Bill Rucker was one of the most successful women’s basketball coaches in North Carolina prep history. His teams won a whopping 638 games in that sport against 252 losses in a 37-year career as Rucker guided squads at Tri High, Cool Springs and East Rutherford in Rutherford County, and then at Charles D. Owen and…
Fred Lanford enjoyed a stellar coaching career, with the vast majority of his time spent in Caldwell County. A native of Woodruff, SC., and a 1965 graduate of Appalachian State University, Lanford began his coaching and teaching in Woodruff and won a pair of South Carolina state baseball championships there. Then in 1965 he moved…
Elton Hawley is one of the pioneers of sports medicine as it related to North Carolina high schools. A graduate of Midway High School in Dunn and then a ’70 graduate of Appalachian State University, Hawley was one of the first teacher-athletic trainers in the state and received the inaugural North Carolina Athletic Trainer of…
Bill Carver has made significant contributions to high school athletics as a coach, administrator and game official. A graduate of Fayetteville’s E.E. Smith High School and Hampton University, Carver spent 37 years of his career in Cumberland County, first as a successful coach in several sports at his high school alma mater. He coached at…
Bob Brooks enjoyed an amazing coaching career in a number of different sports before moving into administration. A graduate of Greensboro Senior High (now Grimsley) and a ’48 graduate of Wake Forest, he guided Elizabeth City High as head men’s basketball coach from 1948 through ’66. During that stint he was also an assistant football…
Now an administrator, Daryl Barnes had an incredible record as a high school football coach. A native of Archdale and a graduate of Trinity High School, where he is now the principal, Barnes compiled an unbelievable 157-25 mark in 14 seasons as a head coach. He coached at Southern Guilford, Northeast Guilford and South Brunswick,…
Stuart Allen compiled a brilliant record as a coach at Charlotte’s Myers Park High School. A native of Richmond, Virginia, who graduated from Emory and Henry College, Allen coached at Myers Park from 1956 through ’71 and rolled up an incredible 11 NCHSAA state track championships in that 16-year span. He had 38 individuals and…
Billy Widgeon has enjoyed tremendous success as a high school athlete, collegiate athlete and outstanding coach in several sports. He played on the 1953 NCHSAA state 1-A basketball championship team at Newport High and then was a two-sport standout at Atlantic Christian (now Barton) College, where he is in that school’s hall of fame. Widgeon…
Tim Stevens has had a stellar career as one of the outstanding high school sports writers in the state. A graduate of Garner High School and North Carolina Wesleyan, Stevens has written either for the Raleigh Times and then the Raleigh News and Observer since 1973 and has won a number of awards for his…
Jan Stanley has produced unbelievable records as a volleyball coach, but was also highly successful in women’s basketball. A graduate of Hendersonville High and Baptist (SC) College (now Charleston Southern), where she was a three-year basketball starter, Jan established West Henderson as a volleyball power. She is second all-time in state prep history in volleyball…
