Gerald Allen enjoyed a career as one of the state’s most successful high school football coaches, including a 38-year stint at Shelby High School. Allen was head football coach at Shelby for 21 years and coached the Golden Lion track program for 26 seasons. His football teams won 11 conference championships and five Western North Carolina…
Bob Sawyer has put together an amazing career as an athlete, teacher, coach and athletic director, all affiliated with one school. Bob was an individual state swimming champion on teams under the legendary Bob Jamieson that won the overall state title at Greensboro Senior High in 1954 and ‘55. He continued his brilliant swimming career…
Born in Buffalo, New York, Glenn Nixon compiled a brilliant coaching record in football, although during his career he also coached baseball, track, golf and basketball. A 1955 graduate of North Carolina State University, Nixon coached one year at Beulaville High in Duplin County and then went to Clayton, where he served as football coach…
Honey Johnson was a coaching legend in the Elizabeth City area for many years. A graduate of Elizabeth City High, Johnson went on to N.C. State University, graduating in 1935. He captained the N.C. State baseball team his senior year and was named its most valuable player. Johnson then began his coaching career in the…
Paul Gay became one of North Carolina’s most successful head football coaches, primarily at Sanford Central High School (now Lee Senior). Gay came to Sanford in 1960 after brief stints in Lancaster, S.C., and at Raleigh Broughton. From then until 1985, when he stepped down, his teams compiled a brilliant 177-75-10 record. That run included…
The late George Wingfield served his hometown of Reidsville for over 35 years. An outstanding athlete at Reidsville and later at Davidson College, from which he graduated in 1935, Wingfield returned to Reidsville as an assistant football coach before taking over for the legendary Hap Perry in 1946. Wingfield then led the Rams to four…
Gus Purcell developed a reputation as one of the state’s most innovative head football coaches and a developer of outstanding quarterbacks. A graduate of Laurinburg High School and a 1950 graduate of the University of North Carolina, Purcell compiled a brilliant mark as a head football coach. He made his mark primarily at Myers Park…
Joe Eblen will go down as one of the greatest game officials in North Carolina history. A long-time resident of Asheville, Eblen is a 1948 graduate of the University of Tennessee who coached junior high school football, basketball and baseball, compiling winning percentages of better than .800 in all three sports. However, he is best…
Bob Colvin put together an unbelievable string of state championships as a head football coach. A graduate of Robbinsville High and a 1962 graduate of Western Carolina University, Colvin returned to his high school alma mater as head football coach from 1966 through the 1985 season. His teams won an amazing 16 Smoky Mountain 1-A…
A native of Durham, Willie Bradshaw has devoted a lifetime of service to his city and his alma mater. Bradshaw was an outstanding athlete at Hillside High School in Durham and played on the 1943 football team that was unbeaten, untied and unscored upon. He went on to North Carolina College, now North Carolina Central University,…
