was a little "cold and timid" when I heard I will soon join those who have literally been among my heroes in the 50-plus years I've lived on Lookout Mountain. If one includes this year's class, which will be inducted on Sunday, Sept. 26, there are now 30 in the mountain's Hall of Fame and that's problematic in itself - I know better than anyone else alive there are well over 100, maybe 200, others who deserve it much more than I do.

The inductees this year, alphabetically, will be:

-- Cindy Kemp Battle (the most gorgeous next-door neighbor ever) who was stunning in tennis first at GPS and later at Alabama. Believe it or not, she was also recruited by Bear Bryant and was a runner-up in the NCAA championships. She also played on the Junior Wightman Cup.

-- Betsy Caulkins Bookout, a three-time All-American swimmer at GPS who became the first female from Chattanooga to ever sign a swimming scholarship at Brenau College. She was later a popular coach in the Chattanooga Swim League.

-- Bill Chipley, a Lynchburg, Va., native who was an All-American at Washington & Lee and then played for the old NFL teams in Boston and New York, where he was third in receiving during the 1949 season. A longtime mountain resident, he is now deceased.

-- George Dickinson, a tennis whiz who became the first bona-fide national champion ever at UTC. He played at City High, Georgia Tech and what was then UC, where he won the nationals in 1966.

-- Roy Exum has been a writer for over 40 years with the Chattanooga News-Free Press and Chattanoogan.com. He is famously known for attending more high schools than anyone whose parents never moved. He was also once squished in a notable car wreck, has loppy ears, and tries to make others not pity themselves as much.

-- Chip Healy, an All-American linebacker at both Baylor and Vanderbilt, he played three seasons with the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals. His father, Bill, was a charter inductee in the LMSHOF.

-- Wig "Hurricane Harry" Robinson, was one of the best high school players ever at McCallie but a promising college career was split by World War II. He earned his colorful nickname at Tulane and was an All-SEC pick some years later at Vanderbilt. (The induction ceremonies will be in the Fairyland Elementary School gym, which is named in honor of Wig.)

-- Paul Tessman won two state wrestling titles at McCallie but when he went to the University of the South he was undefeated in dual competition all four years. He was a four-time Southern champion and also played football, most notably on Shirley Majors' undefeated 1963 team.

-- Frank Willett, already in five different Sports Halls of Fame, was a schoolboy tennis sensation in Alabama before going to Georgia Tech, where he was an All-American in 1945. He was never beaten in four years of regular competition at Tech and was a heralded adult player. He is deceased.

-- Mark Williamson was an 11-time All-American swimmer at McCallie before helping the University of Tennessee win the 1978 national title. An All-SEC performer, he also still holds records in the Chattanooga Swim League.

Now you know why I first panicked when I was told I was to be included, asking several people to please wait until it could be done posthumously, if indeed it must. I learned long ago you can fool some of the people, some of the time, but you can't fake it when it comes to your family.

You also can't tell your family "no" so as I humbly acquiesce, I'm still a little red-faced over the whole thing. Just remember one thing; if you live long enough eventually the selection committee will get around to even the mule.

royexum@aol.com