The hall of fame’s 16th annual ceremony was held on Friday at the Resort at Glade Springs in Daniels, West Virginia.

Statler, a third-generation miner, began his career as a Consolidation Coal laborer in 1969.

He later became a Consol Energy vice president before founding PinnOak Resources.

These days he is chief executive officer for private investment firm Gulf Coast Capital Partners.

White, who began his professional experience working as an electrician in a mining equipment rebuild shop, worked for Amherst Coal before becoming president of the West Virginia Coal Association.

He is president of International Resource Partners’ James River Coal.

Kentucky native Long was known as an industry inventor, developing the bridge conveyor and a patented belt sander.

He became president of Long-Airdox and Marmon Research where he developed a line of permissible mantrips, roof bolters, rock dusters and a diesel auger miner.

Long passed away in 2005 at the age of 86.

The hall of fame was established in 1998 by the WVCA, the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute and the West Virginia Mining and Reclamation Association.

The hall resides in the Mineral Resources Building of the Benjamin M Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University.