CHAPEL HILL—The North Carolina High School Athletic Association announced today the winners of two special awards established in the name of the late Pat Gainey, long-time coach who was inducted into the NCHSAA Hall of Fame earlier this month.
Cathy Miller of Alexander Central High School is the recipient of the inaugural Pat Gainey Coach Award, and Kathryn “Kate” Moye is the winner of the first Gainey Student Scholarship award.
The Pat Gainey Coach Award recognizes excellence in character, achievement and coaching. It is designed to go to a varsity coach at an NCHSAA school who provides great leadership, who shows interest in his or her athletes on and off the field or court, is recognized as scrupulously honest, and has strongly supported an anti-drug and alcohol policy.
The awards will be presented at the NCHSAA Annual Meeting at the Smith Center on the University of North Carolina campus on Thursday, May 3.
Miller has been head volleyball coach at Alexander for nine years, after stints at Northwest Ashe and Hickory, and has also served as an assistant women’s basketball coach. She is a two-time Northwestern 4-A Conference Volleyball Coach of the Year.
An outstanding algebra teacher, Miller has organized summer junior volleyball camps to introduce the sport to young athletes. Her program at Alexander also includes strong components of team-building activities and healthy lifestyles.
A senior at Pamlico, Moye lettered in three sports for four consecutive years and captained both the volleyball and women’s basketball teams. She has been actively involved in the Beta Club, Math Competition Team and a variety of leadership roles at Pamlico.
Kate is also active in church and community activities, such as volunteering for the “Race for the Cure” and for the Pamlico Parks and Recreation Department. She has better than a 4.0 weighted grade point average while taking a variety of honors and Advanced Placement courses.
The Gainey Student Scholarship recognizes athletic achievement and strength of character. The criteria for this year’s award included that the student be a senior female athlete with at least a cumulative GPA of 3.2, possess a strong work ethic, demonstrate athletic success during the high school career and demonstrate respect for coaches and teammates.
In this inaugural year of the awards, the criteria stipulated that the recipients come from Alexander Central or Pamlico High Schools, where Gainey spent most of his career. Starting next year, the student scholarship award will be opened up to NCHSAA member schools in counties having a poverty rate of 20 percent or more for children 17 and under, and the coaches’ award will be available for nominations from all NCHSAA member schools. Student scholarship recipients will alternate annually between a female athlete and a male baseball player meeting the established criteria.
The awards are made possible by a gift from Gainey’s daughter, Mrs. Berry Jo Gainey Shoen, who currently resides in Port Townsend, Washington.
A native of Dunn, Gainey recorded a phenomenal record in women’s basketball at a couple of different stops during his coaching career and was a real supporter of women’s athletics. His overall record at Pamlico was an incredible 93-6 in women’s basketball and he also fielded outstanding baseball teams there. He then moved to Taylorsville, where he coached from 1955-64. His women’s basketball teams won five Western North Carolina High School Activities Association titles and at one point recorded 54 consecutive wins and a whopping 140 straight conference victories. His overall women’s basketball mark was 358-57.
“We are really excited about both of these awards and believe these are great additions to the legacy of Pat Gainey,” said NCHSAA executive director Charlie Adams. “The recipients certainly embody many of the wonderful characteristics that made Pat so successful.”
