Inductees
Gene Abercrombie
Gene AbercrombieYear Inducted: 2016 Gene Abercrombie was head football coach at Statesville High School from 1966 to 1976 during integration. Abercrombie led the Greyhounds to the Piedmont Conference Championship in 1966 with an impressive 11-1 record. That year he...
William “Bill” Adams
William "Bill" AdamsYear Inducted: 2017 William “Bill” Adams was known for his play on the baseball diamond in the Minor Leagues, including the Statesville Owls, from 1947-1951 and his coaching in the 1960s and 1970s. But, he was more well-known for being “Mr. Bill”...
Gair Allie
Gair AllieYear Inducted: 2018 Gair Allie was a three-sport standout at Statesville High School from 1947-1950. He was named Mr. Statesville his senior year which represented the top all-around athlete within the city. Gair chose an athletic scholarship to play...
Lib Barkley Smith
Lib Barkley SmithYear Inducted: 2021 Lib Barkley Smith graduated from Cool Spring High School and played women’s basketball in the “three vs three” era. She made the All-State Team in 1950 and 1951. With those honors, she traveled to Southern Pines each year to...
Roger Bost
Roger BostYear Inducted: 2021 Roger Bost was Student Body President and was a member of the football and track and field teams, graduating from Statesville High School in 1966. He was a captain and won the Best Blocker Award in 1965 for football. Bost was Conference...
Paul Brendle
Paul BrendleYear Inducted: 2016 Paul Brendle starred in baseball and basketball at Cool Spring High School graduating in 1944. After serving two years in the US Navy, Brendle spent two years at Mitchell College playing baseball, basketball, tennis and football winning...
Mike Carter
Mike CarterYear Inducted: 2022 Mike Carter was football coach and athletic director at Mooresville High School from 1989 to 2003. He led the football team to a record of 139-40 and seven conference championships. 12 out of 14 years his teams made the state playoffs....
Amy Cartner Rogers
Amy Cartner RogersYear Inducted: 2024 Amy Cartner Rogers is one of the most accomplished student-athletes to ever graduate from North Iredell High School. Rogers joined four underclass teammates to win the first State Girls Basketball Championship for the Lady Raiders...
Sherry Cash
Sherry CashYear Inducted: 2016 Sherry Cash was a four-sport athlete at South Iredell, earning 12 varsity letters from 1976-1980. She was a member of the first volleyball team at South Iredell in 1977. She was South’s Most Valuable Player and a member of the Western...
David Cash, Sr.
David Cash, Sr.Year Inducted: 2018 David R. Cash, Sr. was a three-sport athlete at South Iredell High School from 1965-1969 playing football, wrestling and track for the Vikings. He was named to the North Piedmont All-Conference Team in 1967 and 1968 for football. His...
Jim Conger
Jim CongerYear Inducted: 2020 Jim Conger graduated from Scotts High School and was a multi-sport athlete with an outstanding career playing 6-man football. He started for three years for football and two-year starter for basketball. He was a captain for both teams and...
Luther Conger
Luther CongerYear Inducted: 2019 Luther Conger is a graduate of Scotts High School and was an inaugural member of the 6-man football team. He started in all 24 games from 1948-1950. He was a Co-Captain of the 1949 Tri-County Conference championship team. He also...
Johnny Davidson
Johnny DavidsonYear Inducted: 2018 Johnny Davidson was a two-sport star in basketball and baseball at Statesville High School. He graduated from Statesville High School in 1965 and named Most Outstanding Male Athlete, All-Conference and All Tournament. Johnny went on...
Jean Dowell
Jean DowellYear Inducted: 2019 Jean Dowell, a graduate of Union Grove High School, was before her time with women’s athletics. At Union Grove, she was All-State in basketball and softball. She went on to Western Carolina to find out there was no women’s basketball...
Dale Earnhardt, Sr
Dale Earnhardt, SrYear Inducted: 2024 Bio and photos coming soon.
Billy Ellis
Billy EllisYear Inducted: 2017 Billy Ellis was a basketball standout at South Iredell High School from 1967-1971, He averaged 31.4 points per game and scored 51 points in a game, being named his senior year. He was a two-time all-conference player and topped the...
Ann Ellis Chappell
Ann Ellis ChappellYear Inducted: 2017 Ann Ellis Chappell was a basketball standout at South Iredell High School from 1970-1973. She holds the South Iredell High School record for most points scored in a single game with 60 points, most points scored in a single season...
Kelly Fleck
Kelly FleckYear Inducted: 2023 Kelly Fleck, a 2002 Statesville High School graduate, won four 3A state championships during her high school career. She won a championship in every category available, team, singles and doubles. Fleck was key to two team titles in 1999...
Jerry Fox
Jerry FoxYear Inducted: 2017 Jerry Fox was a basketball and baseball player at Cool Springs High School. He started all four years for both sports. He also played football in 1952-1953 before program was dropped in 1954. He played American Legion baseball before going...
C.A. Frye
C.A. FryeYear Inducted: 2023 C.A. Frye was Lenoir-Rhyne's first-ever prolific passer from out of head coach Clarence Stasavich's Single-Wing offense. Many of the records he set throwing the ball are still listed among the school's top-10 lists. After...
Bobby Graham
Bobby GrahamYear Inducted: 2020 Bobby Graham was a three-sport athlete for the Statesville Greyhounds. He played football (25 touchdowns in two years), basketball (Foothills Player of the Year) and ran track (twice All- Conference). Bobby was named MVP in both...
JD Harris
JD HarrisYear Inducted: 2021 JD Harris, a 1955 Statesville High School graduate, played football, baseball and basketball. He was awarded the Perdue Athletic Award for Outstanding Male Athlete his senior year. Right out of high school, Harris began his service to the...
Wayne Harwell
Wayne HarwellYear Inducted: 2022 Wayne Harwell began his baseball career in Little League and Babe Ruth, winning the State Championship in 1972. He helped organize the first baseball team at D. Matt Thompson Junior High. He then went on to Statesville High School and...
Jerome Henderson
Jerome HendersonYear Inducted: 2016 Jerome Henderson is the defensive passing game coordinator of the NY Giants after serving in similar positions with the Atlanta Falcons (Super Bowl LI), Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns and NY Jets, nearly 20 years as an NFL coach....
Addie Holbrook Hightower
Addie Holbrook HightowerYear Inducted: 2020 Addie Holbrook Hightower graduated from Statesville High School and starred in basketball for the Greyhounds. She was 3-time All-Conference and 2-time Conference Player of the Year. She was honored by the Winston-Salem...
Herman Horne
Herman HorneYear 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...
Misty Horne Kerr
Misty Horne KerrYear Inducted: 2021 Misty Horne Kerr graduated from Statesville High School and starred for the Greyhound basketball team. She was Foothills Athletic Conference Co-Player of the Year in 1993 and Player of the Year in 1996. She was All-Conference three...
Jesse Jackson
Jesse JacksonYear Inducted: 2021 Jesse Jackson played football at Wake Forest College and graduated in 1963. He got his master’s from Appalachian State University in 1967. Jackson was a multi-sport coach at Statesville High School. He coached wrestling, track, and...
Harold Johnson
Harold JohnsonYear Inducted: 2016 Harold Johnson started his broadcast career at WSIC radio in Statesville, where he hosted a music program called "The HaJo Show." While at WSIC, he met Jim Thacker of WBTV and was hired as weekend sports anchor. He also...
Emily Johnson Murphy
Emily Johnson MurphyYear Inducted: 2016 Emily Johnson Murphy graduated from Statesville High School in 1988, playing basketball, softball and track. She led the Greyhounds back to prominence in basketball scoring 1,349 points in her career. She was two-time Foothill...
Jerry Josey
Jerry JoseyYear Inducted: 2019 Jerry Josey came up from the ranks in true old school newspaper fashion beginning as a carrier for the Statesville Daily Record. In the fall of 1947, he began helping cover county basketball games and by another year the high school...
Josh Ladowski
Josh LadowskiYear Inducted: 2024 Lake Norman’s Josh Ladowski is the most decorated high school football player in Iredell County history. He was named 2014 NC High School Football Player of the Year by the Associated Press after breaking Chris Leak’s state record for...
Keith Lawrence
Keith LawrenceYear Inducted: 2023 Keith Lawrence graduated from Statesville High School in 1983. Keith was a standout in football, basketball and track for the Greyhounds. In football, Keith was the starting quarterback with a record of 23-3. He was a starter in the...
Dr. Fred Long, Jr
Dr. Fred Long, JrYear Inducted: 2023 Dr. Fred Long, Jr. graduated top of his class at Morningside High School in 1964, where he was a standout athlete in football, baseball and basketball. He entered Shaw University in Raleigh and excelled in academics and athletics....
Matt Matheny
Matt MathenyYear Inducted: 2024 As a quarterback at North Iredell High School, Matt Matheny led the Raiders to their lone 10-0 football regular season and would later move on to an ongoing successful college basketball coaching career. A 1988 graduate of North...
Bill Mayhew
Bill MayhewYear Inducted: 2016 Bill Mayhew, a 1959 graduate of Mooresville High School, was a three-sport star, playing football, wrestling and baseball. He was a two-time wrestling State Champion and All-Conference in football and baseball. Mayhew was awarded the...
Mitch Mayhew
Mitch MayhewYear Inducted: 2022 Mitch Mayhew, a 1986 graduate, is one of South Iredell’s most highly decorated athletes, starring in football and wrestling. All the while, Mayhew worked on and earned his Eagle Scout. In football, Mayhew was All-Conference all four...
Neill McGeachy
Neill McGeachyYear Inducted: 2016 Following a stellar sports career at Statesville High School, Neill McGeachy was a three-year starter and helped lead Lenoir-Rhyne to two regular season and two Carolina Conference tournament titles. McGeachy, a 1,000-point scorer in...
John McNeely
John McNeelyYear Inducted: 2020 John McNeely is a highly respected PGA professional. Throughout his career, he has been associated with and taught at some of golf’s finest courses, including Winged Foot Golf Club, site of numerous Major championships where he worked...
Tammy Millsaps
Tammy Millsaps Year Inducted: 2022 North Iredell basketball star Tammy Millsaps led the Lady Raiders to the 3A State Basketball Championship game vs High Point Central. She was a two time All Conference and...
Garry Mott
Garry MottYear Inducted: 2017 Garry Mott was multi-sport athlete at Statesville High School from 1969-1972. He played football, basketball and ran track. He lettered in 1970, ’71 and ’72 in all three sports. He received the offensive back award in 1970, all-conference...
Whitey Meadows
Whitey MeadowsYear Inducted: 2017 Whitey Meadows is known for coaching the Mooresville American Legion Post 66 baseball team for over 35 years. He led them to the Area III Finals in 1981 and won the Southern Division Title in 1990. He was inducted in the North...
Justin Moose
Justin MooseYear Inducted: 2021 By the age of 13, Justin Moose was a standout, and would make the hour-long drive to Charlotte for elite soccer. Soon Justin was scouted and identified as one of the country’s top players and quickly was called into the US U-14 National...
Frank Owens
Frank OwensYear Inducted: 2024 Former Mooresville Police Captain Frank Owens served as athletic director for Gresham-Baker American Legion Post 66 and its baseball program for over 30 years. In 1975, he was named Mooresville Police Officer of the Year. He also served...
Jim Popp
Jim PoppYear Inducted: 2024 Jim Popp, a 1983 graduate of Mooresville High School, starred in four sports, football, basketball, baseball and golf, earning 11 letters. He earned all-conference in all four sports and as a high school senior won team MVP honors in...
Joe Popp
Joe PoppYear Inducted: 2019 Joe Popp was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and was a stellar athlete, quarterbacking his high school football program to its first undefeated season. He received numerous college athletic scholarship offers and chose Catawba College on a...
Steve Rankin
Steve RankinYear Inducted: 2021 Steve Rankin graduated from South Iredell High School and was a three-sport athlete. (football, basketball, and baseball). He received All-Conference honors in baseball and football. Steve received the Scholar-Athlete Award in 1969....
Julian Robinson
Julian RobinsonYear Inducted: 2018 After a stellar three-sports career, Julian Robinson graduated from Scotts High School in 1951. Julian helped pioneer the 6-man football at Scotts High School in 1948. Julian was selected as All-State Six-Man Football in 1949. The...
David Rothwell
David RothwellYear Inducted: 2019 David Rothwell, after 20 years coaching football and wrestling and teaching physical education, became athletic director and assistant principal at Statesville High School in 1992. In 1997, he became principal of East Iredell...
Michael Royal
Michael RoyalYear Inducted: 2022 Michael Serefine Royal served as cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field coach at Mooresville High School from 2001 - 2010. During his illustrious tenure, his teams won 16 Iredell County Championships, 10 Conference...
Herb Sampsel
Herb SampselYear Inducted: 2016 Herb Sampsel graduated from Middleburg High School in Pennsylvania. He went to Lenior-Rhyne, entered the military and following his service, joined SHS Staff in 1946 and coached basketball and baseball until he retired in 1981. He led...
Gary Sherrill
Gary SherrillYear Inducted: 2022 Gary Sherrill, a 1956 graduate of Scotts High School, attended Mitchell College and Erskine University. He graduated from Appalachian State with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and history in 1962. Sherrill began his teaching...
Vinson Smith
Vinson SmithYear Inducted: 2016 Statesville High School football legend Vinson Smith is among the best linebackers to ever play at ECU. As a junior and senior, Smith led East Carolina in total tackles in 1986 and '87. In 1986, Smith tallied 116 total tackles and...
Donald Eugene Spencer
Donald Eugene SpencerYear Inducted: 2019 Donald Eugene “The Colonel” Spencer was a man of no-nonsense attitude, an ethic of hard work and a physical presence. Originally from Las Vegas, Spencer came to Iredell County after his service to our country in the United...
Jack Springer
Jack SpringerYear Inducted: 2023 A West Virginia University graduate and former major in the US Army, Jack Springer served as Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Statesville 1954-1982. Springer established Statesville as the unofficial horseshoe pitching...
David Stamey
David StameyYear Inducted: 2023 West Iredell’s David Stamey was Associated Press All-State receiver after leading the state with 62 receptions, a mark that was second in state history. As a junior, Stamey led the conference in receptions in West’s only 10-0 season in...
Herm Starrette
Herm StarretteYear Inducted: 2016 Herm Starrette was a baseball star at Cool Spring High School. He went on to play at Lenoir-Rhyne College. He was then signed by the Baltimore Orioles. Starrette played his nine-year pitching career in the Orioles organization,...
Hazel Starrette Phillips
Hazel Starrette PhillipsYear Inducted: 2019 Hazel Starrette Phillips was born into a large family of six brothers and two sisters. She played basketball at Cool Spring, as it was the only sport offered to girls at that time. She went on to High Point College and set a...
William W. Summers
William W. SummersYear Inducted: 2018 William W. Summers was key to integrating baseball in Iredell County. He was a Little League and Babe Ruth coach for over 30 years. He began in 1959 as the coach of the first African-American Little League baseball team in Iredell...
JR Sweezy
JR SweezyYear Inducted: 2016 JR Sweezy graduated from Mooresville High School in 2007, where he starred in football and wrestling for the Blue Devils. During his senior year, he was named All-County, All-Conference and All-Piedmont in football. He also won the 3A...
Forrest Thompson
Forrest ThompsonYear Inducted: 2018 Mooresville High School standout left-hander Forrest Thompson spent 14 active seasons in professional baseball from 1937 to 1951. It took Forrest 10 seasons before he got a crack at the Major Leagues. He spent time with 8 different...
Sandra Torrence
Sandra TorrenceYear Inducted: 2018 Sandra Torrence was a pioneer for female coaches in Iredell County. She attended Mooresville High School and was named Female Athlete of the Year in 1968. She went on to Mitchell College and was named Female Athlete of the Year in...
Keith Walker
Keith WalkerYear Inducted: 2024 Keith Walker’s name is synonymous with Statesville’s basketball heritage. Coached by Iredell County Sports Hall of Fame inductee Bill Ellis at Statesville High School. The 1977 graduate set Greyhound records for points in a game with 48...
Tyrone Westmoreland
Tyrone WestmorelandYear Inducted: 2018 Tyrone Westmoreland was a three-sport star at South Iredell from 1989-93. He finished his football career for the Vikings with 6,602 rushing yards, 20th in state history, and 92 touchdowns, 22nd in state history. He was named...
John Wood
John WoodYear Inducted: 2022 John Wood, a 1966 graduate, was an outstanding wrestler for Statesville High School. He was Western North Carolina Athletic Association Champion three years in a row, 1964-1966. With that success, Wood was honored as the first recipient of...