GARNER MAGNET HIGH SCHOOL INDUCTS INAUGURAL CLASS IN HALL OF FAME
GARNER— Garner Magnet High School recently inducted its inaugural class into the Garner Hall of Fame, including five outstanding individuals who were athletes or coaches.
The five charter members of the Garner Hall include:
• Anthony Barbour: a 1988 graduate of Garner who helped lead the Trojans to an unbeaten season and the NCHSAA state 4-A football championship. Barbour rushed for a then state-record 3,125 yards during his senior year and scored 47 touchdowns. He continued his football career at North Carolina State University, where is the school’s fifth all-time leading rusher, and is presently coaching high school football.
• Barbara Ann Kelly: a 1956 graduate of Garner, where she was a four-year letter winner and co-captain of the basketball team, Kelly graduated from East Carolina University and later became the first female staff of the athletic department at the University of Virginia, where she worked for 38 years and was the first women’s basketball coach. She was really one of the founders of the Atlantic Coast Conference women’s basketball tournament.
• Hal Stewart: former football coach and athletic director at Garner who took over the football program in 1983 and was the coach of that ’87 4-A champion. His 1998 team was the state runner-up. His teams at Garner posted a 164-43-1 mark and Stewart had 216 career football victories. His Trojan teams won 11 conference championships and he also coached in the Shrine Bowl and the North Carolina Coaches Association East-West game.
• Pat Watkins: a 1990 graduate of Garner, he was a three-sport letter winner and all-conference in football, basketball and baseball. He earned a baseball scholarship to East Carolina and was the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year in 1993. With a career batting average of .352 in college, Watkins is still the only ECU player ever drafted in the first round of the major league baseball draft and played in his first major league game in 1997.
•Donald Williams: a 1991 graduate of Garner, where he averaged 35.6 per game as a senior, Williams was a McDonald’s All-American who went on to a great basketball career at the University of North Carolina. He was a member of the 1993 NCAA national champions and was the Most Valuable Player of the NCAA Final Four that year. He also played seven years of professional basketball in Europe.
We congratulate these outstanding inductees and our thanks to Doc Harrill, Garner athletic director, for providing the information.
