The North Carolina Sports activities Corridor of Fame introduced Tuesday that former Clemson linebacker Jeff Davis has been named as a part of its 2023 induction class. Davis, a local of Greensboro, N.C., was a consensus All-American in 1981 in main the Tigers to a 12-0 document and this system’s first nationwide championship. He now serves as Clemson’s Assistant Athletic Director of Soccer Participant Relations because the chief of Clemson’s P.A.W. Journey program.
Extra data from the North Carolina Sports activities Corridor of Fame is included under.
Raleigh, NC – The North Carolina Sports activities Corridor of Fame is honored to announce its 2023 induction class. The brand new members, listed alphabetically, embrace Rick Barnes, Jason Brown, Jeff Davis, Donald Evans, Tom Fazio, Ellen Griffin, Tom Higgins, Clarkston Hines, Bob “Stonewall” Jackson, Trudi Lacey, Ronald Rogers, John Sadri, Jerry Stackhouse, Curtis Unusual and Rosie Thompson. Their deliberate induction will convey the whole variety of inductees to 400.
This esteemed group shall be enshrined through the 59th annual Induction Celebration on the night of Friday, April 21, on the Raleigh Conference Heart, beginning at 7 p.m. A information convention shall be held earlier that day at 2 p.m. on the conference heart.
“This 12 months’s class becoming a member of the North Carolina Sports activities Corridor of Fame as soon as once more displays the good selection and wealthy sports activities heritage that the corridor highlights for our state,” mentioned Dr. Jerry McGee, president of the corridor’s Board of Administrators. “This group and their collective accomplishments in particular areas, from nice athletes to extremely profitable coaches to particular contributors, create one other thrilling chapter for the corridor. We’re extraordinarily enthusiastic about honoring these excellent people in our induction celebration.”
A short biography of every 2023 inductee follows; deceased inductees being inducted posthumously are indicated by an asterisk:
Rick Barnes – Hickory native and Lenoir-Rhyne College graduate Barnes has established himself as one of many nation’s high males’s school basketball coaches. He has had profitable stints at George Mason, Windfall, Clemson, Texas and at present at Tennessee, and his profession head teaching document exceeds the 750-victory mark. That features 402 wins at Texas from 1998 to 2015, and he’s simply the third coach to steer three totally different Division I applications to the Candy 16, the place his groups have gone seven occasions. Barnes was named the Naismith Faculty Coach of the Yr in 2019 after main the College of Tennessee to a school-record-tying 31 victories.
Jason Brown – A star athlete at Northern Vance Excessive College in soccer and observe and subject, Brown had a stellar profession on the College of North Carolina, beginning as a deal with and ultimately enjoying three years at heart, the place he was first-team all-ACC in 2004. He was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL, beginning all 16 video games at guard for the Ravens in 2007 after which all 16 at heart the next 12 months. He signed a five-year deal in 2009 with the St. Louis Rams that made him the highest-paid heart within the league, however he retired from soccer in 2012 and have become a farmer in Louisburg, sustaining First Fruits Farms, the place he grows produce and donates crops to meals pantries.
Jeff Davis – Davis was the captain of Clemson College’s 1981 nationwide championship soccer workforce, and through that season, he was the ACC Participant of the Yr and a first-team All-American. Third all-time in Clemson historical past in tackles, he was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers within the NFL and performed six years there, main the workforce in tackles on three totally different events and was captain of the workforce for 4 seasons. Davis began each sport in three totally different seasons and solely missed one begin in two different years. He’s a member of the Clemson, Guilford County Sports activities, South Carolina Athletics, and Faculty Soccer halls of fame.
Donald Evans – Evans was a standout soccer participant at Winston-Salem State College, enjoying each tailback and linebacker there from 1983 to 1986, together with 10 sacks in his senior 12 months. He was a second-round draft selection of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams in 1987. Though he performed little in his first two professional years, he discovered his place by signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers, beginning in 62 of 64 video games over 4 years for Chuck Noll after which Invoice Cowher. He closed his professional profession with the Jets. Evans is a member of the Winston-Salem State Corridor of Fame and the CIAA Corridor of Fame, and likewise was an HBCU Residing Legends honoree. His philanthropy in his post-football profession has benefited a number of traditionally Black faculties and universities (HBCUs).
Tom Fazio—Fazio is named considered one of America’s high golf course architects, and through his profession, he has designed greater than 200 programs, of which 46 have been ranked by Golf Digest amongst its best 200 programs in america. He additionally has been named Greatest Fashionable-Day Golf Course architect by Golf Digest 3 times. He started his profession in course design together with his household’s agency in suburban Philadelphia, then established his personal agency in Florida in 1972. He at present maintains an workplace in Hendersonville. Fazio was solely the second course architect to obtain the very best recognition awarded by the Golf Course Superintendents Affiliation of America.
Ellen Griffin*—This pioneer in girls’s golf was a tremendous coach and teacher, in addition to helped to discovered the Ladies’s Skilled Golf Affiliation, the forerunner of the LPGA. After incomes a grasp’s diploma from the College of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1940, she taught the sport for 28 years at her alma mater after which developed her personal facility in Randleman, the place she labored with amateurs and professionals alike. Griffin was the 1962 LPGA Instructor of the Yr and was among the many first LPGA Grasp Professionals. She wrote golf instruction manuals and likewise hung out as academic director of the Nationwide Golf Affiliation. Griffin was the primary recipient of the Nationwide Golf Affiliation’s Joe Graffis Award for service to the sport.
Tom Higgins*- This sports activities writing legend, who grew up in Burnsville, started his profession with the Canton Enterprise and Asheville Instances earlier than shifting to The Charlotte Observer in 1964 as an open air author. However Higgins shortly turned recognized for his intensive protection of motorsports and was one of many first full-time NASCAR beat writers, serving to to develop the game tremendously. He retired after 33 years with The Observer however continued to write down. A multi-time Nationwide Motorsports Press Affiliation Author of the Yr, he’s a member of that group’s Corridor of Fame and likewise obtained the Squier-Corridor Award, the very best media award given by the NASCAR Corridor of Fame.
Clarkston Hines – Hines, a Duke College soccer star, was a three-time first-team all-ACC choice and the ACC Participant of the Yr in 1989. He’s one of the prolific extensive receivers in convention historical past. He was twice named first-team All-American and held 12 Duke receiving data upon commencement to go along with a few ACC profession marks in landing receptions (38) and 100-yard video games (18). Hines earned the ACC Male Athlete of the Yr, the McKevlin Award, in 1990. A member of the Duke Sports activities Corridor of Fame, he was elected in 2010 to the Faculty Soccer Corridor of Fame.
Bob “Stonewall” Jackson*—Jackson was a extremely adorned World Warfare II veteran who enrolled after the warfare at Negro Agricultural and Technical Faculty of North Carolina (now North Carolina A&T State College), the place he turned a four-time all-CIAA participant as a star linebacker. He made historical past when he turned the primary African American from a traditionally Black school to be drafted by the NFL, enjoying for each the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles. After his enjoying profession, Jackson coached soccer at Johnson C. Smith College after which spent greater than 30 years as an educator and coach at North Carolina Central College, the place he taught and was an assistant soccer coach and longtime athletic coach.
Trudi Lacey – Lacey has had a tremendous profession as an athlete, coach and administrator. At the moment the athletic director at Johnson & Wales College in Charlotte, Lacey was a four-year basketball star below legendary coach Kay Yow at N.C. State, scoring 1,957 factors throughout her profession and successful a pair of ACC common season titles and a convention event crown. Lacey has been a head coach at each the faculty and the skilled degree, together with a stint with the Washington Mystics of the WNBA as each coach and basic supervisor. She additionally has served as an assistant director for U.S.A. Ladies’s Basketball and is a member of the N.C. State Athletics Corridor of Fame.
Ronald Rogers* – A local and lifelong resident of Leicester, Rogers was Western Carolina’s first three-time NAIA All-American in basketball (1951, 1952, 1953). He scored 1,960 factors throughout his Western Carolina Faculty (now College) profession, third all-time at school historical past, with a profession scoring common of 21.5 factors per sport, and was the North State Convention’s all-time main scorer upon commencement after incomes all-conference honors three straight years. Rogers scored in double figures in 82 straight video games. He was a constitution member of the Western Carolina Corridor of Fame, and his jersey quantity, 15, was retired there.
John Sadri – Born in Charlotte and a graduate of Myers Park Excessive College, Sadri is among the high tennis gamers to come back from North Carolina. He was an all-American at N.C. State College, the place he superior to the NCAA singles finals in 1978, dropping to John McEnroe. He was twice ACC singles champ and likewise received a pair of ACC doubles crowns. Sadri was ranked as excessive as 14th on this planet as knowledgeable, shortly after he had reached the finals of the Australian Open. He received two skilled singles titles and three doubles championships, twice ending second in doubles on the Australian Open. Sadri is a member of the North Carolina Tennis Corridor of Fame.
Jerry Stackhouse – A local of Kinston, Stackhouse had a tremendous profession as a basketball participant. A Parade highschool All-American, he was a consensus first-team All-American on the College of North Carolina and earned ACC Event MVP honors in 1994. He performed two seasons for the Tar Heels after which was the third general choice within the 1995 NBA draft. Stackhouse loved a stellar 18-year NBA profession, by which he scored 16,409 factors and twice was an NBA All-Star. He’s at present the top coach at Vanderbilt College, after serving as an assistant with the Memphis Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors within the NBA and main a G-League workforce to a championship as head coach.
Curtis Unusual – A local of Norfolk, VA, Unusual is a golf legend, successful 17 PGA Tour championships after an amazing collegiate profession at Wake Forest College. He was the 1974 NCAA particular person champion and led Wake Forest to the workforce title. He twice received the U.S. Open championship and was one of many tour’s main gamers within the Eighties, main the PGA Tour earnings checklist in 1985, ’87 and ’88. Unusual additionally performed on six U.S. Ryder Cup groups and was the captain in 2002. A member of the World Golf Corridor of Fame and the Virginia Corridor of Fame, Unusual shares time between North Carolina and Florida and likewise has excelled as a golf commentator on tv.
Rosie Thompson – Greater than 40 years after her girls’s basketball enjoying profession at East Carolina College ended, Thompson nonetheless ranks as the varsity’s all-time chief in scoring (2,352 factors), factors per sport (20.8), rebounds (1,183) and rebound common (10.8). A 3-time all-NCAIAW choice, she is the one lady in ECU historical past to have her jersey quantity retired. She performed skilled basketball earlier than returning to ECU as an assistant coach and went on to serve three years as head coach, from there shifting into administration as ECU’s senior girls’s administrator (SWA). Thompson is a member of the East Carolina Sports activities Corridor of Fame.
Ticket data for the Induction Celebration is offered at www.ncshof.org.
In regards to the North Carolina Sports activities Corridor of Fame
The N.C. Sports activities Corridor of Fame was established in 1963. A everlasting exhibit, the North Carolina Sports activities Corridor of Fame is positioned on the third ground of the N.C. Museum of Historical past in Raleigh and options over 200 important objects and memorabilia donated by inductees. The museum is open Monday by Saturday from 9 a.m. to five p.m. and Sunday from midday to five p.m. Admission is free.
In regards to the North Carolina Museum of Historical past
The North Carolina Museum of Historical past, a Smithsonian Affiliate, fosters a ardour for North Carolina historical past. This museum collects and preserves artifacts of state historical past and educates the general public on the historical past of the state and the nation by reveals and academic applications. Admission is free. The Museum of Historical past, inside the Division of State Historical past Museums, is a part of the NC Division of Pure and Cultural Assets.