Herman Horne

Year Inducted: 2018

Hired as a history teacher and coach at Morningside High School in 1944, Herman Horne served as football, basketball, baseball and track coach from 1944-1967. In 1948 the Record & Landmark said, “Coach Horne has made an enviable record at the local Negro school working with little equipment and few facilities turning out winning teams with regularity.” Horne once estimated that his football teams had won 112, lost 60 and tied 14 between 1944 and 1967, with no losing seasons between 1950 and 1966. He estimated his best team was the 1959, which went 8-1-1. Horne’s football teams took three district championships and his basketball teams were just as good, winning four state championships.

In the 1950s, Horne was manager of the Statesville Eagles, a professional team in the National Negro Association Baseball League. They played teams from as far away as Baltimore. In 1951, Horne was instrumental in reviving the Morningside’s student newspaper, The Oracle. In the 1950s and 1960s, he was staff advisor for the national award-winning student newspaper. In the summers, he organized athletic camps, worked as the director of the Morningside Playground and pool, was supervisor for the Garfield Recreation Softball League and coached the Ernest Morgan American Legion Post 217 baseball team. After the high schools were consolidated and Morningside closed, he continued his teaching and coaching career at Oakwood Junior High. He also served as president of the city-county baseball league in the 1970s.

Bernard Robertson, one of Horne’s mentees, said, “Say ‘Coach’ in Statesville’s African-American community in the 1950s and 60s and most people would know who you were talking about.” He continued, “He had a brilliant mind and possessed many talents. His philosophy was to live one day at a time. Those around him often probably heard him say, ‘Whatever you tackle in life, whether in the classroom, on the basketball court, baseball or football field, fight hard, concentrate, believe in yourself and never use a false shield.’” Finally, he would often say, “All that glitters is not gold and education is the gateway to success. A winner never quits and a quitter never wins, is the name of the game.”