Dave Smith put together some powerhouse teams during a stellar coaching career. A graduate of Tennessee State University, where he played football and baseball, Smith began his coaching career at P.S. Jones Senior High, the black school in the Washington area, from 1957 to ’68, where he coached football, basketball and tennis. He then coached…
Ned Sampson is considered one of the greatest native American athletes and coaches the state has ever produced. Ned was an outstanding all-around athlete at Pembroke High who later went on to a great career at UNC-Pembroke. He captained the football, basketball and baseball teams there before his graduation in 1953 and is a charter…
Ed Peeler has enjoyed a lengthy career has a highly successful coach and athletic director, primarily at Crest High School in Cleveland County. A graduate of Shelby High and Appalachian State University, Peeler posted a brilliant 562-362 mark as a head men’s basketball coach, including two years at Mooresboro, six at Crest at Boiling Springs…
James “Rabbit” Fulghum is one of the greatest baseball coaches the state has ever produced. His lengthy career included stops at North Edgecombe and Greene Central, and he has the remarkable distinction of winning a state championship in five different decades. He earned a state basketball title at North Edgecombe in 1963 and then captured…
John Clougherty has become one of the nation’s top basketball officials. Born in Pittsburgh, Clougherty is a graduate of Youngstown State and officiated several years at the high school level, including working a state championship, before heading into collegiate officiating. He has been working in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern, Big East, Conference USA and…
Mike Brown has an impressive coaching and administrative resume, but he has also made huge contributions to the North Carolina High School Athletic Association student services program. A graduate of Durham High and the University of North Carolina, Brown coached a number of sports at various schools, including High Point Central, Garinger, Durham, Sanford Central…
Mike Raybon has made enormous contributions to high school athletics in general and wrestling in particular in North Carolina. A graduate of Bandys High in Catawba County, Raybon earned his BS degree at Appalachian State in 1963 and then began his teaching and coaching career. From 1965 to ’84, he was the head wrestling coach…
The late Tom McQuaid is perhaps best remembered for unprecedented success at Beaufort in men’s basketball in the late 1950’s, but he enjoyed an outstanding 42-year career as a coach and administrator. A five-sport high school star in Vienna, Ohio, McQuaid played football and basketball at Newberry College (SC) and graduated in 1935. He coached…
Dick Knox has an impressive coaching resume at several high schools, but he may be best remembered for almost 20 years on staff with the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. A native of Indianapolis, Knox is a 1961 graduate of Atlantic Christian (now Barton) College and is a member of that school’s Hall of…
Jim Burch has had a distinguished career in education and as a basketball official. A native of Mamaroneck, New York, Burch is a 1949 graduate of Fayetteville State University and was a teacher, coach and then administrator for many years before joining the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. He was on the DPI staff…
