CHAPEL HILL— The North Carolina High School Athletic Association will be recognized by the University of North Carolina on Saturday, September 22 at Kenan Stadium.
The North Carolina-East Carolina football game has been designated as the 28th annual NCHSAA Day. The university actually spearheaded the founding of the NCHSAA in 1913.
Special halftime activities will highlight NCHSAA Day. The winners of the Wells Fargo Cup for the 2011-12 academic year, symbolic of the best overall interscholastic sports program in the state, will be honored. The winners include Kernersville Bishop McGuinness and Durham North Carolina School of Science and Math, who tied in the 1-A classification; Carrboro among 2-A schools; Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons in the 3-A classification; and Green Hope of Cary in the 4-A class.
In addition, the newest members of the NCHSAA Hall of Fame will be recognized. They include:
—Donnie Baxter of Asheboro, a great coach in football and baseball who guided Eastern Randolph to a state football crown and later served as a principal and then in the Randolph County schools central office
—Ronnie Chavis of Pembroke, an outstanding coach and administrator who worked at Magnolia, Pembroke and West Robeson and is a former president of the North Carolina Athletic Directors Association
—Lawrence Dunn of Raleigh, who coached several sports at Garner and Athens Drive but really made his mark in basketball; his women’s team at Garner won the 1978 NCHSAA state 4-A title and at Athens his men’s teams went 445-193
—Doug Henderson of Greensboro, whose coaching stops included Shallotte, Elizabethtown, East Bladen and Western Guilford, with a career head football coaching mark of 216-102-5
—Lindsey Page of Burlington, who had a great career as a basketball coach at Bartlett Yancey in Caswell County, where his men’s teams won 519 games, including the 1988 NCHSAA state 3-A title
—Larry Rhodes of Gastonia, who made his mark coaching primarily in men’s basketball and golf at Gastonia’s Ashley and Ashbrook High Schools; his basketball teams won 10 conference crowns and 336 games, including a 1967 state championship
—Robert Steele of Salisbury, one of the state’s best coaches in track and field who has coached at both Oxford Webb and North Rowan; he has guided North Rowan to 15 state championships in outdoor track and field
—Jim Taylor of Shelby compiled a brilliant record as a head football coach, primarily at Shelby and also at Polk Central; his teams at Shelby were 201-54-2 in 21 seasons as head coach, including two NCHSAA state championships and two runner-up finishes
This is the 27th group of inductees to join the prestigious hall, bringing to 148 the number of individuals enshrined.
These eight will formally be inducted into the NCHSAA Hall of Fame next spring during the Hall’s annual banquet and induction ceremonies at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill.
“We appreciate the university’s willingness to recognize the North Carolina High School Athletic Association on this special occasion,” says Davis Whitfield, commissioner of the NCHSAA.
