CHAPEL HILL– The North Carolina High School Athletic Association presented special awards at its just completed eight regional meetings across the state.

Commissioner Davis Whitfield of the NCHSAA, on behalf of the Association, presented both the Charlie Adams Distinguished Service Awards and the Special Person awards to recipients in each region.

The Charlie Adams Distinguished Service Awards are given per region and go to a person with at least 10 years experience in education and athletics who is still active in the field and has regularly gone “above and beyond” the call of duty at both the local and the state level. The Special Person award is similar but may go to a contributor to the NCHSAA who is not directly in coaching or education.

The award winners include:

REGION 1

Charlie Adams Distinguished Service: Scott Jones, Camden–Scott has served as coach, athletic director, and conference official.  Jones has been with Camden County Schools since 1992. He continues to serve as the head coach of the football team and the women’s basketball team while serving as a social studies teacher. He is a graduate of Camden and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from East Carolina University. Scott was president of the North Carolina Athletic Directors Association during the 2010-11 academic year.

Special Person: Suzanne Heath– a resident of Chocowinity, Suzanne is a veteran high school, college and USA swimming official. She has been one of our state clinicians for swimming for many years and serves as the head referee at both the 1A/2A and 3A state championships and assists at the 4A meet. She has worked several 3A regional events and also continues to train and work with you officials in eastern North Carolina and helping line up officials for schools for regular season meets. Suzanne also reviews and revises the referee’s exam each year.

REGION 2

Charlie Adams Distinguished Service: Donald Clark, Greene Central–Donald is the long-time, very successful tennis coach at Greene Central. He has helped to run the NCHSAA state tennis championships for many years. He serves as the president of the North Carolina Tennis Coaches Association, which was started with assistance from the North Carolina Tennis Association.  A graduate of Jordan-Matthews High, Donald earned his bachelor of arts in English from UNC Greensboro.

Special Person: Ken Avent, Sr.–This award winner served for many years as the head football coach and athletic director at North Duplin High School. Ken actually graduated from North Duplin back in 1961 so he went back to serve his alma mater. While at North Duplin he coached football, but also women’s basketball, men’s basketball, baseball, golf, track and tennis. Ken was a member of the NCHSAA Board of Directors from 1977 through ’81 and also served as president of North Carolina Coaches Association. 

REGION 3

Charlie Adams Distinguished Service: Doc Harrell, Garner Senior–athletic director at Garner who has served the NCHSAA in numerous ways, primarily as a director of baseball as well as basketball state championships for many years. Doc coached three sports at Parkton from 1977 to ’79 and then coached at St. Pauls from 1979 to 2000, serving as athletic director there for four years, before coming to Garner as athletic director in 2000.  During his coaching tenure, his teams won eight conference titles and two state championships and he also serves on the Board of Directors of the Triangle Officials Association. 

Special Person: Andy Fowler, retired– Andy is the long time tennis coach at Sanderson High School in Raleigh, where she coached both the men’s and the women’s teams. She has done a great job directing the NCHSAA dual team tennis championships and the individual tennis championships, both men’s and women’s, for many years. Andy has also directed many regional tournaments for the Association as well.

REGION 4

Charlie Adams Distinguished Service: John Buchholz, retired– John had an outstanding career as coach and athletic director at Pinecrest High School and has continued to work tirelessly for both Pinecrest and the Association. He has been on site to help with NCHSAA state golf championships for several years and continues to direct the 4A Central women’s golf regional. He has also directed regional cross country and regional track and field events for the NCHSAA. He currently coaches women’s cross country and men’s and women’s track at Pinecrest and has coached a number of other sports.

Special Person: Linda Buie, South View– Linda is an athletics administrative assistant at South View High School who has been very involved with the NCHSAA Student Services program. Among her activities has been working with the Central SASI (Student-Athlete Summer Institute).  She has also accompanied teams of student-athletes from her school to the NCHSAA Coach-Captain Retreats.

REGION 5

Charlie Adams Distinguished Service: Randall Hackett, Eastern Guilford– Randall is the athletic director at Eastern Guilford who has also been a key person working with the NCHSAA Western Regional basketball tournament in Greensboro as that prestigious event went to that location at the Greensboro Coliseum and UNC Greensboro.

Special Person: Barbara Carlton, Alamance/Burlington Schools–Barbara is the lead prevention specialist for the Alamance-Burlington system who has been a tireless worker in the NCHSAA Student Services program. She is the director of the Piedmont Student Athlete Summer Institute (SASI), having assumed that role in 2004, and has instrumental in the growth of that program. Barbara has been very creative in providing ideas to promote leadership and healthy lifestyle choices among our student athletes. 

REGION 6

Charlie Adams Distinguished Service: Jim Taylor, Cleveland County Schools– Jim is now the county athletic director after a stellar career as head football coach and athletic director at Shelby High School. A native of Franklin and a graduate of Western Carolina, Jim coached four years at Polk Central before going to Shelby in 1977. He won well over 200 games during his career.  Jim continues to assist with the NCHSAA football seeding process, representing the North Carolina Football Coaches Association.

Special Person: Janet Prevatte, Butler– Janet is currently the Special Populations Coordinator at Butler High School and Coach of the Butler DREAM TEAM. She has been at Butler for six years.  Her teaching experiences include teaching Interior Design and coaching the DREAM TEAM at East Mecklenburg for six years and teaching 16 years at McClintock Middle School prior to that.  She has also taught Home Economics at West Craven and Beaufort Junior High in Beaufort, SC.  She has taught for a total of 35 years. Janet is a graduate of East Carolina University and was born in Washington, North Carolina. 

REGION 7

Charlie Adams Distinguished Service: Marc Payne, Ashe County–Payne is the long time men’s basketball coach and athletic director at Ashe County and he coached at Beaver Creek prior to that. He did an excellent job serving a four-year term as a member of NCHSAA Board of Directors. He has also done a great deal of work with the North Carolina Basketball Coaches Association.

Special Person: Mike Greene, North Wilkes–This award winner has been very involved with the NCHSAA Student Services program at North Wilkes, accompanying teams to our Coach-Captain Retreats and then getting student-athletes involved in a number of community service projects. Greene now works as a facilitator for the NCHSAA with its Coach Captain Retreats. He is chairman of the history department at North Wilkes, coaches women’s track and field and is the DREAM team sponsor at his school. His coach-captain delegates were recently featured in a Fox8 television feature about their community service. 

REGION 8

Charlie Adams Distinguished Service: Bobby Wilkins, Hendersonville– Wilkins serves as principal at Hendersonville after an outstanding coaching career.  A graduate of Hendersonville High, Wilkins coached the Bearcat men’s basketball team to state titles in 1987 and ’92 and the golf team to a 1990 state crown. He has been principal at Hendersonville since 2001 and was principal at Hendersonville Middle eight years before that. He also represents Region 8 on the important Nominating Committee, which provides candidates to fill vacancies on the NCHSAA Board of Directors.

Special Person: Si Simmons, Smoky Mountain–Simmons served a four-year term on the NCHSAA Board of Directors and has served as a coach and athletic director at Smoky Mountain. He is a former basketball standout at Western Carolina and his wife Cindi is a very successful women’s basketball coach. Simmons has served as one of the championship directors for the NCHSAA golf championships for several years.

Special Person: Babe Howell, retired–a member of the NCHSAA Hall of Fame who was an outstanding coach in football and baseball at Sylva-Webster. Born in Monroe and a graduate of Western Carolina University, Howell spent 24 years at Sylva-Webster, which later was consolidated into Smoky Mountain. Counting eight years as a head coach in Georgia, Howell had an overall career record of a whopping 301-121-6, and a total of five NCHSAA state championships. He also at one time had the top baseball record in state history, amassing an amazing 618 victories. A former president of the North Carolina Coaches Association, Howell served as both a head coach and assistant in the NCCA all-star game in Greensboro.